Our editors handpick the products that we feature. We may earn commission from the links on this page.

My most extravagant purchase since turning 50 wasn’t an “Eat, Pray, Love” trip or a pricey piece of art. It was an investment in my health: a mattress.

My last big spending spree was at Barneys New York right before it closed forever in February 2020. I bought a gorgeous leather jacket from The Row. “This is a real investment piece,” I told myself, “and Barneys is closing. It’s the end of an era, and this jacket is on sale.” (The marked-down price was slashed to about $1,100.) It’s now more than two years later and I’m still afraid to actually wear it out of the house.

Those were the Sex and the City days, with a once-in-a-blue-moon splurge sprinkled here and there. The big, expensive purchase I made this year? A new mattress. And just like that…my NYC Carrie Bradshaw life just hit middle age. Now I’m Carrie Bradshaw 2.0, after the hip surgery.

Like the fictional Carrie B., I’m a freelance writer in NYC, but as a real life writer, a lavish expenditure is pretty rare—and very special. For me to buy something that costs any more than $800 is actually a big deal.

I’d been considering buying a new bed for about a decade. My old mattress was purchased by my now ex-husband when we moved to Manhattan 20 years ago. Since that time, a lot has happened, including our divorce. The bed clearly had bad hoodoo, and yet over the past eight years, I’ve schlepped it to three different apartments. (Is that a metaphor for psychological baggage or what?)

The old mattress had bad vibes, for sure, but it was hurting me in physical ways, too. I would struggle out of bed with a sore neck, back, and all-over body aches. I wasn’t sleeping well, and when I woke up in the middle of the night, it was almost impossible to get back to sleep on this Fred Flintstone slab. I tried a series of “Princess and the Pea” mattress toppers, including a featherbed one (too hot) and a pricey memory foam topper (too firm). Nothing worked.

The average life span of a mattress is approximately eight years. A good one that’s not used as a trampoline by your kids can last 10 years, according to Consumer Reports. Think about it: If my bed were human, it would have graduated from college by now. I always figured that this mattress replacement thing was an urban myth or some conspiracy run by mattress companies to get us to buy new ones whether we needed them or not. I’m a small, relatively lightweight person, and sadly, there’s not that much non-sleeping action happening on my bed. I mean, how much damage could I do?

Apparently, a lot, considering that I’ve logged hundreds of thousands of hours lying on it for the past two decades. “What we do for prolonged periods of time affects the health and integrity of our bodies, whether it be sleeping, sitting, or standing for six to eight hours at a time,” says Sally Elsakary, a physical therapist based in NYC. “If your mattress has obvious signs of wear and tear, like permanent dents and sagging in certain areas, or if you are waking up with muscle stiffness or pain, these are signs that it no longer supports the curvatures of your body properly.” Hmmm, like the ex-husband who purchased it, my old mattress was no longer comfortable, nor supportive. It had to go.

Finally breaking down and paying up for a new bed had been on my to-do list for years, but I’d chosen to spend big money on a new iPhone when my old one died, or on that leather jacket I never wear. I didn’t get serious about replacing my mattress until I was on a press trip and stayed overnight at a Four Seasons Resort. I went to sleep and woke up a new person. It was downright evangelical. My body didn’t hurt. I didn’t have a headache, I slept like a baby! I decided that morning that I had to buy a new bed—that bed. But it turns out that my Four Seasons epiphany soon segued into the Four Seasons reality. Oh, I could buy the mattress, but the price of a queen size is $2,849.

I asked about an editorial discount. No. Do they ever go on sale? No. Did I buy this bed? No.

It was time for a Plan B. There had to be another mattress out there that was high-priced within reason. And, indeed, like many things in life, the next best thing turned out to be just right. A couple friends had purchased Saatva mattresses and recommended them highly. So I actually trekked to the Saatva store in Manhattan to test-drive (or test-rest?) a couple mattresses IRL—old-school style. I chose the Classic Luxury Firm—the Goldilocks bed, neither too soft nor too firm. The price tag: $1,495, with a sale discount that saved me a couple hundred bucks. (Cheaper than the Four Seasons’, but still an eye-popping number.)

I justified this lavish payment as a one-time thing. “This will definitely be my deathbed,” I said, (jokingly?) as I plunked down my credit card, “because I’m not buying another one again.” The salesperson laughed uncomfortably, and then said, “You’re not that old. You’ll probably need another one at some point.”

The first sleep on my new bed and my excitement and expectations were sky-high. In the morning, my neck and back didn’t feel stiff or achy. Over time I noticed that my insomnia improved. When I woke up in the middle of the night, I was able to get back to sleep faster and easier, and I attribute that to feeling more comfortable and supported on my new bed. And the “new” is key. A 2007 study found that people who began sleeping on a new mattress had a better quality of sleep and less back discomfort. It didn’t matter what kind of mattress it was, just that it was new. (The average age of the participants’ original mattresses was 9.5 years, so, by those standards, my old slab belonged in the Smithsonian.)

As major splurges go, a mattress isn’t as exciting as the hefty price tag would imply. It’s not as thrilling as a trip to Paris, or The Row’s (gulp!) leather jacket. It’s not an absolute necessity, like updating an obsolete laptop, or as urgently mandatory as replacing a broken appliance. But it did change my life. I sleep better now, and I feel better overall. What I initially considered to be an expensive and unnecessary indulgence turned out to be one of the best purchases I’ve made in the past 10 years: an investment in me and my health.

Albert Ellis Says to Stop “Should-ing” on Yourself

These 12 Pillows Will Help Relieve Neck Pain

Why Banning Menthol Cigarettes Matters

Friday Inspiration: Break "the Striver's Curse"

Stacy London Wants to Talk About Menopause

A Case for Embracing Stress

How to Be Your Own Best Advocate

All About Hormone Therapy for Perimenopause

For Women of Color, Menopause Is Different

What You Need to Know About Perimenopause

Find Happiness by Caring Less About Everything

How This Brooklyn Survivalist Mom Faced Covid

Our editors handpick the products that we feature. We may earn commission from the links on this page.

©Oprah Daily LLC. All rights reserved.