diff --git a/distaff/src/context.rs b/distaff/src/context.rs
index d17ce6d..5902a7e 100644
--- a/distaff/src/context.rs
+++ b/distaff/src/context.rs
@@ -19,28 +19,25 @@ use crate::{
 };
 
 pub struct Heartbeat {
-    heartbeat: AtomicU8,
     pub latch: HeartbeatLatch,
 }
 
 impl Heartbeat {
-    pub const CLEAR: u8 = 0;
-    pub const PENDING: u8 = 1;
-    pub const SLEEPING: u8 = 2;
-
-    pub fn new() -> (Arc<CachePadded<Self>>, Weak<CachePadded<Self>>) {
-        let strong = Arc::new(CachePadded::new(Self {
-            heartbeat: AtomicU8::new(Self::CLEAR),
+    pub fn new() -> NonNull<CachePadded<Self>> {
+        let ptr = Box::new(CachePadded::new(Self {
             latch: HeartbeatLatch::new(),
         }));
-        let weak = Arc::downgrade(&strong);
 
-        (strong, weak)
+        Box::into_non_null(ptr)
     }
 
     pub fn is_pending(&self) -> bool {
         self.latch.as_core_latch().poll_heartbeat()
     }
+
+    pub fn is_sleeping(&self) -> bool {
+        self.latch.as_core_latch().is_sleeping()
+    }
 }
 
 pub struct Context {
@@ -50,7 +47,7 @@ pub struct Context {
 
 pub(crate) struct Shared {
     pub jobs: BTreeMap<usize, NonNull<Job>>,
-    pub heartbeats: BTreeMap<usize, Weak<CachePadded<Heartbeat>>>,
+    pub heartbeats: BTreeMap<usize, NonNull<CachePadded<Heartbeat>>>,
     injected_jobs: Vec<NonNull<Job>>,
     heartbeat_count: usize,
     should_exit: bool,
@@ -59,15 +56,15 @@ pub(crate) struct Shared {
 unsafe impl Send for Shared {}
 
 impl Shared {
-    pub fn new_heartbeat(&mut self) -> (Arc<CachePadded<Heartbeat>>, usize) {
+    pub fn new_heartbeat(&mut self) -> (NonNull<CachePadded<Heartbeat>>, usize) {
         let index = self.heartbeat_count;
         self.heartbeat_count = index.wrapping_add(1);
 
-        let (strong, weak) = Heartbeat::new();
+        let heatbeat = Heartbeat::new();
 
-        self.heartbeats.insert(index, weak);
+        self.heartbeats.insert(index, heatbeat);
 
-        (strong, index)
+        (heatbeat, index)
     }
 
     pub(crate) fn remove_heartbeat(&mut self, index: usize) {
@@ -91,12 +88,12 @@ impl Shared {
     }
 
     pub fn notify_job_shared(&self) {
-        _ = self.heartbeats.iter().find(|(_, heartbeat)| {
-            if let Some(heartbeat) = heartbeat.upgrade() {
-                heartbeat.latch.signal_job_shared();
-                true
+        _ = self.heartbeats.iter().find(|(_, heartbeat)| unsafe {
+            if heartbeat.as_ref().is_sleeping() {
+                heartbeat.as_ref().latch.signal_job_shared();
+                return true;
             } else {
-                false
+                return false;
             }
         });
     }
@@ -166,11 +163,10 @@ impl Context {
         let mut shared = self.shared.lock();
         shared.should_exit = true;
         for (_, heartbeat) in shared.heartbeats.iter() {
-            if let Some(heartbeat) = heartbeat.upgrade() {
-                heartbeat.latch.signal_job_shared();
+            unsafe {
+                heartbeat.as_ref().latch.signal_job_shared();
             }
         }
-        self.shared_job.notify_all();
     }
 
     pub fn new() -> Arc<Self> {
@@ -199,7 +195,7 @@ impl Context {
         // current thread is not in the same context, create a job and inject it into the other thread's context, then wait while working on our jobs.
 
         // SAFETY: we are waiting on this latch in this thread.
-        let latch = unsafe { UnsafeWakeLatch::new(&raw const worker.heartbeat.latch) };
+        let latch = unsafe { UnsafeWakeLatch::new(&raw const worker.heartbeat().latch) };
 
         let job = StackJob::new(
             move || {
diff --git a/distaff/src/join.rs b/distaff/src/join.rs
index ce2f2d0..11f4642 100644
--- a/distaff/src/join.rs
+++ b/distaff/src/join.rs
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ impl WorkerThread {
 
         // SAFETY: this thread's heartbeat latch is valid until the job sets it
         // because we will be waiting on it.
-        let latch = unsafe { UnsafeWakeLatch::new(&raw const (*self.heartbeat).latch) };
+        let latch = unsafe { UnsafeWakeLatch::new(&raw const self.heartbeat().latch) };
 
         let a = StackJob::new(a, LatchRef::new(&latch));
 
diff --git a/distaff/src/latch.rs b/distaff/src/latch.rs
index a3b6740..989fed0 100644
--- a/distaff/src/latch.rs
+++ b/distaff/src/latch.rs
@@ -414,12 +414,10 @@ impl Latch for WakeLatch {
             if CoreLatch::set(&(&*this).inner) {
                 let ctx = WorkerThread::current_ref().unwrap().context.clone();
                 // If the latch was sleeping, wake the worker thread
-                ctx.shared().heartbeats.get(&worker_index).and_then(|weak| {
-                    weak.upgrade().map(|heartbeat| {
-                        // we set the latch to wake the worker so it knows to check the heartbeat
-                        heartbeat.latch.signal_job_finished()
-                    })
-                });
+                ctx.shared()
+                    .heartbeats
+                    .get(&worker_index)
+                    .map(|ptr| ptr.as_ref().latch.signal_job_finished());
             }
         }
     }
@@ -591,7 +589,7 @@ mod tests {
             tracing::info!("worker thread started: {:?}", worker.index);
             let latch = Arc::new(WakeLatch::new(worker.index));
             worker.context.spawn({
-                let heartbeat = worker.heartbeat.clone();
+                let heartbeat = unsafe { crate::util::Send::new(worker.heartbeat) };
                 let barrier = barrier.clone();
                 let count = count.clone();
                 let latch = latch.clone();
@@ -599,7 +597,9 @@ mod tests {
                     tracing::info!("sleeping workerthread");
 
                     latch.as_core_latch().set_sleeping();
-                    heartbeat.latch.wait_and_reset();
+                    unsafe {
+                        heartbeat.as_ref().latch.wait_and_reset();
+                    }
                     tracing::info!("woken up workerthread");
                     count.fetch_add(1, Ordering::SeqCst);
                     tracing::info!("waiting on barrier");
diff --git a/distaff/src/util.rs b/distaff/src/util.rs
index 93ac342..ddc9ec1 100644
--- a/distaff/src/util.rs
+++ b/distaff/src/util.rs
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ impl<T> core::fmt::Pointer for SendPtr<T> {
     }
 }
 
-unsafe impl<T> Send for SendPtr<T> {}
+unsafe impl<T> core::marker::Send for SendPtr<T> {}
 
 impl<T> Deref for SendPtr<T> {
     type Target = NonNull<T>;
@@ -408,6 +408,30 @@ pub fn available_parallelism() -> usize {
         .unwrap_or(1)
 }
 
+#[repr(transparent)]
+pub struct Send<T>(pub(self) T);
+
+unsafe impl<T> core::marker::Send for Send<T> {}
+
+impl<T> Deref for Send<T> {
+    type Target = T;
+
+    fn deref(&self) -> &Self::Target {
+        &self.0
+    }
+}
+impl<T> DerefMut for Send<T> {
+    fn deref_mut(&mut self) -> &mut Self::Target {
+        &mut self.0
+    }
+}
+
+impl<T> Send<T> {
+    pub unsafe fn new(value: T) -> Self {
+        Self(value)
+    }
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
diff --git a/distaff/src/workerthread.rs b/distaff/src/workerthread.rs
index b497ac3..ac66786 100644
--- a/distaff/src/workerthread.rs
+++ b/distaff/src/workerthread.rs
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ pub struct WorkerThread {
     pub(crate) context: Arc<Context>,
     pub(crate) index: usize,
     pub(crate) queue: UnsafeCell<JobList>,
-    pub(crate) heartbeat: Arc<CachePadded<Heartbeat>>,
+    pub(crate) heartbeat: NonNull<CachePadded<Heartbeat>>,
     pub(crate) join_count: Cell<u8>,
 }
 
@@ -26,6 +26,11 @@ impl Drop for WorkerThread {
     fn drop(&mut self) {
         // remove the current worker thread from the heartbeat list
         self.context.shared().remove_heartbeat(self.index);
+
+        // SAFETY: we removed the heartbeat from the context, so we can safely drop it.
+        unsafe {
+            _ = Box::from_non_null(self.heartbeat);
+        }
     }
 }
 
@@ -45,6 +50,11 @@ impl WorkerThread {
             join_count: Cell::new(0),
         }
     }
+
+    pub(crate) fn heartbeat(&self) -> &CachePadded<Heartbeat> {
+        // SAFETY: the heartbeat is always set when the worker thread is created
+        unsafe { self.heartbeat.as_ref() }
+    }
 }
 
 impl WorkerThread {
@@ -88,7 +98,7 @@ impl WorkerThread {
             }
 
             // no more jobs, wait to be notified of a new job or a heartbeat.
-            match self.heartbeat.latch.wait_and_reset() {
+            match self.heartbeat().latch.wait_and_reset() {
                 crate::latch::WakeResult::Wake => {
                     let mut guard = self.context.shared();
                     if guard.should_exit() {
@@ -111,7 +121,7 @@ impl WorkerThread {
 impl WorkerThread {
     #[inline(always)]
     pub(crate) fn tick(&self) {
-        if self.heartbeat.is_pending() {
+        if self.heartbeat().is_pending() {
             tracing::trace!("received heartbeat, thread id: {:?}", self.index);
             self.heartbeat_cold();
         }
@@ -220,22 +230,16 @@ impl HeartbeatThread {
         let mut i = 0;
         loop {
             let sleep_for = {
-                let mut guard = self.ctx.shared();
+                let guard = self.ctx.shared();
                 if guard.should_exit() {
                     break;
                 }
 
-                let mut n = 0;
-                guard.heartbeats.retain(|_, b| {
-                    b.upgrade()
-                        .inspect(|heartbeat| {
-                            if n == i {
-                                heartbeat.latch.signal_heartbeat();
-                            }
-                            n += 1;
-                        })
-                        .is_some()
-                });
+                if let Some((_, heartbeat)) = guard.heartbeats.iter().nth(i) {
+                    unsafe {
+                        heartbeat.as_ref().latch.signal_heartbeat();
+                    }
+                }
                 let num_heartbeats = guard.heartbeats.len();
 
                 drop(guard);
@@ -313,7 +317,7 @@ impl WorkerThread {
 
                             tracing::trace!("thread {:?} is sleeping", self.index);
 
-                            match self.heartbeat.latch.wait_and_reset() {
+                            match self.heartbeat().latch.wait_and_reset() {
                                 // why were we woken up?
                                 // 1. the heartbeat thread ticked and set the
                                 // latch, so we should see if we have any work