Join me in a revealing conversation with Nick Ristevski, the most experienced man in the Australian mattress industry, as we unravel the secrets of the world-wide mattress industry.
Nick shares invaluable insights on materials, certifications, ventilation, children and the impact on overall health, guiding you to make informed choices for a restorative sleep.
Discover the history of latex, the pitfalls in mattress sourcing, and the innovative "latex noodles" pillow that offers customisation and ventilation.
Nick exposes deceptive industry practices, warns against misleading sales tactics, and emphasises the importance of understanding mattress materials.
For a healthier sleep environment, Nick recommends mattress alternatives and extends a 20% discount on the “latex noodles" pillow for Vital Veda Podcast listeners. Tune in to gain clarity on mattress shopping and create a sleep sanctuary for optimal well-being.
IN THIS EPISODE WE DISCUSS:
🛌 Nick's Background
🛌 Challenges in The Mattress Industry
🛌 The Importance of Ventilation
🛌 Common Misleading Sales Practices
🛌 Understanding Materials
🛌 Industry Evolution and Trends
ABOUT OUR GUEST: Nick Ristevski
Nick Ristevski, a mattress expert based in Australia, traces his roots to a small village in Macedonia. Over 60 years ago, luxuries were rare, and Nick's early years saw him sleeping on a handmade rug woven from goat's hair until the age of 5. Subsequently, his family crafted a bed from straw that served him until he turned 15.
In his teenage years, Nick migrated to Australia, where he encountered his first "proper" bed — an innerspring mattress with coconut fiber and cotton.
Nick's journey into the world of mattresses was revolutionary. Today, after over 60 years, Nick sleeps proudly on a mattress of his own design, incorporating the best technologies in the mattress industry.
For over 54 years, Nick has served as the Director of Rockdale Mattress Factory, evolving from a furniture deliverer to one of Australia's leading mattress makers. His passion for work and commitment to quality have attracted an impressive clientele, including celebrities like billionaire James Packer.
Nick's aim to become one of the most knowledgeable mattress makers is reflected in the success of his small family business. Offering hand-made mattresses with a distinct touch has been a key factor in customer satisfaction for over four decades.
🌿 Follow us on Instagram (@vitalveda)
🌿 Our Courses
🌿 Our Treatments
🌿 Our Online Shop
🌿 Vital Veda Website
Join me in a revealing conversation with Nick Ristevski, the most experienced man in the Australian mattress industry, as we unravel the secrets of the world-wide mattress industry.
Nick shares invaluable insights on materials, certifications, ventilation, children and the impact on overall health, guiding you to make informed choices for a restorative sleep.
Discover the history of latex, the pitfalls in mattress sourcing, and the innovative "latex noodles" pillow that offers customisation and ventilation.
Nick exposes deceptive industry practices, warns against misleading sales tactics, and emphasises the importance of understanding mattress materials.
For a healthier sleep environment, Nick recommends mattress alternatives and extends a 20% discount on the “latex noodles" pillow for Vital Veda Podcast listeners. Tune in to gain clarity on mattress shopping and create a sleep sanctuary for optimal well-being.
IN THIS EPISODE WE DISCUSS:
🛌 Nick's Background
🛌 Challenges in The Mattress Industry
🛌 The Importance of Ventilation
🛌 Common Misleading Sales Practices
🛌 Understanding Materials
🛌 Industry Evolution and Trends
ABOUT OUR GUEST: Nick Ristevski
Nick Ristevski, a mattress expert based in Australia, traces his roots to a small village in Macedonia. Over 60 years ago, luxuries were rare, and Nick's early years saw him sleeping on a handmade rug woven from goat's hair until the age of 5. Subsequently, his family crafted a bed from straw that served him until he turned 15.
In his teenage years, Nick migrated to Australia, where he encountered his first "proper" bed — an innerspring mattress with coconut fiber and cotton.
Nick's journey into the world of mattresses was revolutionary. Today, after over 60 years, Nick sleeps proudly on a mattress of his own design, incorporating the best technologies in the mattress industry.
For over 54 years, Nick has served as the Director of Rockdale Mattress Factory, evolving from a furniture deliverer to one of Australia's leading mattress makers. His passion for work and commitment to quality have attracted an impressive clientele, including celebrities like billionaire James Packer.
Nick's aim to become one of the most knowledgeable mattress makers is reflected in the success of his small family business. Offering hand-made mattresses with a distinct touch has been a key factor in customer satisfaction for over four decades.
🌿 Follow us on Instagram (@vitalveda)
🌿 Our Courses
🌿 Our Treatments
🌿 Our Online Shop
🌿 Vital Veda Website
ditching conventional mattresses for the best mattresses and the healthiest beds. Welcome to the Vital Vita Show. I am your host, dylan Smith. I'm an aerobic practitioner and holistic health educator who, when seeing my patients, is going to assess all the aspects of their health, all the aspects in their lives, all the influential factors that are impacting their health, from food, diet, lifestyle and the biology of their home. Where are they sleeping? Where are they spending a third of their life? What bed are they sleeping on? And that's something that, finally, it's took me and my partner some time to look into the bed that we're sleeping on and optimize the health of that bed, and I'll be honest with you, it takes time to implement these things. It took time for me to eventually buy the blue light blocking glasses, which are those glasses that protect your hormones and your sleep. It took time for me to get rid of the Wi-Fi in the house and use an ethernet cable to hardwire our computers. It takes time to put these practices in, and that's fine, and when the time is ready, it's ready and well. One thing you should really be prioritizing is the health of your bed, because you are breathing that in every day the health of your bed sheets, the health of your dune and the health of, especially, of your pillow, which your face is on. So we're going to talk about all this today with Nick aka the mattress man, the most experienced man of mattresses in Australia. He's been in the business for over 50 years. He runs the Rockdale mattress factory, which is a family run company in Sydney, australia, and you're going to all learn all about mattresses. If you appreciate this show, listen to the end, because you're going to have a little discount of how you can get some pretty awesome and comfortable and healthy pillows that cut through the crap of marketing, chiropractic marketing, all that stuff. And these pillows the real deal, we love them. I've not one to like say things lightly and these pillows definitely the best pillows I've had. I've never we've got some chiropractic pillows my wife and I but finally I found a pillow that I really like. The chiropractic was like nice, but it's nothing. Amazing this pillow is the fact that you can also alternate. It is pretty good. Anyway, we share about that. So many other things about bed. So I hope you enjoyed the episode.
Speaker 1:If you want to learn more about sleep and health, listen to the vital motor podcast. Check out the other episodes. We've got episode number 45, optimal sleep, the ultimate guide. That's with me. I didn't talk about materials for beds, but I sure spoke about other things for sleep and, after listening to that episode, implementing the things.
Speaker 1:If you're still not sleeping, well, well, we'd really have to go into one-on-one consultation to get to the root of your issue. So that's always available on the vitalvadercomau website. You can book an online consultation with me where we have created an individualized approach and plan in empowering you yeah, you with the ways to create your own self-sustainable protocol and way of life. I don't know if that means the science of life. It's not a regime or a discipline for you to do with strain. It's how you shift the things in your life to live life with the most health and the most freedom and the most abundance and pleasure. That's what AeroVader is about, that's what we do in our consultations and from whatever it is, whatever condition, we enliven the health. So we're in Sydney, australia, our clinic, which we love to see patients in person as well as the Northern Rivers, new South Wales, and as well as online. So reach out. If you need anything more is here for you.
Speaker 1:So, other than speaking to Nick in this podcast episode who is the most experienced mattress man in Australia. I'm going to list other mattresses, not only in Australia but around the world, companies of mattresses that are good, that are adhering to good health. So listen to that and enjoy the episode. In case you don't know, building biology is we appreciate our own human biology, our health of our biology, but also what about the biology of our building, especially the building that we live in and especially the building that we sleep in, because we're spending a third of our life in our bedroom sleeping, doing all the rejuvenated mechanisms. So I first heard this term building biology a number of years ago maybe five, six years ago and I thought, wow, what a good, and it's felt like I thought it was going to boom the industry of building biology or everyone's going to want to hire a building biologist to optimize the health of their building. But it hasn't boomed and I thought it would.
Speaker 2:It is difficult. I learned about that probably 25 years ago. There was a German gentleman. He rang me up from Blue Mountains and he told me he said building biology. He said do you know anything about that? I said I have no idea, I'm just a mattress man. And he said to me he said do you know that most of the Inna Spring mattresses they absorb the electromagnetic fields which can be harmful to the people which are sleeping on. And we were talking and he never came to see me and after that I always had in my mind the building biology, what it was. So I was aware for a long time.
Speaker 1:You know, it seems with building biology that it can be expensive To to at first and to invest in your health of your home, but really it's an investment for health and it definitely saves you a lot. And especially when we're gonna get, we're gonna get into the topic of beds, because beds you're sleeping on it For the third of your life, you're watching TV in it, you're making love in it, you're reading in it, you're doing so much stuff in it. So it is well worth To really at least move towards the direction of enhancing the health of your bed. So this is super important topic and it's and in this podcast I don't like be alarmist to people because I also want to talk about the dangers of beds and dangerous beds, and I don't want to be an alarmist, I don't want to freak you out, but the intention is to empower people to know what choices they can make when choosing beds and to enhance the health of themselves.
Speaker 1:So it's, first of all, like the biology. It's very dynamic a bed because the human body so dynamic. So when the human body's hormones are shifting, the body temperature is shifting and changing it really impacts the bed and the chemicals, potential chemicals in bed and the potential materials in bed. Let's first start off with conventional beds. I like to put paint him out of the beds. Tell us about the conventional standard beds that people are sleeping on today.
Speaker 2:Well, conventional beds I call them commercial beds. What they are made, what you know, anything commercial if it's advertised, market that excessively, anything sells and people, they are brainwashed with these things and they make mistakes. In the commercial beds today they are first made with, with springs, and on top of that it's polyurethane foam and other fibers which are very synthetic.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so polyurethane is what creates the foam and that's has, that's petrochemically derived polyol, polyol made of polyol.
Speaker 2:That's a bio petroleum product. And it is also the other bit that goes in it. It's called TDI, told you, and I so cyanide, everybody knows what I so cyanide is. And the big manufacturers, the manufacturers, our suppliers to the bed industry, they say, oh, this one, once it is expanded there is nothing. But where does it go with us? That TDI goes, and on top of it, years ago they used to not, they never used about twenty, thirty, I cannot tell you exactly. Years ago there was no. The older phones they used to create mold inside, you know, and milled you and stuff like that. But they started about 30 years, I think.
Speaker 2:They put inside some chemical which controls the smites, control, milled, you control the other stuff that is produced in the polyurethane foam. And that is they don't say it kills them, they say it controls them. How, how do they control what they they? They tell them don't go in there, or something you know. So they, they inhale that particular chemical and they die. And when they die, where do they go? In the person's nose, mouth, and that, I believe, is a, is a danger. People they don't understand.
Speaker 1:So I just want to rewind and just can you tell me how you got into the mattress industry, because you're known as Australia's most experienced mattress man.
Speaker 2:Well, I was. First I was selling Furniture and and mattresses. I had a shop. Then I decided to go into mattresses and there was one old company which was called Hurst will be the company. They used to make all natural mattresses. They used to make wool, cotton and size all and then after they start making in a spring mattresses, tufted, you know. And the gentleman that I bought off the company, I only paid for the one sewing machine and few rolls of fabric because he didn't have any other stock. So that's how I got into the business and he was making three mattresses. I make 30 different types because the people they, when they go to buy a bed, they have to ask questions, they have to tell them. Like you, when you came, when you said to me building biology, you remember I knew everything.
Speaker 2:I mean I didn't know exactly everything, but I know knew what I was coming from, what you want what type of mattress, or if somebody comes with allergies, then I can ask him and I read I I go to conventions. I've been before. The covid three times a year, once in Germany, once in USA and also in China is to go to see what they have, what they do, how they produce the mattresses. I was not happy with the mattresses how they were made in here, because most of them they copy each other. I used to put an ad in the paper mattresses with juveniles and you have no idea I had mattresses, people which they brought from South Africa, from USA, from Indonesia, from England, a lot from England, and because they were different sizes, so they used to come over there to repair. And a lot of people they said I slept on this mattress for 50 years and I want exactly the time. I don't want to change. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:So I used to take them over there open and that's how you learn how to be a good mattress maker. You don't learn from the, from the book or unless you see and talking to customers. So if the customer comes, you sell him a mattress and you say you tell you. If you tell him, oh, this is the best, this is this, this is that, and when he takes it at home, it's not because most of the time people, when they go buy mattress, in many cases the the big manufacturers. They make for the showroom a better, more loft in the mattress and the one that they deliver it's totally different. I used to repair for a Melbourne company. They used to sell a lot in Sydney and it was too expensive to to take it for repair and I used to do it for about six months or something like that.
Speaker 1:I gave up so and now, today, you still have Rockdale mattress factory, but it's not in Rockdale how many mattresses are you producing a year, or would you say?
Speaker 2:oh my, we produce. I just don't know, because we make 30 different mattresses and we are not computerized yeah we still write the, the, the books by hand. I think always it's quicker that way and and less mistakes yeah.
Speaker 2:So I don't know, I cannot tell you but you got a good, good range of mattresses, a big range of mattresses one of the biggest, because when people go to the bedding store they can see about 50 mattresses there, but they are all 99 exactly the same. The only thing difference is the label. In my place they are all different because I can show them inside, they can have a look and, and so many things so you're mentioning about the chemicals in mattresses.
Speaker 1:You said polyurethane and that's probably the most common chemical polyester polyurethane.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's the most common 99 percent.
Speaker 1:Every mattress has polyurethane and this petrochemically derived chemical. The thing is, what people need, I think, need understand is that that, like, is a long-term exposure. When you're sleeping on that for 10 years, 20 years, it's right. It bit by bit, it absorbs into the body. The person's putting their head on it, they're breathing it in literally overnight. That's off-gassing, off-gassing over time. So it's like a slow release, off-gas, which is kind of like a slow kill, carcinogenic and it has carcinogenic actions and another thing that is so you mentioned these chemicals. Then there's flame retardants, right?
Speaker 2:oh yes, that's very common.
Speaker 1:It is a shock, and which is fair, like you can understand why they put it there, but there are natural flame retardants. If you needed wool, is natural flame retardant.
Speaker 2:If somebody wants just make it over wool fabric and wool mattress, it will not ignite and that's what a lot of the natural companies are doing.
Speaker 1:They're using wool as the flame retardant and then, you know, volatile organic compounds are being released, which is another toxins. And there's a bunch of stuff you mentioned about the springs which I think is like one of the most unhealthy things to be doing is to sleeping on a spring.
Speaker 2:It's like sleeping on antennas but you try to sell to a customer something else other than springs. They don't like it yeah, you know, I mean you go broke.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know but I'm just sharing. Like people need to explore our options and start to adapt to other than springs absolutely because it's it's like sleeping on antenna and it conducts the non-native electromagnetic fields, especially if you have a smart tv in the bedroom or a wi-fi router within six meters of the bed, yes, let's talk about the organic industry, and that is okay.
Speaker 1:Latex, I mean. Tell us about latex. Is what I'm going to be getting a mattress, we're buying a mattress and tell us the history of latex. I mean, how's it come? Is it only recently becoming popular?
Speaker 2:no, no, latex has been for a long, long time, I think since 1926 or something like that. Edward Dunlop developed the latex which is a Dunlop latex it's.
Speaker 1:There is a three different types of latex and it's just to explain and take it even set. It's a set from a tree from rubber tree called Javier Brasiliere.
Speaker 2:So they, they tap early in the morning, they, they, they tap the tree and they collect in the size of mug.
Speaker 2:The size of mug per day per day okay and they tap and they put and they collected and they put it in a drum. So that's that's what it is. But in many places it's they. They they call it latex. Say, for instance, you can buy from asia some latex that is not 100%, it's 100% synthetic, look alike latex and they say latex. And they put probably five centimeters in it. And when you go buy, oh, this is latex. So they should have a look, they should ask questions. So most of the good latex it's it's 100% natural and it is organic yeah, is there any non-organic latex?
Speaker 1:yeah, the one which is mixtures, sure, but in terms of they're not going to be needing to put pesticides on a on a tree, on a palm tree.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no latex latex is.
Speaker 1:It doesn't need a pesticide, it's in wild.
Speaker 2:You know it's in wild. So the only thing is, with chemicals, some, some manufacturers, they, they inject some other stuff inside like synthetic, and that's, that's yeah sure, and then so there are standards that I've learned about like goals, which is the global organic latex standard.
Speaker 1:I mean, what do you think about these standards? And people are now throwing there's goals, there's, I think there's o e, k o text 100 which, that's a european one that's more for text us. That's looking at the zips and the buttons and all the other stuff that's involved they have to read it cc, eco, eco text they can give you.
Speaker 2:You go and tell them for this microphone that I'm talking on. You tell them I want o e, k o text for the color, the black color. So they will give it to you for the black color it's okay. And then most of the asian people, they use that as a tool for marketing. You know, I mean so it is not really it's not sufficient.
Speaker 2:Sufficient, there is a so many things like in here. You know I I don't want to say one very, very good organization here that used to do, they used to I used to trust very much for their findings and they go this year. They will give uh, five stars, or or they will say it's the best mattress in australia, where it's all synthetic inside there is not a gram of, not a gram of natural fiber. But on top of that, no ventilation in mattresses. Ventilation is the key, is the key. Comfort, support and ventilation they are the three bits and what raw materials are inside. So you have to know those four things. If they're natural, it's. You can't ask for a better. Because 50 years ago, when I, when I started in the industry, the mattresses were made from, there was a size L, which is very good fiber. You know that's from hemp.
Speaker 2:You know, the the rope okay it was that. And there was coconut fiber, or they call it fiber core. That is a very good fiber, not as comfortable as the others, but they used to put on top of the other stuff. But it's a breathable. It's not, does not absorb Moisture. So that's mice. They don't live. That's mice. They don't live in mattresses.
Speaker 1:If they are ventilated, they they don't breathe as much so let's just this is I think it's nice to have these four factors for business. So number one, ventilation, and would you say that's probably the most important thing out of everything.
Speaker 2:Well then, that means the dust mice. They carry allergens. That does mice, they carry viruses.
Speaker 2:So and mold feeds off and mold feeds of dust, yes, so if you stop dust mites in that environment or minimize? Look there is. There is one British study. It was done in Kensington University in UK. I think it's pretlove, pretlove. They've done research and they said the society of allergy and criminal immunology. There is another professor, andrew Wardlow, of the British Society of Allergy. He said Mites are very important in asthma and allergy and it would be good if Way we found to modify the home so that the must I the, so the mites concentration, were reduced. It it's true that mites Need humid condition to thrive and cannot survive in very dry Conditions.
Speaker 1:It's the same as the human body. We don't focus so much on the microbes or the bacteria. It's more about the environment, because if the environment is healthy, then they can thrive, and you can even compare it to a well-ventilated room, like that's so important. Indoor air has about 10 times more VOC volatile organic compounds, which are the Not good things then the outside. So that's why simply having your window open makes a big difference to your health when you're in your bedroom. I think it's crazy how in hotel rooms don't have windows nuts, but so like having that environment in the bed, ventilation so important. So you said ventilation materials used and the other two.
Speaker 1:Comfort and support, which is, of course, is. That's known. And there's other things, deceiving things like in mattresses, plant they say plant-based and that's like just plant oils mixed with polyurethane.
Speaker 2:There is a plant-based material, say, for instance, like tensile, like Bamboo and other stuff. I mean bamboo, everybody knows it's a timber, you know. And all the tensile derives from timber pulp, from timber. To come to, to the emulsions, so they can make String, they can make Fabric, it has to go through some chemicals. So if somebody asked me what is better to get, to get a bamboo or to get tensile or to get Cotton, always I prefer the plant plant-based it's deceiving and and then there's, you know, the other things to look at, like glues, adhesives and All these things.
Speaker 1:To make sure they're not chemical based, rather water based the 90% of the Glue that are used in here.
Speaker 2:They are chemically made glues. They do lots of guessing. There is some water-based, but I don't know whether that is Sufficient. The other one is resin glue. That the I believe that is the safest of the lot.
Speaker 1:Okay, great. So let's go back to ventilation. Like so ventilate Ventilation, number one important. When we went to your factory, you have this machine which is essentially just blowing air and then it measures to what percent is that air going through a certain material. So, like, we put my t-shirt through there, we put the different Pillow, we took, we put the different mattresses through there and and the differences to conventional mattresses and we saw how well that air flows through that mattress if you, if you know how to make it that way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, or how well it did not flow. Like when you can. We tested it really well with pillows and we're gonna put up a Instagram video showing each pillow. We had the memory foam pillow, we had the chiropractic.
Speaker 2:Pillar. We had the feather pillow.
Speaker 1:The bill is and then we had the latex pillow and we showed the amount of air that goes through it and how ventilated it is, and that was amazing and clearly latex was the best by far. That was the truth, yeah so we've got bed in my own We've got those four factors. Consider latex is a wonderful thing, getting the latex that hasn't been adulterated and added things. Really, I guess it comes to knowing the person like yourself Rather than trusting a standard.
Speaker 2:Unfortunately, unfortunately, the big companies, they copy each other all and they are into the money making. And also Customers when they shop for a mattress, what they do, they will hear some ads 50% off, 50% of that, 50% of that. I mean how, how somebody can give you 50%? It's not real. So, people, they get sucked in on 50%, they'll pay more. But they, when you, when you say this mattress is $13,000, you can have it for a, and automatically they play with the mind of the people and and just on the topic of ventilation In terms of bed bases, do you think that's a big thing?
Speaker 1:I mean, is it important to have a base, like a slatted base, which has ventilation, or can we just have a firm panel? Because even if it's a firm panel, maybe the ventilation is happening through the sides and through the? Now, what do you think on?
Speaker 2:the ventilated mattresses that I do make does a metric and difference. I still prefer to have a slatted ventilation Because it's more yeah, it's more ventilation, but or if you put plywood on it, you have to make holes unfortunately, when you go to To the bedding stores, one thing probably we I have to talk about it is this 120 days free trial.
Speaker 2:People are getting sucked in. When they buy online mattresses, you don't know where that mattress is made. You don't know whether that mattress has formaldehyde inside, which it is all most of the time, and that's where the biggest problem is. They will give you for 120 days or 100 days free trial. So you'll take it. There is no mattress. You buy the cheapest mattress. It will last you 12 months. You know what happens after those 120 days, sometimes what they do. If you ring them up and they say, oh, I'm not comfortable with the mattress after the 120 days, if you are persistent, what they will tell you? They will tell you oh, we can give you discount, keep the mattress, or we can give you half the price, or we can give you, you know. So they are hoping everybody passed 120 days or 100 days, whatever their system is. So that's where the people are getting sucked in.
Speaker 1:I just wanted to also touch on your pillows. Was it your invention?
Speaker 2:The latex noodles.
Speaker 1:So that's just a thing, just to mention, he's got these pillows that essentially latex noodles Noodles made out of latex and that's a thing which you can mold yourself and you can also have a fantastic ventilation rate. When we compare those pillows you can see in the Instagram video. And also I want to mention just shout out to cotton. Like cotton is one of the most dirtiest crops in the world because it has dioxin and it can be really a lot of deceiving with cotton like 100% cotton, 100% natural cotton. It doesn't matter, it could be cotton, 100% cotton, full of dioxin. You have to have organic cotton. So I just wanted to mention that because I'm a big passionate about the cotton yeah, sometimes cotton.
Speaker 2:if you wash it, boil it, it will get rid of most of the stuff that you want. Yeah, it was just an interesting topic.
Speaker 1:It was an interesting point which I lied.
Speaker 2:It will become an organic cotton.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which I would think so also, but it would be nice to see that tested With the mattresses. You can't do that, right. You can't wash it so much to get those polyurethane which is completely leached, because you could say the same thing. And another thing latex you don't put in the sun, right.
Speaker 2:No, no, I mean even cotton is no good to be on the sun because the UV rays they burn it.
Speaker 1:It's common. Then we put in our mattress in the sun and we put our duna. But if you have a polycolour, yeah so that doesn't need, because it's got its own drying effects Yesterday. I was thinking the UV rays from the fluorescent lights is also dangerous for this For sure, that all and those blue lights have a lot of toxins.
Speaker 2:UV lights is UV lights from everywhere.
Speaker 1:That's good. Thanks, nick. And if people want to find you, your Rockdale mattress factory in Sydney, you ship all over Australia, right, yes, and you can go try mattresses.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just want to tell you how I become to make those pillows before we go yeah. Very important. When I used to be in Hurstville when I started the mattresses and I had always complained, oh, this pillow is no good, this is no good. So I start making pillows with off cuts of the latex. I used to cram them and making with pieces of latex and it was very good. But now with the spaghetti, with the noodles, it is perfected. So it's very good. You can adjust it. You can make it firmer, softer.
Speaker 1:There's nothing like it, take it out.
Speaker 2:And that's how. That's how.
Speaker 1:Yeah, nice.
Speaker 2:I made it.
Speaker 1:And do you have a direct communication line with your sourcing of the latex?
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, I don't buy through agents.
Speaker 1:So which country does it come from? Belgium, belgium, interesting. Because a lot of it comes from Sri Lanka. Now right.
Speaker 2:Yes, sri Lanka, yes, there is Sri Lanka. There is Vietnam, there is Malaysia, there is Thailand.
Speaker 1:So for you it's not important about the certification.
Speaker 2:You need to know the direct sourcing of it and you have that direction and you're sure that it's fully non-adulterated not added things. That's correct, yes.
Speaker 1:Wonderful, ok, anything else, nick, you want to leave the audience.
Speaker 2:That's all. I hope the people have a look and don't buy when the things are on sale. You buying if it's half price. It was one quarter of that.
Speaker 1:If you wanted to offer our listeners a discount.
Speaker 2:On pillows, I will give them 20%.
Speaker 1:OK.
Speaker 2:Mentioning.
Speaker 1:Mention the Vital Veda yes.
Speaker 2:They will get 20% on the pillow. I never have done this one in since I made the pillows. But this is interesting because these people probably the reason I'm doing this. They paid one pillow and they throw it. They paid another pillow, they throw it. This one, they will keep it.
Speaker 1:We bought a chiropractic pillow. We thought it was good and the ventilation tray was just so bad. But pillows, I think, is also good. It's nice that you're offering that on the podcast because I think pillows you don't need to test this pillow, because this pillow has the ability to maladapt to what you need how thick, how thin, how firm Because it's essentially a pillowcase bag with a zip full of spaghetti latex so you can take out as much as you want. Nick gave us one and I've taken a bit out to make it because I like it a bit lower. So that's something I think someone can comfortably buy without trying it. And then, once you, receive it, you can get it yourself.
Speaker 1:So if people can't visit the store, how can they contact you to purchase that? Do you have a website? Website Rocktel.
Speaker 2:Metros Factory. They can type the search engine in Rocktel Metros Factory. The pillow is called Spinal Design, and that is not a problem.
Speaker 2:If they do that, they can have a look, but here a lot of memory foam advertised by medical people in here and they say, oh, this pillow will give you will stop the headache, it will stop you this, it will stop you that, which never happens Because I know those people. They're coming to me so it doesn't work. I never advertised that sort of thing Because it's not 100% and every person is a different. My first mattress was on the floor on a rug from goat hair, and it was very uncomfortable on the floor but it had a good insulation and everything on the floor on earth. Then my mother has made my father made four poster beds with simple tools and put Timber slats on it and she put straw. My second mattress was straw and when I came it was the inner spring mattress.
Speaker 1:Second hand one. What do you think about straw?
Speaker 2:Straw is very good. It's healthy. I've got something else coming At the moment. This business is slow and I got too many government things to worry about. There is one thing in Slovenia, it's a seagrass. It's very good stuff. There is a lot of different types of beds. You can do camel hair, you can do all those things, but anyway, I know them all.
Speaker 1:I hope you're more empowered to enjoy shopping for mattresses and perhaps enhancing the health of your bed and especially the children we didn't mention children in this podcast episode and babies but their tissues are much more vulnerable since they're developing. Their respiratory systems are not fully developed, their immune systems are not fully developed. So we really want to keep low tox out of there and we want good ventilation, because low tox is one thing but, as Nick emphasized, the priority is ventilation, because inevitably there's toxins everywhere. But when we're having good ventilation of our mattress, of our bedroom, ventilation in our lungs and our respiratory system because that's one of the key detox mechanisms is through our exhaling, through our respiratory system when we're having those environments in an optimal health, then that can metabolize and deal with any toxins, which again are inevitable. So optimize your bedroom, optimize your mattress with a good mattress, optimize your health with a good health protocol and consult us, and especially for children and babies.
Speaker 1:So I want to share with you a few brands of mattresses that I've researched quite well. I've spoken to a lot of them and they are good quality, they are healthy and, just to put it straight on the table, I am not affiliated with any of these companies at all. So the first one where we got our mattress, my wife, xentaicom, that's xenteaicomau. That's a company in the Northern New South Wales region where we got great latex, so happy with our latex mattress from there and you can mention viral data and they will look after you. Naturalsleepcomau is one in Victoria, that's a great one. Organnature so orgainaturecom is in Australia. That's a very interesting, very good company. They are more on the cotton side but also having latex and have some really good articles, educational articles on materials and mattresses, and they also have other products, not only mattresses. Rockdale Mattress Company in Sydney, of course, nick's company who he interviewed then. I don't even know if they have a website. They probably do, but just search Rockdale Mattress Company and of course you may want to visit your mattress in person and feel it and some things are honestly a lot of these like you can get online, unless you're extremely fussy. Peace Lily is one in Australia. I'm not fully convinced. They require some more investigation and I've spoken to some people in the industry who are not convinced either. So just some things, but peacefully, perhaps reasonably, but still not fully, have my tick of approval. Another good resource, and especially for those in USA, is Dr Christian Gonzalez and his website is docgonzalescom and that has good information on mattresses and a very similar overview. He's a doctor who likes to talk a lot about healthy products and reducing toxic loads, so you can learn a lot from them. So if you enjoyed this podcast episode and you got something out of it, please leave a review on iTunes, share it with someone, take a screenshot, let me know if you need Nick from Sydney what a character and hope you sleep well and check out the other sleep resources we have.
Speaker 1:I'm on Insight Timer now and moving all my content to Insight Timer. If you don't know what Insight Timer is, it's the biggest meditation app in the world, but I see it as like an Instagram, but for consciousness, kind of reduce all the dopamine, quick, irresponsible scrolling of Instagram and dull scrolling of all the crap that's on there and just put all the consciousness, enhancing health, enhancing content, and that's like what Insight Timer provides. So our profile there is kind of what I'm putting my more energy and attention towards. I've got a lot of like a podcast, but more condensed with different audio tracks and more specific topics. So I've got a whole segment, a whole course of multiple audio track there on sleep and how to optimize sleep. I've also got a track on an actual practice to do before sleep, so check out the Insight Timer profile on the Dylan Smith and hope you enjoy that as well. Until next time, my friend, sleep well, sleep healthy.