The story of your health is often told by the numbers. For example, you're healthy if your LDL cholesterol is below 70 mg/dL; your blood pressure is around 110/75; your fasting blood sugar is under 99; and you have a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9.

Now there's one more measure to pay attention to — Brain Care Score (BCS).

A BCS is determined by evaluating how you're doing in three categories of modifiable risk factors:

• Physically, by looking at blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, and BMI

• In your lifestyle choices, concerning nutrition, alcohol, aerobics, sleep, and smoking

• And on your social-emotional spectrum, evaluating your stress management, social relationships, and sense of meaning in life

The higher your score, the lower your risk for dementia — and stroke and late-life depression too.

Even people with a genetic predisposition for dementia and stroke lower their risks when they amp up their BCS number.

Research published in the journal Neurology looked at around 360,000 people ages 51-63, some with genetic predispositions for dementia, some without. Over a 12-year stretch, the study found that every five-point increase in BCS lowered the risk of dementia, stroke, and late-life depression by about 30% for everyone.