The new year is speeding up. Somehow, it’s March already. Many of us might be toying with the idea of augmenting our formerly rigorous — maybe overly ambitious — New Year’s resolutions to something a little gentler. Perhaps hitting the gym five days a week is seeming hasty. You’re not an Olympian, after all. And doesn’t that pint of ice cream look good?

But before you slide on your slippers and glide over to the recliner, let’s talk about where your body stores fat … and what that means for your brain.

A new study from researchers in China looked at health data from almost 26,000 people, paying close attention to links between brain health outcomes and different kinds of fat distributions. Two stood out: Fat in the pancreas, and what we colloquially know as “skinny fat.”

People with a significant percentage of fat in their pancreas also tended to have a high BMI and overall body fat load, authors said.

By contrast, those in the skinny fat category were characterized by a high weight-to-muscle ratio, and an even distribution of fat over the body.

These categories were associated with cognitive decline, a higher risk of brain disease and rapid aging of the mind.

Though the study focused on fat storage and its impact on brain health, researchers plan to tackle the relationship between these results and other important health outcomes, like metabolic diseases and those of the heart. One day, understand more about fat distributions might be able to help providers offer more personalized health advice.

In some ways, the takeaway of this study on fat comes down to the same thing a good realtor prioritizes: Location, location, location.