Minor tweaks to your daily routine can go a long way towards protecting your body’s control centre and preventing cognitive decline down the road. In fact, scientists believe that up to 45 per cent of dementia cases could be delayed or prevented with help from some simple, sometimes surprising, changes in behaviour.

It is never too early or too late to start. But time is of the essence when it comes to building your brain’s defences, especially since it was generally impossible to reverse brain damage once it had happened, said Dr Eva Feldman, a professor of neurology at the University of Michigan’s Neuroscience Institute.