Gary Brecka

Plus, as we age, sleep naturally becomes more fragmented and less deep, the very restorative stages of sleep that we need most decline with age.

So just when we need high quality sleep the most to protect us against cognitive decline, our bodies start getting worse at achieving it.

Most people think sleep is purely about achieving a certain number of hours, but here's what the actual research shows.

Consistency matters as much as duration.

The Nature study that I mentioned earlier found that irregular sleep patterns

Going to bed and waking up at different times each day were associated with worse outcomes, even when total sleep time was adequate.

Your body thrives on routine.

Your circadian rhythm is designed to anticipate when sleep is coming and prepare your physiology accordingly.

The people who live the longest

and maintain the best cognitive function aren't sleeping nine or 10 hours every night.

They're sleeping seven to eight hours on a consistent schedule.

That means the same bedtime and the same wake time, even on weekends.

So rather than me giving you a long list of sleep hygiene tips that you've heard thousands of times, let's focus on four things that actually move the needle.

Lock in your sleep schedule first.

Before you worry about supplements, establish a consistent bedtime and wake time.

This is the foundation everything else is built on.

Even if you can't control exactly how much sleep you get every night, controlling when you sleep has massive benefits.

The second thing you should do is build your environment the right way.

While most people hear this and think about eliminating bright light and cooling the room at night, this goes all the way down to what you're sleeping on.

When I realized that we spend a third of our life asleep on our mattress, I started to understand just how much it actually matters.