Your 5 Numbers: The stats that predict your brain's future
When a new patient sits down with me for the first time, I don't start with a lecture about diet or exercise. I ask five numbers.
They're not complicated. You don't need a medical degree to understand any of them. But together, they tell me more about someone's brain health — and their risk for stroke and dementia down the road — than almost anything else I could ask.
The Five Numbers
Blood pressure. The single biggest modifiable risk factor for stroke. Most people know if theirs is "high" or "normal" in a vague sense, but far fewer know their actual numbers or when they last checked.
Blood sugar (A1C). This tells us how your blood sugar has trended over the past few months, not just a single snapshot. Elevated blood sugar nearly doubles stroke risk.
Hours of real sleep. Not hours in bed — hours actually asleep. Poor sleep is one of the most overlooked risk factors, and one of the easiest to start improving.
Waist circumference. A more useful number than weight alone, since it reflects the kind of fat most linked to cardiovascular and metabolic risk.
Family history of stroke or dementia. The one number on this list you can't change — but knowing it changes how closely you should be tracking the other four.
Why These Five, Specifically
Genetics load the gun. Daily habits pull the trigger — or don't. Four of these five numbers are almost entirely within your influence. The fifth just tells you how seriously to take the other four.
Most people can tell you their height and weight without thinking twice. Very few can tell you their blood pressure reading from their last check-up, or their most recent A1C. That gap — between what we track without effort and what actually matters — is where a lot of preventable risk quietly builds up.
You Can't Act on a Number You Don't Know
This isn't about achieving five perfect numbers overnight. It's about knowing where you stand, so you know what to work on first.
If you don't know one of your five, that's not a failure — that's simply your starting point. It tells you exactly what to book a check-up for this month.
Start With One
Pick the number you're least sure about. Book the check. Write it down. That's the whole first step — not a lifestyle overhaul, just one number, tracked.
👉 Want an easy way to track all five in one place? Subscribe to get "Your 5 Numbers" — a free, one-page tracker to write down your numbers and know exactly where to start.
