How much would you pay for a good night's sleep?

How much should you pay for a mattress and box springs?

Does it amaze you to learn that some people go as high as $90,500? What about $35,000? That makes $3,500 sound like a bargain, doesn't it?

On the Back to Bed website, we learn twin mattresses and box springs are available from about $280. But it's easy to find queen sets for $4,000 and kings in the range of $7,000.

What is going on here? What possesses people to spend more than a down payment for a house on a bed?

Do they all have oil wells in their back yard?

Some of them have met Mary Pat Wallace, who could convince almost anyone that a better bed that would last 25 years could improve their lives for the cost of a latte every day. And we won't even get into the math for figuring how much per hour of sleep that new bed will cost you.

Her beds — the Swedish Hastens and British Vi-Spring — roughly cost $3,500 to $90,000.

Wallace really wants people to stop into her Chicago Luxury Bed shop in Chicago and try out the many sample beds. That's right, dress comfortably and lie down. She's selling comfort along with natural materials — including horsehair, thoroughly washed, of course.

One client — a surgeon in town for a conference — actually fell asleep while testing a soft bed, insists Wallace. Ninety minutes later he pulled out his credit card.

If you can throw a sleeping bag in any corner and wake up the next morning refreshed, painfree and ready to take on the world, this is probably not the story for you.

But 60 million Americans each year have insomnia frequently or for long periods of time, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

The right bed would reduce their problems, insists Wallace.

She and her husband — he has a bad back — were introduced to Hastens about a decade ago by a friend who also suffers back pain and thought they should go into business importing the beds.

“I fell in love in one second. My husband said, ‘No way. It's $11,000. No one spends $11,000 on a mattress.' But I had worked for Holly Hunt (high-end furniture), and I knew people spent $25,000 on a sofa for a room they never walked in or $10,000 for a coffee table.”

It's a cultural thing, said Wallace. While Hastens sells beds all over Europe, in the United States $1,500 or $2,000 is considered an expensive bed, and she is asking us to spend five times that.

She insists the right bed could let you throw away your sleeping pills and massage appointments.

The right bed for you depends on your height and weight and the support you need for your back, shoulder and where you carry your weight, she said. For the average person that means medium firmness.

Wallace is a disciple of good sleep, saying a lack of it is the No. 1 deterrent to long and healthy life, more so than diet or exercise.

Sleep deprivation can put you behind the wheel in a state similar to drunkenness, Wallace said,and as torture would kill you quicker than a lack of food.

Wallace, who plans to open stores in the North and West suburbs, occasionally sells the beds that cost almost $100,0000. One man bought three — one for each of his houses.

But people whose pocketbooks don't stretch that far can also find comfort, she says. Let your body decide, and if it prefers something from a competitor, that's fine, too.

“When they have a great sleeping experience people remember. Our culture doesn't place very much emphasis on it, but it is so important,” Wallace says.