Sleepless nights can become the bane of your life, which is why it's worth considering investing in a decent mattress – beds should encourage, not discourage, a good night's sleep.

When most of us are looking forward to hitting the mattress and being tucked up in our beds, there's a proportion of society getting up from their beds and getting ready to start the night shift. Sleep researchers have long been interested in the impact night shifts have on our bodies. The fact is that the majority of us toss and turn on our beds, according to recent research, with almost 90% of us not getting the required eight hours' sleep. But for those on the night shift, their mattress and beds are even more difficult places to relax in.

Unhealthy Beds and the Graveyard Shift
Working night shifts is often referred to as doing the graveyard shift. And it's not just because it's the dead of night – nocturnal working has been shown to have potentially unhealthy side effects. Our bodies are hard wired to hit our mattress and beds when the sun has set, not when it's high in the sky. So shunning our mattress and beds and taking on a night-shift often means trouble sleeping. In fact, research has said night shifts have been linked to a higher risk of certain cancers – one research project found women have a 50% higher susceptibility to breast cancer if they worked at night for at least six months. Other research into our sleep patterns when we sleep in our beds through the day and work at night show a higher risk of heart problems, depression and fatigue. Artificial light disrupts our production of melatonin, which helps inhibit cancers and boosts our immune systems – which is why night workers are thought to be more vulnerable.

Hitting the Mattress – Daytime Dozing
It's thought shunning our beds at night and leaving our mattress behind to do an eight hour shift can also impact on our diets and hearts. Night workers tend to eat poorly as they need a proper dinner when their body tells them its breakfast time. But some people thrive on the night shift as how we sleep in our beds can be an individual thing, with short sleepers, late sleepers and night owls – night owls are more suited to night work. But night workers, such as doctors on shift, say the routine takes over – leaving no room for anything but work and sleep. And hitting the mattress in the daytime poses a set of problems too – daylight, noise and activity can all create disturbed sleep patterns for those trying to doze off in their beds when everyone else is up and about.

Snug memory foam mattresses are designed and manufactured with your best night’s sleep in mind. All the mattresses are available online and direct from Snug only and our aim is to give you the best-performing mattresses and the best customer service available. Our memory foam mattresses are hypo-allergenic, temperature sensitive and come complete with 5 or 15 year guarantees. You can shop online straight away, or call us on 0800 0277017 if you need help with anything.


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