There’s a good chance you’ve heard of the Hästens mattress before. The brand’s signature quilted blue check pattern has made a cameo on Netflix’s Emily in Paris, their Vividus model was mentioned in Post Malone’s “Wasting Angels,” and in 2020 they collaborated with architect Ferris Rafauli to create a $500,000 luxury mattress (which can be found in the home of none other than Drake).
Founded in 1852, Hästens is a family-owned Swedish bed manufacturer specializing in handcrafted mattresses using all natural filling materials. They have become a symbol of a luxurious night of sleep. But will shelling out thousands of dollars on a bespoke mattress really guarantee you a better night’s rest? I was determined to find out firsthand.
With hectic schedules and demanding responsibilities, sleep often feels like a modern luxury. However, those REM cycles are a vital foundation for a healthy body and brain, and nights of tossing and turning coupled with morning aches and pains can cause long term issues. Bad sleep can be wrongly attributed to the previous days’ activities, like a coffee too late in the afternoon, but if the restlessness is consistent, it’s probably linked to the actual bed.
I was given the opportunity to spend two nights sleeping on a $30,000 Hästens Herlewing bed at the Hästens Sleep Spa and CBR Hotel in Coimbra, Portugal. Let me be clear: This is not your run-of-the-mill mattress. Hästens is a complete sleep system, composed of a bed, box spring, and mattress topper. The Herlewing model has three interacting spring systems plus 35 crafted layers of natural materials, including layers of horsetail hair hand-teased in their factory in Köping, Sweden, a far cry from the uncomfortable first mattress I bought post college that retailed for a hundredth of this price. I was skeptical about how much better this could be. Contrary to the mattress-in-a-box revolution, Hästens beds are made of hand-placed springs instead of synthetic foam, creating a product that feels personalized for the sleeper, which is claimed to allow the body to actually relax into a natural posture and repair itself.
I tend to sleep like a log on my stomach with my limbs rolled under me–an unhealthy habit learned from growing up sleeping on an extremely firm spring mattress. On warmer nights, I will sleep on my side, letting the heat escape from my core, but without the right support this can also cause back, shoulder, and neck issues over time. I currently sleep on a Tempur-Pedic mattress that matches my firmness preferences but has nearly no edge support or temperature control–neither of which are good elements for sleeping with a partner.
For scientific purposes, I controlled all the other variables before climbing into bed. I wore my usual sleepwear, spent too long in the bathroom doing my nighttime routine, adjusted the room’s temperature to be almost chilly, and grabbed my laptop to accompany me in bed so I could watch something.
At the risk of sounding trite, there’s no better way to describe this bed than what it must feel like to sleep on a cloud. All my life, I had been simply sleeping on a bed—but this? This was what sleeping in a bed feels like. Immediately, my body settled into the layers of the mattress to then be supported by each individual spring as they each reacted to my asserted pressures. It was an orchestra of materials working together to lay me to rest for eight delicious hours. This particular bed was soft, letting me sink into the materials, but all Hästens systems are customized to the customer’s preference during the manufacturing process by changing the gauge of the springs, altering the firmness from extra firm, firm medium, and soft. Bringing that laptop to bed was futile as I fell asleep three minutes into a YouTube video.
Comfort and support are some of the most common reasons for disturbed slumber, and the way Hästens’ supportive beds are structured with a network of interworking springs makes it feel like turning in your sleep requires much less effort (versus a memory foam mattress, which needs to react to your every movement). When the bed is being manufactured, stronger springs are also placed in the corners to further enhance edge support and maintain the structure. This engineering also benefits sleeping with a partner as the springs react individually so two people are essentially lying in their own separate spheres, not disturbing the other with their movements.
I woke up the next morning feeling as if I had cleared my sleep debt and struggled to get out of bed, not because I was tired but because I wanted to luxuriate in the sweet materials a little longer. I never noticed that I spent the night with my laptop because I never woke up—sleeping the whole night in one supported position. I had none of my usual back pain or shoulder aches, which are quite common for me. Thanks to the Herlewing, I was able to get comfortable on my back and stay there, the healthiest sleep position to snooze in.
I’m one of those sleepers who tends to wake up because I sweat the bed, so to speak. On the Hästens, I realized I had never stirred, trying to cool down and kick off the duvet. Memory foam is notorious for its heat retention because of its density as a material, which lessens the airflow throughout the product. Basically, once a foam mattress absorbs the heat from the body, it is not easy for it to escape. That’s not an issue for Hästens products, which are breathable due to the innerspring system and heat- and waterproof materials like horsehair and wool, keeping you cool during warm nights and toasty during the cooler ones.
After two good nights, I was mourning the fact I was returning home to my current mattress situation, yet glad I got the opportunity to test a top-tier sleep system. A good mattress prevents the body from looking for a more comfortable, supportive, or cooler position throughout the night, thus resulting in more productive rest. So, if sleep is so important, and we spend a third of our lives doing it, splurging on a mattress is a smart long-term investment in your overall health, seemingly one of the more justifiable purchases we can make. Given the beds are entirely customizable, anyone could fall in love with a Hästens bed. The only negative is the price. I may need some sort of windfall before thinking about acquiring a Hästens bed, but until then, I will keep dreaming about it.
