The secret to a happy marriage may lie in having separate beds.

Sleeping in different beds helps couples avoid fights over blanket-hogging, snoring and kicking, said sleep expert Dr Neil Stanley in an ABC report.

"The problem with sharing your bed is that there is another person in that bed." said the University of Surrey academic, who sleeps separately from his wife. "(There's) hitting, kicking, punching, snoring, getting up to go to the bathroom."

He pointed out that poor sleep is linked to depression, heart disease, strokes, lung disorders, traffic and industrial accidents, and divorce.

But sleeping in separate beds is not a sign that the marriage is falling apart, he said.

"Not sleeping together does not preclude you from having intimacy.

"You can be very intimate but then not have to share the bed with the same person," he said.

Nonetheless, Mr Stanley told BBC that sleeping arrangements should remain unchanged if both parties are happy doing so.

"It's about what makes you happy. If you've been sleeping together and you both sleep perfectly well, then don't change, but don't be afraid to do something different," he said.

"We all know what it's like to have a cuddle and then say 'I'm going to sleep now' and go to the opposite side of the bed. So why not just toddle off down the landing?"