Hugs may be one of the best things in the world! The calm and comfort of a hug from somebody we love can be an extraordinary moment. Wouldn’t it be nice to experience that hug feeling every night as you sleep?
A weighted blanket does precisely that—hug you as you fall into a good night’s sleep. Even better, it helps in so many ways to help calm and relax us, not just sleep.
How Weighted Blankets Work to Improve Sleep Quality
Weighted blankets come packed with microscopic glass beads. Other weighted blankets use plastic pellets, rice, millets, or other materials, but glass beads still prove to be the best filling.
A weighted blanket should weigh around 10% of your total body weight. The science behind this is deep touch pressure therapy. Deep pressure stimulation makes you feel like you are being hugged snugly. This produces a calming effect as you sleep, which can help improve the overall quality.
Getting a weighted blanket can be a wallet-friendly sleep supplement that doesn’t require any medical advice. It can also help address sleep disorders without putting a big dent in your finances.
What Are the Benefits of Using a Weighted Blanket?
As previously mentioned, weighted blankets do more than just help you sleep. Here are some of the other benefits you or a loved one can enjoy from deep touch pressure.
Bring a Sense of Calm
Weighted blankets can help calm you down after a hard day’s work. You might notice that your heart rate decreases to levels that induce rest in your body. The gentle pressure from the blanket can even trigger the release of serotonin and other good hormones. Serotonin = the happy hormone. Which leads into…
They Make You Happy!
Specifically, the brain creates the neurotransmitter and hormone serotonin to stabilise your mood, well-being and makes you feel happy. At the same time, the brain creates dopamine. Dopamine is the pleasure, feel-good hormone. Lastly, the brain produces oxytocin, the love hormone, which contributes to the warm, fuzzy feeling of being hugged.
All three of these hormone levels rise when using a weighted blanket, while cortisol falls. Cortisol is the stress hormone that manages your body’s response to fears, threats, and trouble. With less cortisol and more of the good hormones, physical and mental health can improve. All of this equals a boost in happiness!
To Minimise Restless Leg Syndrome
Restless leg syndrome refers to the compulsive shaking of the leg at night when sitting or lying down. This particular sleep problem comes from a disorder related to the nervous system as those with RLS shake their legs due to a highly uncomfortable feeling.
Some exercises and treatments help with this condition, but weighted blankets are also a great way to help. Applying pressure to the legs can decrease the compulsion to shake. Weighted heavy blankets can then do the job perfectly, especially when the shaking begins when you’re falling asleep.
Soothes Chronic Pain
Have you been struggling with chronic pain? The pain can come from various health problems, such as fibromyalgia. Due to the constant or recurring aches, those with fibromyalgia also struggle with mental health issues and sleep deprivation, which can wreak havoc on a person.
In managing these symptoms, experts have recommended weighted blankets. The pressure may bring some measure of relief to the pain and provide comfort for the psychological symptoms.
Helps Manage OCD Symptoms
The same idea leads to results for those who have obsessive-compulsive disorder. OCD comes from, among other factors, low serotonin levels, but a weighted blanket can raise them to healthy heights. A person with OCD can then sleep better at night. During the day, weighted vests can calm people with OCD, but the vests apply the same technique as weighted blankets.
To Ease Children and Adults with Autism
Do weighted blankets work only on psychological disorders? Temple Grandin, a renowned scientist on autism and having autism spectrum disorder herself, discovered how deep pressure therapy reduces anxiety in autistic children. As a result, she conceived a hug machine that gently presses a person without making it feel constricted or confined.
This discovery has been the basis of occupational therapists using weighted blankets to calm autistic children. The children tended to stay calm, easing into healthy sleep without interruptions or disturbances. Weighted blankets have also been used to achieve the same results in children or adults with sensory processing disorders.
To Relax Those with ADHD
Weighted blankets help people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The use of weighted blankets is a good tool for self-regulation, allowing a child or even an adult with ADHD and similar medical conditions to get better sleep. The calmness from a blanket also works to eliminate restlessness and anxious thoughts, which often lead to hyperactive conduct.
Healthcare experts believe that weighted blankets can alleviate the symptoms of anxiety and other similar health conditions like bipolar disorders by providing a swaddling feel without making them feel suffocation or claustrophobia.
The Perfect Weighted Blanket for You
With all of this, weighted blankets have numerous benefits for so many people. You can enhance your health and well-being with a blanket of your own. They also make for the perfect gift for loved ones, especially if they struggle with any pain or mental health concerns.
A weighted blanket may just give your loved ones the hugs they need to sleep through the night peacefully. With the Ecosa Weighted Blanket, you can rest assured you’ll have a calm, deep sleep. Plus, with the cooling bamboo outer layer, you won’t feel hot and sweaty when waking up in the morning.
Check out:Ecosa’s Bamboo Weighted Blankets