Put Your Money in Your Mattress

A well-to-do friend once told me that her dad always said, "To save money, get the best tires and the best mattress." When you think about it, that makes good sense. Poor-quality tires or a cheaply made mattress can both be disastrous.

We took that pragmatic thinking a few steps further when we developed our organic mattress. Not only did we want our mattress to be comfortable, but we wanted it to last a long, long time. And it will.

One interesting comparison to ponder is the expense of purchasing and owning of a car versus buying a natural mattress. Using just purchase costs and conservative figures, we came up with this chart. (It's accounting-geeky, but we like it.)

What can a car contribute to your health? Or conversely, how might a cheap mattress compromise your health? It's pretty safe to say that a better car with fancier options will not make you healthier. It's tantalizing to throw money into vehicle frills - they're very visible, after all, so for the minutes or the hour you spend in your car every day, or the time you spend admiring it in the driveway (busted!) they can be awfully nice. But sometimes when juggling these decisions, people can be a little short sighted about where the value for money invested really lies.

After all, a mattress is a place where you and your family spend a tremendous amount of time—a great deal of your lives, actually. And the quality of your sleep makes a difference ALL of the time, during the day as well as the night.

No mattress can guarantee better sleep, of course. But it's certainly legitimate to say that a very good one—a supportive, nontoxic, naturally hypoallergenic, organic mattress that allows you to stay in Stage 3 and Stage 4 sleep longer—offers you the potential for innumerable benefits, including more energy and better quality of life. A lack of restful sleep has been linked to many diseases as well as to reduced productivity.

If you'd like to consider it in ROI (return on investment) terms, a healthy sleeper will be more productive and likely even earn more money over time than the same person who tosses and turns all night on a miserable mattress. A healthy sleeper can even avoid or at least delay many medical expenses.

So when it comes time to plan your spending, reason says that your bed is much more important to your health and pursuit of happiness than your car!

A flashy car might attract a mate, but the mattress is where you'll feel the love.

Michael Penny is the founder of Savvy Rest Organic Mattresses and an expert on body dynamics and sleep issues. An entrepreneur and a yoga practitioner, Penny brings a unique perspective to the natural mattress industry.