Hastings Hotels Announces Results of Largest Ever Sleep Survey

Snoring Announced Northern Ireland’s Most Annoying Habit in Bed

Three times more people rate their partner’s snoring (43 per cent) as the most annoying habit in bed, than the next most hated characteristic, stealing the duvet (13 per cent), the Hastings Hotels National Sleep Survey has found. Northern Ireland’s leading collection of hotels surveyed 8,500 people to find out what really influences our sleeping and bedtime habits.

Other annoying habits include partners coming to bed late (7.5 per cent) and using screens (4.6 per cent).

Respondents cited partners pretending not to hear the children during the night, playing videos in bed and waking them up to say that they were snoring as some of the most annoying night-time irritations.

Despite all of this, 42 per cent of people prefer to have company in bed while a sleep-loving 24 per cent like it all to themselves.

The perfect combination for a good night’s sleep is a good mattress, comfortable bedding and the correct room temperature, according to three quarters of respondents.

“Room temperature and noise were the two top factors inhibiting sleep followed by uncomfortable pillows and mattresses,” said Julie Hastings, Marketing Director of Hastings Hotels, recently voted Ireland’s top luxury hotel group.

“When it comes to winding down, one in four said that reading a book or listening to music helps them achieve a restful sleep. Meditation, a hot bath or a warm drink are the go-to solutions for the remaining 25 per cent of people.”

The large majority of those surveyed – 69 per cent – sleep between six and eight hours a night, with 22 per cent of respondents getting between four and six hours.

“Bed quality features as one of the top factors for a good night’s sleep and influences almost three-quarters of hotel bookings. We are delighted to find that nine out of ten respondents who had stayed in a Hastings Hotel rated it either high quality or very high quality.

“Our Cloud Beds, which are now famous in their own right, are made bespoke for us by King Koil in Kildare and feature a deep pillow layer, hand filled with blends of soft cushioning for that ‘floating on clouds’ experience. We also offers guests the chance to enjoy a Spacemask, a jasmine infused, self-heating eye-mask, which is the ultimate in interstellar relaxation. For the month of October when overnight guests check-in and quote SWEET DREAMS on arrival at one of our seven luxurious hotels they will receive one with our compliments,” Julie added.

Phil McCartan, Hastings Hotels’ resident sleep expert and housekeeping manager at the Stormont Hotel who has taught Gary Barlow, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and Chris Evans how to make a bed, has put together her top tips on getting a good night’s sleep.

• Avoid Caffeine: Limit your caffeine intake in the hours before bed. Caffeine is a stimulant and can affect your quality of sleep.

• Nightly brain dump: Write down any stresses or worries you might have before going to bed and leave them on the piece of paper.

• Switch Off: A recent study showed that using an iPad set at top brightness for two hours suppresses the normal night-time release of melatonin, the sleep hormone. Try to also have at least an hour before bed without TV, phones or computers.

• Sunlight: Spend more time outdoors, especially at the beginning and end of the day. The less connected you are to natural cycles of darkness and light, the harder it is to adjust to the time change.

Hastings Hotels were recently voted Ireland’s top luxury hotel group in the Travel Media Awards and have earned a host of accolades at the Luxury Lifestyle Magazine Awards. The Grand Central Hotel in Belfast was named as the Best City Hotel and the Slieve Donard was voted the Best Spa Wellness Resort in the UK magazine’s readers’ awards.

Visit Hastings Hotels for more information (www.hastingshotels.com / +44 (0)28 9047 1066)