OverviewWhat if your brain's retirement plan starts with today's blood pressure, blood sugar, and smoking habits? Researchers found that adults with none of these three vascular risk factors lived nearly 13 years longer without dementia than those with all three. People with no vascular risk factors remained dementia-free for an average of 30.1 years, compared with 17.5 years among those with all three risk factors. Researchers believe the findings reinforce the importance of preventing vascular risk factors in midlife, when changes may have the greatest long-term impact on brain health. ; Midlife Vascular Risk Burden and Dementia-Free Survival Years; Neurology Open Access; 2026; https://doi.org/10.1212/WN9.0000000000000152