Oooh, we all just love a saving, don’t we? Especially a nice, big one. Well, listen up because I’ve got a massive, life-changing saving to share with you here.

Isn’t it fascinating how we humans are drawn to the quick win of instant gratification? We like to see results NOW. It’s the reason that there’s a huge online market for pills and even creams that promise to transform flabby tummies into washboard stomachs WITHIN SEVEN DAYS!!!!!!!

What we’re not so hot at is investing in effort for future gain. Especially if it’s to prevent something we’d rather not have or even bother ourselves with thinking about. That’s the reason we know we should be flossing and doing our pelvic floor exercises regularly – but, yawn, who can be bothered? I mean, life’s busy enough already, right?

Well, you may have a sneaky suspicion by now that I’m not actually running a sale. And yes, I’ve been a little bit sneaky myself to grab your attention. But, while I may not be giving you a voucher code… I do hope to give you something infinitely more valuable: a new perspective.

You see, the nature of my work means that people often talk frankly to me about their family’s health and how it’s affecting their own life. And do you know the thing that, hands down, I hear of most often? I hear of a parent (often elderly but sometimes middle-aged) who has some form of dementia or other cognitive disorder. I hear of the immense heartache, the intolerable stress and the all-consuming frustration that family members are living through. Day after day, week after week, year after year. No let-up. No escape. No cure.

I hear of kindly parents who were esteemed homemakers, lawyers, doctors, teachers, community leaders – and who are now physically attacking their beloved children or opening their bowels all over the kids’ lounge carpet. And oblivious to it all.

And if this is unpleasant for you to read, I apologise. Actually, scrap that. I don’t apologise at all. Because this is the ugly, grotesque, unthinkable reality of a condition that ONE IN TWO OF US is heading straight for. That’s right, one in two of us is forecast to develop some form of dementia over the age of 85. And, for far too many of us, our best approach is to stick our heads firmly in the sand and just hope that it won’t be our name pulled out of the hat. And if it’s not us, then who? Our spouse? Our sister? Our best friend? (Incidentally, you may not be aware that Alzheimer’s, which is a terminal disease, affects far more women than men and that it kills far, far more women than breast cancer).

So that’s the bad news. Now time for the good. You ready? Here goes:

You don’t have to develop brain disease as you age.

Neither does your spouse, your sister or your best friend.

That’s because (just like heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and a host of other chronic conditions) brain decay is preventable.

How’s that for a kick-ass, once-in-a-lifetime saving?

Now, time for the small print (only, I’ll make it big).

If you don’t want to be the one in two, you have to do something and you have to do it from now. Because, the stuff that eats away at our brain health starts really early and by the time we don’t recognise our own kids, it’s too late.

So, once again, I give your Dr. David Perlmutter, world-renowned neurologist and expert on protecting the health of the brain. In just four minutes, you’ll hear him outline the basics of how to slash your risk of Alzheimer’s by up to 50% (you see, I did get to that saving I’d promised in my headline!).

Yes, there’s an awful lot more to say on the subject than he could squeeze into this mini interview (check out his book Grain Brain for the full story, or visit his website). But if you follow what he says here, you’ll be slashing your risk of brain decline – from today.

And of all the summer sale offers that hit your inbox this month, can you honestly tell me there’s anything more important than that?