Keeping your heart healthy may play a role in keeping your memory sharp later in life, according to research published Wednesday in the journal Neurology.

Other factors, including not smoking, past high scores on cognitive tests and the presence of a particular gene variant, were also linked to better memory for people in their 90s, the study found.

“What’s good for the heart seems to be good for the brain and seems to be very important in avoiding Alzheimer’s disease,” the study’s lead author, Beth Snitz, an associate professor of neurology at the University of Pittsburgh, said.

Alzheimer’s disease