Who’s Been Sleeping in My Uni Bed? Bensons for Beds releases University FoI Data

University Freedom of Information requests show wide variety of mattress ages and replacement cycles

Ahead of student’s excitement of leaving home for college – and perhaps a little parental anxiety – Bensons for Beds today revealed the results of the Freedom of Information requests it made to Britain’s Top 25 Universities[, asking about the condition of the mattresses in University-owned or operated accommodation.

And the results may raise questions for parents as to whether their teenagers will be getting the good quality sleep they’ll need to study, on a clean, supportive mattress

The responses, covering over 100,000 mattresses across the UK, showed a wide variety of answers to questions about how old university mattresses were and what kind of replacement cycles were in operation.

Of those that were able to answer, students (and parents) heading to the Universities of Bath, Birmingham, Southampton, Kings College London, Surrey and York will be reassured that their mattresses will be relatively new.

The University of York confirmed it had a policy of replacing mattresses every five years, The University of Surrey said its mattresses were between three and seven years old and the University of Bath said the average age of one of their mattresses was 4.5 years.

Alongside the University of York, the Universities of Bath and Edinburgh University also said they replaced mattresses on a five-year cycle.

While the University of Southampton had 86 student requests in the last academic year to change a mattress, it rightly pointed out that many of those requests related to preferences of mattress firmness as opposed to being due to an issue with the mattress itself.

While almost all universities who responded to the request said they checked mattresses annually for wear and tear, some had extended or even no formal replacement cycles.

The University of Sheffield’s replacement cycle was 7-10 years, Kings College 8-10 years and Liverpool, Warwick, Lancaster, Oxford and Durham universities had no formal replacement cycle.

Bensons recommends mattresses are replaced every 7-8 years and publishes a helpful guide to assessing the condition of a mattress at https://www.bensonsforbeds.co.uk/sleep-hub/top-seven-signs-your-mattress-needs-replacing/.

For parents concerned about the age or condition of the mattress their teenager will be sleeping on, Bensons offers some peace-of-mind solutions.

They include mattress protectors, high quality convenient rolled mattresses from Bensons and eveSleep,  as well as its innovative Bed Guard Care Kit, containing fabric fresheners, stain removers and a dust mite inhibitor.

Robust mattress protectors from Bensons start at just £22.99 for a waterproof Slumberland protector and Bensons also carries a full range of bedding including duvets and pillows to make sure students can get the rest they need at their new college or university.

“Good quality sleep is so fundamental to good mental health and being able to focus on study. And clearly some universities are doing a decent job looking after the sleep needs of their students,” said Lara Purcell, director of innovation and marketing at Bensons for Beds.

“But we’d encourage them all to have a formal mattress replacement cycle and/or cleaning programme alongside their regular checks for wear and tear.”