A poll of 2,000 adults has revealed how much of the daily routine takes place on mattresses, with Brits hitting the snooze button 402 times, consuming 103 cups of tea and engaging in 13 bed-based disputes in a single year.
Individuals experience 202 intimate moments, enjoy 18 breakfasts in bed and deal with nine food or drink spills each year. Bedrooms also serve as key locations for catch-ups, averaging three end-of-day debriefs per week, whether face-to-face or over the phone. Over a 12-month period, Brits watch approximately 44 films or TV programmes directly from their beds.
Favourite bedroom activities
Beyond sleep, favourite bedroom activities include reading books (23%), snuggling with a partner (20%) and enjoying quiet relaxation (15%). Unsurprisingly, 57% of people identify the bedroom as the sanctuary where they feel most comfortable and relaxed. Nearly one-third (31%) confessed they would gladly remain in bed all day if given the chance.
The research was commissioned by Silentnight in partnership with Professor Sasha Handley, a sleep historian at the University of Manchester, to mark its 80th anniversary and look at how the lifecycle of a mattress today fits into history.
Historical perspective on beds
Professor Sasha Handley said: “The modern-day mattress is such a key feature in our everyday lives. While beds are designed as spaces to sleep, they have never been used for that alone.”
“Across the centuries, beds have been places to read, socialise and recover from illness, with each generation bringing new habits and quirks to the bedroom,” she added. “What we sleep on has changed, but throughout that journey, the bed has remained a place of comfort, care and retreat, with individual rituals turning a bed from somewhere we sleep into a space that feels like our own.”
Sharing space and comfort priorities
The research also revealed how people share their space, with 26% regularly welcoming their children into bed. Pets prove more divisive, with 16% strongly in favour of sharing their bed with a furry companion, compared with 31% who are firmly against it, according to the OnePoll data.
Comfort sits at the heart of the bedroom’s appeal, with six in 10 saying their mattress is the most important element of their bed, ahead of fresh sheets (54%) and the duvet (37%). Despite all the other activities taking place on it, sleep remains the mattress’s primary role, with nearly all respondents (94%) believing their mattress is important for maintaining a good sleep routine and getting quality rest.
A further 88% say having the right mattress is important for their overall health. Yet despite the amount of time people spend on them, 22% admit they are unsure how often a mattress should be replaced.
Ian Lambert, from Silentnight, said: “The mattress we sleep on is integral to the quality of sleep we experience, yet so many of us still don’t understand what our mattress should do for us, how to choose the right option and when it’s time to say goodbye.”
“As we use our anniversary to take stock of the evolution of our mattresses and sleep habits and have some fun looking at the lifecycle of it in 2026, it’s an opportunity to celebrate just how far we’ve come with understanding sleep and the products that support it,” he added. “The main piece of advice is, as we’ve seen in the research, mattresses are personal to you and it’s about spending time understanding the options available to maximise comfort and sleep quality.”
