Sleep and Economics

I had a friend the other day who said he was not getting a bed anytime soon.  Even though his wife has fibromyalgia, and their mattress is over 15 years old.  This was my reasoning to him...

I asked why he was delaying the inevitable, he said it was because of the economy.  He is worried that his good job at a local powerhouse is in danger.  He mentioned another friend who was laid off recently.  He said "what if my job is next."  That is all valid reasoning.  It is important to not over stretch ones economic well being.  I asked him to truly tell me how likely he was to lose his job.  Turns out if he lost his job, we would probably be worse off than during the great depression of the 1930s.  His unit was making money, and he was in the top tier in sales productivity.  No company in their right mind, short of liquidation would let him go.

So I asked him if he was upside down on his mortgage.  He said no, he and his wife had managed to have the mortgage down to about $15,000 on a $200,000 house.  Did he have any debt?  No again, they stopped using credit cards years ago, the mortgage was their only debt.

Certainly then he must be concerned with his retirement, after all we are the same age, and retirement is much closer than we thought.  He has a fully funded 401K and other investments.

So I asked him what if he had the fibro?  He said he would still wait.  Wow, willing to endure that kind of pain, just because he did not want to spend the money.  I asked him how well he slept last night.  He said he slept fine, he could sleep on the floor if he had to, after all, it is nice and firm.

So I asked him how much sleep he gets through the week.  He answered that he gets 5 hours per night, that's all he needs.  I said why so little? As you know if you have read previous entries here, that is not enough sleep for most of the population.  And, since he was a friend, I lectured a little...

The bottom line, there is no good reason not to buy a new mattress in his situation.  He has the money to buy it, he is not stretched too thin, and his wife would appreciate the consideration.  Our macro economy is not good.  Most capital goods people, like mattress companies, appliance companies and car companies are seeing thin sales.  This is the best time to buy.  They have not raised prices, they are working on thinner margins.  In the case of our major vendor, Comfortaire, they have not had a price increase in over a year and a half.  When the economy starts percolating again, and it will ( do you doubt it? ), prices will start to edge up along with sales.  Waiting now only causes poor sleep and a higher price later. 

You spend roughly a third of your life in bed.  In contrast, you spend maybe a couple hours in your car.  And while I understand wanting a nice car, your productivity, overall health, and earning potential would be better served by driving an older car, and sleeping in a better bed.



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Now for the advertisement:  We are Hannah's Better Beds.  We sell Comfortaire and Sleepharmony mattresses.  They are among the best available from any manufacturer.  We offer value everyday.  A Comfortaire mattress could potentially last the rest of your life, if you take care of it properly.  Comfortaire has an A+ BBB rating, and Hannah's has not had one single BBB complaint in our entire existence.  Comfortaire mattresses are rated among the best by sites like SleepLiketheDead.com, yet they are competitive in price to the better spring entries from the likes of Serta, Sealy, Beauty Rest and the rest.  Generally they are less expensive than even entry level Tempurpedic mattresses.

Thanks for reading, and as always...

Sleep Well!