Would you pay $200,000 for a bed? A Swedish firm is hoping so

We all know that not getting enough rest can lead to chronic health problems, including increased blood pressure, heart disease and strokes. So how much would you pay to get a good night’s sleep? How about US$150,000 ($200,000)? Sold.

That’s what the ownership at Hastens, a firm founded in 1852 and based in Koping, Sweden, is betting on. The company claims that its beds “will change your life, and alter the way you think about sleep forever”. One thing’s for sure: Buying one of its newly updated Vividus beds will set you back a few bills. But hey, maybe it’s worth it.

The $150,000 bed in question. Photo: Hastens

Each bed is custom made for over 320 hours by four “master artisans”, using a slow-growing Swedish pinewood frame, a box-spring equipped with pure steel springs, layers of flax, horsetail hair, cotton and wool batting, all specially stacked … like a lasagne. The horsehair is braided and unbraided by hand and “acts as a miniature airway to wick moisture away so there’s no sweat build-up”.

Bloomberg’s James Gaddy reviewed the bed at the company’s New York showroom and fell in love. “I get in, and I start to see what they mean. My feet are supported unlike any other mattress I’ve ever slept on. It gives and holds in unusual, but always comfortable, ways.”

So enamoured was he that he started doing what customers usually do when they really, really want something: they rationalise. “If you keep it for 25 years and get eight hours of sleep every night, think of it as paying $2 every hour for the privilege of blissful, blissful sleep,” he says unconvincingly. Gaddy concludes that with a good night’s sleep, he can live longer, learn faster, function better, stay in better shape, and look younger.

Considering what people pay for a tiny apartment in New York, the price of this bed seems like just a drop in the bucket.