Start Sleeping With Weighted Blankets and You’ll Be Surprised What Happens

Amir October 5, 2021

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Image Via Alison Curtis / Flickr

If you suffer from insomnia or anxiety, you may want to start sleeping with weighted blankets. Your mattress might also be the problem, so investigating whether you need a new mattress would also be key in discovering the solution to your sleeping problems.

Insomnia is common among people living stressful, busy lives, and this can have a hugely negative impact on physiological and psychological well-being. It is often the case that people who have a hard time sleeping turn to drugs that become addictive or have side effects that last a lifetime.

Fortunately, there are simpler methods to promote and maintain better sleep. And that is where weighted blankets come in.

Sleeping with weighted blankets exerts just enough pressure on the body for it to feel calming and relaxing. Applying deep pressure has been found to be beneficial for children with anxiety and studies have found that sleeping with a weighted blanket that is more than 10% of a person’s body weight provides beneficial, calming effects.

Traditionally, weighted blankets have been used as part of occupational therapy for children with ADD, stress, or issues related to autism. Psychiatric, trauma, geriatric, and paediatric hospital units also use weighted blankets to help calm a patient’s anxiety and promote deep, restful sleep.

How Do Weighted Blankets Work?

The weight of blankets provides proprioceptive input to the brain, which results in a calming and organizing effect on the central nervous system. It’s essentially like receiving a really big hug – whether you get a hug or sleep under a weighted blanket, the brain will release serotonin, which then converts into melatonin and helps you sleep (it also lifts you mood, too!).

Sleeping with weighted blankets also act on deep pressure touch receptors located all over your body, which when stimulated, help to relax and ground the body, making it feel safe and comfortable.

What Benefits Do You Receive From Weighted Blankets?

Aside from helping relieve insomnia and anxiety, weighted blankets also help alleviate depression, aggression, OCD, PTSD, and bi-polar disorder (all conditions related to low serotonin production in the brain). People have also reported relief from symptoms of depression, mania, anxiety, trauma, and paranoia when they started using weighted blankets.

Patients suffering from Tourette’s, Alzheimer’s Disease, Cerebral Palsy, Restless Leg Syndrome, and even those going through menopause have from relief from using weighted blankets.

How To Use Weighted Blankets

Adults should use blankets that weigh around 15-30 pounds. If you suffer from respiratory or circulatory conditions, you should avoid sleeping with weighted blankets.