Nadine Liersaph spent $12,000 on her sleeping setup, a split California king bed and adjustable bed frame combo. It’s massive, with a heavy metal base that lets her adjust the entire bed at once or each side individually. It’s easily the heftiest bed setup I’ve ever sat on and puts my traditional queen to shame.
She loves that she can sit up to watch TV and then lay the bed flat to sleep. She says she’d never go back to a normal bed.
“The older I’ve gotten, the more I realize that a good night’s sleep is worth a pot of gold,” she tells me. “It’s the most important thing you can buy in your life.”
Liersaph’s in good company when it comes to spending money on a better bedtime. Worldwide revenue for the sleep industry — covering everything from beds to sleep aids to wearables — was $63.9 billion in 2023, and it’s forecast to grow to $108.21 billion by 2032.
It’s not hard to see why. Sleep isn’t something you can ignore. Prolonged sleep deprivation has been linked to serious health conditions like heart disease, hypertension and stroke. This is bad news for the approximately 50 million to 70 million Americans who struggle with chronic sleep disorders, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
When you’ve slept poorly, it impacts everything: your ability to concentrate, your mood and how you perceive the world.
That’s probably why we’re all paying a lot more attention to sleep — not just the duration but also the quality. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, one in three Americans use sleep trackers. Our whole sleep history is on our wrists, in our phones and in our heads. From bedtime reminders and silenced notifications with the Apple Watch to getting a sleep score from Fitbit, we live in a bubble of sleep data.
Kevin Chon, co-founder of Coop Sleep Goods, a Southern California retailer, sees wearables and their sleep data as a big deal.
“People are a lot more data-oriented these days,” Chon tells me. “So when people realize that ‘I can try this and see an improvement,’ it almost gamifies things.”
Sleeping itself doesn’t cost a thing, but making sure you’re comfortable can sometimes cost a lot. You can get by on a creaky old mattress or lumpy pillows for only so long before it impacts how well you sleep, which can influence your overall health.
It’s easy to overspend on sleep products
Many of us will do just about anything to get quality sleep — and unfortunately, sometimes we waste money on buying the wrong things.
Take Caitlin Bowers, a 28-year-old digital product copy manager at department store chain Belk, who invested $5,300 in her sleep upfront when she moved into a new apartment. “We went way too heavily into a really nice mattress because we were young and dumb,” she says.
Bowers wasn’t looking to solve any specific sleep-related issues. Instead, she needed to build her bedroom from the ground up when she moved to an apartment in South Carolina. She bought her bed six years ago and financed her mattress and base combo for four years before paying it off. And while she loves her bed, she knows now she didn’t need to spend so much.
“We got pressured into getting an expensive mattress and base that we ended up financing for a while with no interest, but it was still a monthly payment that we took on because they had us convinced that was going to change the quality of our sleep,” Bowers says.
With the relentless ads and influencers recommending things that helped them hack their sleep, there’s no shortage of products that promise results. From mattresses and pillows to sleep gummies, high-tech sleep masks and cooling covers for your bed, there’s a lot out there. It can be overwhelming. You could easily drain your bank account chasing potential solutions.
While some people spend a significant chunk of money on their sleep every month, others get by just fine with their bare-minimum bedroom setup and maybe some no-cost meditation before tucking themselves in for the night.
Sometimes, it can feel like a catch-22. But it is possible to get better sleep at any budget level.
How much would you spend for better sleep?
The big question is: How much should you spend to sleep better?
A CNET survey in October found that US adults say they would spend, on average, $78 per month or just under $1,000 a year to sleep better.
A better mattress was what 37% of people said they would invest in to improve their sleep, while 32% would invest in new bedding. Liersaph says her $12,000 mattress setup is one of the best purchases she’s ever made, but she also still uses other sleep products out of necessity. She lives with ocular melanoma and has chronic pain that disrupts her sleep, so when she buys products, she’s doing so with relief in mind.
“I go through a lot of issues with a lot of pain and hot flashes, and it wakes me up,” Liersaph tells me. In addition to using sleep gummies, she uses a massaging eye mask that can change temperature to relieve eye pain and help her sleep.
See also: I Was Always Waking Up Tired. I Used Tech and Science to Sleep Better
Liersaph, who’s worked for 30 years in the restaurant industry, spends approximately $50 monthly on products like sleep gummies and the Breethe sleep app she uses for its meditation feature. For more than a third (37%) of the CNET survey respondents, that’s as high as they would go — they wouldn’t spend more than $50 per month for better sleep.
Samantha Teague, a 29-year-old workflow orchestrator at Charlotte Radiology, spends about $10 each month on her sleep, primarily to battle bouts of insomnia.
“I just picked up a box of sleep tea today, and then sometimes I’ll pick up some melatonin,” Teague says. “It changes if I’m struggling to sleep.”
You don’t have to delve into the commercial side of sleep at all, of course, especially if you don’t have medical or sleep-related issues requiring products or supplements. There are many science-backed ways to focus on your sleep without spending an extra dime, like cutting back on caffeine or skipping alcohol before bed.
“Most people don’t need to spend money to sleep better,” Dr. David Kuhlmann, spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, says in an email.
Instead, Kuhlmann suggests that one of the most effective ways to improve sleep is to take a look at your sleep hygiene, or your habits and practices around sleep.
Many sleep struggles come down to your circadian rhythm, or the sleep-wake cycle regulated by your body’s production of melatonin, a naturally occurring hormone. Melatonin production is regulated by light. As the sun goes down, melatonin is released in the brain and we get tired; as the sun rises and we’re exposed to light, we wake up.
That’s how it’s supposed to work, anyway. When it doesn’t — because we’re on our phones too much and too late at night; because of work or family stress — we look for solutions. And that brings us back to opening our wallets.
Sleep essentials don’t come cheap
Over the last three years, I’ve tested dozens of sleep products, and cost is always one of the first things that comes to mind. I’ve seen products at all sorts of price levels, including $800 sheets and a $1,600 smart mattress topper.
Let’s take a moment to consider the base cost of sleep, looking at the basic necessities: a bed, a pillow, sheets and a blanket. Here, I’m going to work from the best overall picks based on CNET’s years of testing and reviewing mattresses and sleep products.
It all starts with a mattress. There’s a huge price range for beds, from budget options that will cost only a few hundred to luxury options that cost over $5,000. The Brooklyn Bedding Signature Hybrid is a popular hybrid bed that’s made with a mixture of durable pocketed coils and foam layers. It’s a favorite pick for me because it’s a good cross section of affordability and quality, and I’d bet many people would find it comfortable. This hybrid mattress runs about $1,330 — not what I would call cheap, but it’s a nice bed for the money.
At this point, we’re already over the $1,000-a-year estimate that, according to the CNET survey, most people would want to pay. (Liersaph, Teague and Bowers all spent more money on their beds.)
And we’ve barely started. The Sleep Number ComfortFit Pillow is a memory foam pillow that any sleeper can use. It costs $100.
The Luxome Luxury Sheet Set is a basic, comfy sheet set that costs $170. A little more expensive than what you’ll find in a Target or Walmart, but during our testing, it earned the best overall sheets because of how comfortable they are. Let’s top things off with the $156 Buffy Cloud Comforter, a basic comforter that’s extremely comfortable and breathable. That brings our grand total to a little over $1,750. Just for the basics.
That breaks down to about $146 a month, or roughly twice what our survey respondents said they would pay to sleep better.
Granted, mattresses are supposed to last a while — from seven to 10 years. If I break down the cost of the Brooklyn Bedding Signature mattress over 10 years, it comes out to just over $11 a month. But that doesn’t take the sting out of that hefty upfront cost.
And we haven’t even factored in electives like melatonin supplements ($10 for a bottle with three months’ worth of tablets), a basic white noise machine (a one-time cost of around $20) or a mattress protector (a one-time cost of perhaps $60) to extend the life of your bedding.
You can see how sleeping gets expensive quickly.
Which doesn’t mean your sleep isn’t worth investing in. But you do need to pay close attention to the quality and durability of the materials before you buy.
“A lot of products in our lives are force multipliers,” Chon says. “If there’s something you use often, it’s probably worth it to get a better version of that because the dividends are worth it.”
Mattress pricing: It’s complicated
Mattresses are the big-ticket item, and their high price tags aren’t entirely unwarranted. (By the way, there were 16.8 million mattresses sold in the US in 2023.) Many great mattresses have several layers of different materials that all cost money to make. Having tested and reviewed a slew of sleep products, I’ve got a good grasp on how much things cost and how much the brands really think they’re worth.
If there’s anything I’ve learned during my time in this industry, it’s that the retail price isn’t what you should pay.
Nearly every product has a retail price often discounted to make it seem like you’re always getting a good deal. And then you’ll see significant markdowns that paint the illusion of an even better deal. I’ve seen some beds go down 50% during big holidays like Memorial Day or Presidents Day. Discounts can vary widely throughout the year.
The mattress companies I reached out to declined to comment on their pricing policies.
The challenges for shoppers aren’t limited to the price tag alone. There’s also how products are bundled together.
When shopping for a new bed as a 21-year-old, Bowers went looking where anyone would: a brick-and-mortar mattress store. In her case, that was Mattress Firm.
“The way they were advertising it was, ‘Buy a mattress and get a free adjustable base,'” Bowers says. “They tell you the out-the-door price. Then they asked if we wanted to finance it, which most people do because you don’t have $5,000 lying around.”
Though she didn’t plan on an adjustable base, the salesperson told her it was the promotion they were running. They had already run her credit, so she went with it.
“After we left and we looked at the breakdown of what we paid for, the mattress was around $3,000, and the base was $2,000, so you’re not actually getting a free adjustable base,” Bowers says.
Not every salesperson is trying to take advantage, nor are bundle deals scams, though they often can overrepresent the deal you’re getting. Any amount off the price can be a good deal, though it’s worth watching the price of your next bed for a while before making the jump. Do your research and beware the marketing hype.
“If a product promises something that seems a little too good to be true, it generally is,” Chon says. “When a company say they’re going to change your life, I’m a little skeptical.”
Identify the products you actually need
There are a ton of sleep products out there with varying degrees of what would truly help you sleep better, from cooling mattress toppers to calming sleep swaddles for adults.
Though with so many options — some of which are pretty wacky, like the neurotech headbands that stimulate your brain waves — it can be difficult to know what direction to go in. The thing about poor sleep is that it can push you into making poor financial decisions because you’ll do anything to feel better.
“As consumers, we’re constantly inundated with products promising to help us achieve a better night’s sleep,” says Kuhlmann, of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
Not only did Bowers not plan on buying an adjustable bed that day, but it ended up being the wrong purchase for her sleep. “We never used our adjustable base at all for sleeping,” she says. “The only time we used it was watching TV in bed. I think I tried it for two or three nights, and it was uncomfortable. I didn’t like it.”
After a few years, the base stopped working. She has since spent another $700 to get a basic bed frame.
“We would never make the mistake of getting an adjustable base again,” Bowers says.
Still, adjustable bases have their fans, who love their ability to relieve back pain, reduce snoring and aid those with mobility issues.
What’s essential is to make sure your money is going to products that will actually help you get you what you want.
I often think about this when reviewing products. I’ve had my hands on a lot of sleep gadgets, and I have to admit that I don’t use most of them after the review. I can see the use cases for all of them, but that doesn’t mean they will help me sleep better.
Sleep is an incredibly personal experience. In your shopping searches, you may scroll right past a temperature-controlled mattress topper, but that could be the perfect solution for someone else’s sleep issues.
Thankfully, many brands offer free trials and returns, especially when it comes to mattresses.
Only you can decide what to spend your money on
There’s a product for every person out there, and some people may need to lean on sleep accessories more than others.
For instance, aging adults going through the natural (and very unfortunate) sleep pattern change may opt to use sleep supplements to ensure they can fall asleep better at night. People who have nontraditional work schedules, like Teague, may find things like earplugs or eye masks to be essentials.
Teague works 12-hour shifts for a week straight and then has two weeks off. She previously did this overnight, which often had a big impact on her sleep quality. In addition to using sleep aids like melatonin or Zzzquil, Teague would drink tart cherry juice.
“I would get concentrated tart cherry juice and mix it with water, and it would knock me right out,” she says.
Tart cherry juice is relatively inexpensive — a 32-ounce bottle on Amazon is $5 — and there’s science to back it up as a remedy. Studies have found that it can increase sleep time and sleep efficiency. That’s because tart cherries contain tryptophan, the amino acid that helps the body produce melatonin.
Of course, a tart drink may not be for everyone. So how do you decide what you should spend your money on? The best place to start is with your needs and habits.
“Think about how you experience your sleep using your five senses — sight (light), smell (relaxing scents), sound (quiet or monotonous), touch (temperature, pressure, and pain), taste (mouth closed). Where do you need more comfort?” Dr. Audrey Wells, sleep medicine adviser for CPAP.com, a Stafford, Texas-based retailer of equipment for treating sleep apnea, says via email.
Look at your sleep habits and troubles and seek products to help you solve a pain point rather than just adding new elements to the mix. If you struggle with insomnia, you may look into supplements like melatonin to get your circadian rhythm back on track. But you probably wouldn’t use mouth tape if you aren’t trying to reduce snoring.
If you have sleep apnea, Wells recommends looking for accessories that make your CPAP machine more comfortable, like cloth mask liners or a mask-accommodating pillow.
A cervical pillow, which is designed with a special shape to support the natural shape of the spine, did the trick for Teague and her husband. “With that,” she says, “he’s able to sleep on his back without snoring anymore, and that helps me sleep.”
“There’s no one magic product”
Things last only so long, especially things that get as much wear and tear as a mattress and pillows. That said, if you’ve recently made those purchases or are happy with your sleep setup, you don’t have to spend an additional cent on sleeping.
That’s good news for the 36% of CNET survey respondents who said they wouldn’t spend any money each month to sleep better.
“There’s no one magic product that will help you achieve a perfect night’s sleep, but certain products can support healthy sleep depending on individual needs,” Kuhlmann says.
You don’t have to spend any money unless you decide to. Many sleep products are developed specifically to relieve sleep troubles. Sometimes, it’s niche, like fighting off hot flashes. Other times, it’s more general solutions aimed at helping you fall asleep faster.
Intentionally protecting your circadian rhythm is a cost-free way to sleep better. It’s as easy as setting a consistent sleep and wake time that you stick to each day. Consistent exercise keeps your circadian rhythm in sync because it increases melatonin production. Kuhlmann also points to avoiding exposure to bright lights before bed and disconnecting to electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bed as effective ways to prepare yourself for restful sleep.
What it all comes down to, when you slide under the covers and turn out the lights, is this: falling asleep easily, sleeping through the night and waking up rested and ready for the day ahead.
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