Who hasn’t struggled with getting a good night’s sleep?
Tossing and turning, checking the time, and fretting about how many hours are left before you have to actually get up. Not getting enough sleep isn’t just annoying, it’s harmful to our health and can contribute to everything from depression and heart disease to obesity.
So what’s the solution? There are sleep aids and white noise machines, but maybe it’s time to take a look at the mattress you’re sleeping on. A National Sleep Foundation study found that nine out of 10 adults said a comfortable mattress was essential to a good night’s sleep.
Of course, comfort is widely subjective. Some like a mattress that is soft, firm or medium-firm. Body size and weight, and whether you have back or neck pain, can make a difference, too.
I paid a visit to Unlimited Comfort Mattress Factory after hearing an acquaintance describe sleeping on the company’s hand-crafted custom mattresses as amazing — the best night’s sleep they’d ever had. I felt like Goldilocks invading the Three Bears’ lair as I tried out one after another from the great variety of mattresses on the showroom floor. All of them were superb.
Sandy Rodriguez, who heads up the family-owned business, adjusted one of the beds to create a “zero-gravity” effect by using a control to elevate both the bottom and top, and immediately my lower back pain from gardening was gone. He explained that a custom mattress can be fitted with a power base system to give this type of flexibility and extra comfort.
I hadn’t told Sandy that my back was hurting, but he later told me that based on his years of experience and attention to detail, he can determine what type of mattress might be the best fit for a particular customer.
“It’s all about making sure there is spinal alignment when you sleep,” he says. If the shoulders or hips hurt in the morning, the mattress might be too firm. A mattress that is too soft isn’t good either.
“The number one complaint people have about mattresses is sagging, which means there is not enough support,” says Sandy.
Sandy and his family emigrated from Cuba when he was 13, settling in South Dakota. I’m sure the first winter there was a shock. Sandy learned the mattress business from the ground up, working for a local retailer and eventually becoming the number one salesperson. In 2016, he decided to relocate to Sarasota and use his expertise and experience to open his own shop.
The day I visited Sandy’s father, Domingo Rodriguez, was in the back, cutting fabric by hand for a mattress cover. Three sewing machines sat side by side.
“Nothing is pre-made. Everything is custom-made to the customer’s needs right here in our factory in Sarasota,” says Sandy. “We’ve even placed crystals inside the mattress for customers who have asked us to do that for them.”
It’s all about the personal touch. Not infrequently couples have different preferences when sleeping, so Unlimited Comfort offers an adjustable split head mattress in both king and queen size. They also make mattresses to fit RVs and boats. Everything comes with a lifetime comfort guarantee, which means that if in a few years the mattress doesn’t feel as comfortable, it can be adjusted.
Sandy unzips the hypoallergenic, machine-washable mattress covering to show me the inner workings, which include a high coil count and foam for support, and latex, graphite gel and copper gel to help with heat flow and allow the mattress to stay cooler at night than with a conventional memory foam product. The copper gel also helps with arthritis and inflammation, and it has antimicrobial properties, says Sandy.
At a time when everything is mass-produced and made overseas, Unlimited Comfort Mattress Factory is the antidote: personalized comfort for a very good night’s sleep.
Prices aren’t bad, either; they range from $599-$2,500, with the Cloud 11 split-head king mattress going for $5,000.
Unlimited Comfort Mattress Factory, 4035 Clark Rd., Sarasota, 921-7771, unlimitedcomfort.co
