BED-LOVING Brits spend, on average, one month between the sheets - but not sleeping - every year.

However, they might not be spending that time doing what you think they get up to.

Because our favourite bedroom activity is actually - wait for it - thinking.

That's right - according to a survey by bed specialists Silentnight, the average Brit spends over 211 hours a year just lying in bed, simply mulling things over.

Body language expert Flic Everett explains: "Getting an early night doesn't mean the same as it used to. We're increasingly turning to our beds for relaxation. For some, it's the only place where they can get peace and quiet. It's also somewhere we can get clarity to make important decisions, and put our lives in order."

Spending 30 days wide awake in bed every single year - just over two hours a day - might be seen as lazy, but the poll of 3,000 people showed we like to make the most of those precious hours.

As well as thinking, we also like to improve our minds by reading in bed (an annual 84 hours each) and making decisions (nearly 22 hours).

Some of us even work in bed (59 hours), presumably office workers with laptops, or maybe teachers marking homework - probably not mechanics, though, or farmers.

We also spend nearly two days (44 hours) every year in bed talking with our partners or "gossiping with friends" (presumably on the phone.) Nearly 40 hours is consumed with, well, consuming - food and drink, that is. And we spend nearly eight hours every year either pampering or exercising in bed.

Watching TV is another favourite bedtime pastime, with the average Brit spending nearly 95 hours glued to the goggle-box in the bedroom.

Sorry to mention the S-E-X word, but the second most popular bedroom activity is making love, taking up 153 hours every year.

That's nearly a whole week's worth of nocturnal nookie - so how come, as a nation, we're so out of shape?