Adding a weighted blanket to your bedtime routine or coping skills toolbox can be an invaluable move that brings about a lot of positive changes to your mental health and well-being. I am going to share 3 proven reasons why you need to add a weighted blanket to your bedtime routine. This includes calming you down, decreasing your level of stress and anxiety, as well as improving your quality of sleep.
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What is a weighted blanket?
 Weighted blankets differ from regular blankets and are becoming increasingly more popular. Weighted blankets are therapeutic blankets that are heavier than your standard blankets. Depending on the blanket’s style, they usually weigh between 5 to 30 pounds and can be used anywhere.Â
What is the purpose of a weighted blanket?
The purpose of a weighted blanket is to encourage your body to switch from the “fight or flight” to “rest and digest” mode through deep pressure stimulation (DPS), therefore providing a sense of calm and relaxation, a formula for improved sleep and decreased stress and anxiety levels.
What is Deep Pressure Stimulation (DPS)?
Deep Pressure Stimulation (DPS) uses a firm, controlled but gentle pressure like hugs, holding, or squeezing to bring your nervous system a sense of calm, peace, and relaxation.
This kind of deep pressure can be applied with your hands or tools you can wear or wrap yourself around to generate that pressure, like a weighted blanket.
Do weighted blankets really work?
Although more research is needed, some studies suggest that Deep Pressure Stimulation (DPS) can calm and relax an overly stimulated and active sympathetic nervous system. Read more here and here.
Do heavy and weighted blankets have the same benefits?
Like a knitted blanket that uses dense yarn, a heavy blanket can be confused as a weighted blanket but does not provide the same benefits as an actual weighted blanket.
Rather than using pellets that can adjust to your body as you move, a heavy blanket uses a dense and thicker yarn that makes the blanket less flexible than a standard blanket.
An authentic weighted blanket has an inner liner inside that adds weight using poly pellets, plastic or glass beads, weighted discs, sand, grains, pebbles, or other heavy fill.
The weight of a weighted blanket is evenly distributed across your body to make you feel like you are being held or hugged, triggering your brain to produce serotonin, a beneficial hormone for good quality sleep and a sense of well-being.
3 Proven Reasons Why You Need To Add A Weighted Blanket To Your Bedtime Routine!
1) Calm your nervous system
The nervous system comprises all the nerves in your body and controls everything your body does, including breathing, thinking, feelings, digestion, and voluntary movement.
The nerves extend through all parts of your body and are used as the primary method of communication—the nerves transport messages from and to the body. The brain can then interpret the messages and respond accordingly.
When you are stressed, for whatever reason, the nerves in your body send a message to your brain that responds by activating the sympathetic nervous system, the alert or fight, flight, or freeze system in your body. This response increases your heart rate, causing you to breathe faster, you start sweating, shivering, upset stomach, feel anxious, have shortness of breath, irritable, and tired.
When this happens, you usually feel on edge and don’t sleep well or at all.
The firm and gentle pressure from a weighted blanket trigger the parasympathetic nervous system through the use of deep pressure stimulation. This part of the nervous system, which regulates your bodily functions and promotes calm, is triggered when your body no longer senses stress and danger.
2) Relieve anxiety symptoms
Increased heart rate, sweating, shivering, upset stomach, difficulty falling or staying asleep, and shortness of breath are all dreadful symptoms of anxiety. These symptoms improve with the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system, which is one great advantage of weighted blankets. Read more about anxiety here.
3) Improve your quality of sleep
Anxiety is an opponent of sleep. An overstimulated and hyperactive sympathetic nervous system triggers the fight, flight, or freeze response. This kind of nervous system response causes you to experience increased heart rate, sweating, shivering, upset stomach, shortness of breath, and sleeping difficulties, all anxiety symptoms. Weighted blankets trigger the parasympathetic nervous system and encourage calmness and relaxation by spreading an even amount of weight and pressure across your body.
Other Potential Mental Health Benefits Deep Pressure Stimulation Therapy:
Besides getting better sleep, decreased anxiety, and feeling calm, which can last up to a few hours after DPS, other potential mental health benefits occur from DPS therapy. These possible benefits include:
- Improved ability to focus
- Improved social interactions
- Decrease in self-injury
- Increased happiness
How to choose the weighted blanket weight:
A weighted blanket can be too heavy. Most experts advise that you choose a weighted blanket that is 10 percent of your body weight. For example, if you weigh 170 pounds, you want to choose a 17-pound weighted blanket. The same is advised for children. Weighted blankets also come in children and travel sizes.
Other ways to get Deep Pressure Stimulation
Weighted blankets are not the only tool that can provide Deep Pressure Stilumation. Other options include Pea Pods, weighted vests, weighted backpacks, therapy dogs trained to provide pressure, compression clothing, neck wraps, and pressure vests.
Conclusion
In graduate school, I worked in a residential home with kids ages 13-17 years old from the Department of Children & Families (DCF) and the Department of Mental Health residential home. Many of the children had behavioral issues, so the staff, which included me would use weighted blankets to help soothe and calm them down.
At that time, I didn’t really understand the whole idea behind using a weighted blanket. As a psychotherapist now, I appreciate the idea of using a weighted blanket to help soothe those children so much more.
I shared this story with you because, yes, weighted blankets are more expensive than your standard blanket, but the benefits you get from a weighted blacker are so worth it.
Feel free to check out this weighted blanket below by Layla.
Ok I am officially convinced I need to use one!
I’ve always been curious about weighted blankets! This is a great article. The blanket you show looks sooo soft and comfortable.
I might have to get one! I like that weighted blanket by Layla, it looks so cozy!
We recently just bought our son a weighted blanket and he loves it. I need to get me one too.
I never knew all these interesting facts about weighted blankets. I’m gonna need to try one now. 🙂
Wow what a great post! Thanks for all the scientific insight. I guess need one too now!
I have anxiety and using a weighted blanket at night truly helps me!
I absolutely need a weighted blanket between anxiety, frequent feelings of flight or fight and getting little no sleep, something needs to change!
I have to get one!!! great post!
I need something breathable due to my age and because my mattress gets warm. What do you suggest?
Nice post 🙂