Trying to wrap yourself up in a blanket may feel like a big hug. If it's gentle, warm, and comfortable, it's a good start.
But think about how the weight of your blanket affects your relaxation. In reality, a thick, weighted blanket can be more soothing and even more helpful to your health than its lighter equivalent.
For many individuals, weighted blankets have become a regular part of relieving stress and safe sleeping habits, and for good reason.
Weighted blankets became increasingly common a few years ago, and consumers swear by the soothing effects of blankets.
It varies in scale, form, color, and fabric, depending on your choice. Typically they're lined with small plastic pellets to give them a boost.
Some blankets have only a few extra pounds on them, which are great for little kids. Others can add 20 or more pounds, which is better.
Read on to discover how weighted blankets benefit many people.
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How Do Weighted Blankets Work?
Your heart beats too fast when you're anxious. When this occurs, decreasing the heart rate will lead to an overall sense of calmness.
Pressure calms you by stimulating your parasympathetic nervous system, which reduces your heart rate when you are stressed. The lower heart rate contributes to the overall effect of calmness that the blanket offers.
A weighted blanket uses pressure therapy, using a calm-inducing amount of pressure on your whole body, similar to the sensation that you are embraced, swaddled, stroked, or holding.
It operates by using a deep touch pressure that health professionals call a form of tactile sensation or something that you feel on your skin.
The right weight and size of the blanket depend on the needs of the person.
Anxiety
One of the main applications of a weighted blanket is to reduce anxiety. Past research has shown that high-pressure stimulation can help minimize autonomic excitement.
This excitement is responsible for signs of anxiety, such as elevated heart rate.
According to experts, people can also check a website to have guides and detailed explanations and analyses on the health benefits claimed by the weighted blanket.
Researchers found that the use of a weighted blanket decreased anxiety in approximately 33% of the 32 participants.
Researchers also demonstrated that lying down could also have helped to alleviate anxiety in some of the participants in the study.
This indicates that the use of a weighted blanket while lying down can further reduce the symptoms of anxiety.
Insomnia and Sleep Disorders
When you find yourself tossing around and turning in bed every once in a while, you're not the only one.
Many people have difficulty falling asleep sometimes and have deep, chronic sleep problems.
In a study conducted by researchers, both parents and children thought that weighted blankets helped reduced sleep problems, and the use of ball blankets helped minimize sleep onset time and the amount of nighttime wake-ups in the study participants.
Weighted blankets are grounding your body and moving your weight down. This study showed that you can lower cortisol levels by grounding your body when you sleep.
You will also increase your blood pressure, heart rate, glucose levels if you lower cortisol. The findings of these studies show the overall advantage of using weighted blankets to treat sleep disorders.
Autism
One of the symptoms of autism, particularly in children, is sleeping difficulties. Researchers explored the efficacy of weighted blankets for sleep problems linked to autism.
The findings indicated that there was no change in sleep scores from the use of a weighted blanket. However, both the children and their parents noticed that they liked the weighted blanket better, considering the lack of progress.
There are beneficial effects of deep touch pressure therapy in some individuals with autism. These benefits can also relate to weighted blankets.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
There are very few studies investigating the use of weighted blankets for ADHD, although related studies have been done using weighted jackets.
In this report, researchers explained that weighted vests were used in ADHD therapy to enhance concentration and minimize hyperactive motions.
The study found encouraging results for participants who used a weighted jacket during a consistent performance evaluation.
These participants experienced a decline in falling off duty, leaving their seats, and fidgeting. Also, more evidence supports the fact that a weighted ball blanket often protects from ADHD-related sleep problems.
Chronic Pain
One of the suggested remedies for chronic pain at home is massage therapy.
Researchers found that beginning with light pressure, then continually increasing to moderate pressure, and then applying deep pressure during massage therapy, can reduce pain reflexes in those with chronic pain conditions.
This suggests that the extra pressure of a weighted blanket can help hold the legs in place and reduce pain in chronic pain conditions.
Osteoarthritis
No studies on the use of weighted blankets for osteoarthritis are available yet. However, one finding using massage therapy could provide a correlation.
In this small sample, 18 patients with osteoarthritis provided massage therapy on their knees for 8 weeks.
Participants noted that massage therapy has helped alleviate knee pain and enhance their quality of life.
Massage therapy applies deep pressure to the osteoarthritis joints, so similar benefits can likely be achieved by using a weighted blanket.
Medical Procedures
There may be some advantages to the use of weighted blankets during medical treatments. Research experimented with the use of weighted blankets on participants enduring the extraction of wisdom teeth.
The weighted blanket participants showed lower symptoms of anxiety than the treatment group.
The research teams performed a similar follow-up study of adolescents using a weighted blanket during molar extraction.
The findings also found less anxiety with the use of a weighted blanket. Since medical interventions appear to trigger anxiety symptoms such as increased heart rate, the use of weighted blankets can help to calm down those symptoms.
Weighted blankets are a kind of at-home treatment that can provide significant effects for deep-pressure therapy.
These blankets have shown promising outcomes for a variety of disorders, including autism, ADHD, and anxiety.
They can help relax the agitated body, reduce anxiety, and boost sleep problems. If you pick a weighted blanket for yourself, find a snug size that's around 10 percent of your body weight.
Hope you were enlightened by this writing on how weighted blankets are beneficial.