Doctor explains people who never get dementia make the same decision within 30 minutes of waking up

Dementia rates could potentially reduce across the globe if people start adopting a new morning routine.

Drawing upon neurological experiment statistics, YouTube content creator Dr Neal K. Shah has explained in a video that nonagenarians (people in their 90s) who remain 'cognitively sharp' all boast the same approach to waking up every day.

Rather poetically, it's all down to direct sunlight, the source of Vitamin D.

Here's what Dr Shah began his life-extending monologue: "Neurologists studied people who stayed cognitively sharp into their 90s and they kept finding the same thing in their morning routine. But first, you need to understand what happens to your brain at night."

While we're sleeping, the human brain completes a full cleaning cycle every night, washing away the very toxic proteins that accumulate in Alzheimer's patients.

Dr Neal K. Shah wants everybody to stare at the sun to retain their cognitive sharpness way into their winter years (YouTube/@nealkshah)

"Here's what most people don't know: the quality of tonight's cleaning cycle is determined by what you do tomorrow morning," the doctor continued in his piece to camera.

"Within the first 30 minutes of waking, most people grab their phone, scroll, and in doing so they accidentally sabotage the most protective thing in their ageing brain.

"Your brain has a master clock, one specific trigger sets it every morning. Get it right and tonight's sleep is deep and restorative, get it wrong for years and the proteins will start building up. This habit is free, it takes 10 minutes and almost nobody does it deliberately."

So what exactly is he talking about here? Sunlight straight into the eyeballs, without melting the retinas and blinding yourself forever of course...

"Within the first 30 minutes of waking, before any screens, even before coffee, before anything. That one decision sets your cortisol levels, your melatonin and your brain's overnight cleaning cycle."

Staring into direct sunlight first thing in the morning can do wonders for neurological health (Deng Daoli/VCG via Getty Images)

Even though Dr Shah clearly meant well, some fellow YouTubers weren't ready to fully embrace the concept.

"Dementia has been around longer than smart phones," read one blunt response, which was echoed by another: "Dementia has been around much longer than cell phones. Can you show that the rate of dementia has greatly increased in the last 20 years?"

"When you live somewhere that has very little sunlight, it is impossible to do this every day," highlighted a third person who almost certainly lives in the UK.

Somebody else revealed: "A month back I started getting up to see the sunrise. Now it is a habit. I naturally wake just before it rises, whatever the time, as if by magic. I see sunset too. It really works to help with sleep. I did not know it helped with cognitive support! Love it!"

Elsewhere in the comment section, 'robust curiosity' was also promoted as a way of sharpening the tools of the mind.