Weighted Blanket Benefits - 25 Reasons Why You Should Get One!

Weighing anywhere between 10 to 25 pounds, weighted blankets are more than just a fancy bed-time accessory.

In fact, weighted blankets are scientifically proven to help with insomnia, anxiety, depression, seasonal affective mood disorder, restless legs syndrome, and COUNTLESS other conditions (which we’ll go over in a bit).

There are at least 25 great reasons why you should get a weighted blanket. Here’s the list:

1. Reduce anxiety
2. Combat stress
3. Makes You More Charming
4. Ease Insomnia
5. Stop tossing and turning
6. Help with ADHD
7. Calm down sensory disorders
8. Restless Leg Syndrome
9. Get the best out of every sleep cycle
10. Ease PTSD
11. Reduce hyperactivity
12. Helps with Fibromyalgia
13. Reduce heart rate
14. Lowers the frequency of seizures
15. Improves communication ability
16. Help with Panic Disorder
17. Feel secure and safe
18. Help patients with Alzheimer’s symptoms
19. Help manage OCD
20. Ease symptoms of autism
21. Calm down sensory disorders
22. Menopause relief
23. Improve Mood
24. Induce and Improve sleep
25. Create a calming effect

How does adding weight to a blanket solve so many problems at once?

Read through to the end of the article to find out!

1. Reduce anxiety

Do you ever feel that a hug from a loved one helps a lot when you’re feeling anxious?

A weighted blanket applies just enough pressure to receptors in your skin to mimic a hug, causing your brain to release the same neurochemicals that it would during a hug.

How cool is that? You can read more about the effects of a weighted blanket on anxiety over here.

2. Combat stress

Whether you’re facing stressful day at work, school or because of events happening in your personal life, it’s another problem that can be made better with a hug (or a weighted blanket).

How? Stress is caused by a neurotransmitter called ‘cortisol’. The more cortisol you have in your bloodstream, the more ‘stressed out’ you feel.

The added weight from a weighted blanket provides your body with much needed healing power, also known as ‘Deep Pressure Therapy’. It reduces the amount of cortisol in your bloodstream and helps you get back to a relaxed state of mind.

3. Makes You More Charming

Yes. Believe it or not, a weighted blanket can actually improve your social interactions significantly. It all ties back to sleep.

Lack of sleep can make you groggy and impair your verbal, social and cognitive abilities (until you recoup lost hours of restful sleep). A weighted blanket relaxes your body and puts you into a much-needed deep, restful sleep.

Don’t be surprised the next morning when friends and coworkers find you to be twice as charming!

4. Ease Insomnia

Trouble sleeping? Stress and anxiety can keep you up all night. Actually, you could be up all night even if you’re not suffering from any stress and anxiety.

Insomnia is complicated, but weighted blankets can help by relaxing you and inducing melatonin-release in your body.

According to an experiment conducted by Swedish researchers, participants using a weighted blanket for four weeks reported significantly reduced insomnia severity, better sleep maintenance, a higher daytime activity level, and reduced symptoms of fatigue, depression and anxiety.

5. Stop tossing and turning

Did your partner tell you that you toss and turn a lot while sleeping? Or, have you noticed your partner toss and turn while sleeping?

Tossing and turning excites your nervous system and pulls you away from the deep, restful stages of sleep, causing you to be tired and groggy when you wake up.

Weighted blankets provide just enough pressure on your body to prevent you from tossing and turning, resulting in a deep, satisfying sleep that helps you wake up fully refreshed.

6. Help with ADHD

Using a weighted blanket for ADHD is not uncommon. In fact, one of Hush Blanket’s co-founders first came across ‘weighted throws’ at a summer-camp where they were being used to help children with ADHD.

Both adults and children with ADHD can benefit from Deep Pressure Touch Stimulation provided by weighted blankets. Check out this study which shows that wearing a weighted vest improves task completion, attention to detail and overall behavior for ADHD patients.

7. Calm down sensory disorders

The feelings of comfort and security that come from wrapping a weighted blanket around you can be very helpful for children suffering from sensory disorders.

Weighted blankets can induce the release of neurotransmitters that help calm down an over-sensitive nervous system.

8. Restless Leg Syndrome

Do your legs shake uncontrollably, especially when you’re trying to sleep?

Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) is a condition that get worse in the evening and can easily stop you from falling asleep, leading to insomnia, and further restlessness when you wake up tired…

Applying gentle pressure is a great way to relieve RLS, and that’s exactly what a weighted blanket does! If you have a partner, friend or family member who suffers from this, get them a weighted blanket for restless legs (10% of their body-weight should suffice).

9. Get the best out of every sleep cycle

Your brain cycles through 4 ‘sleep stages’ when you’re sleeping. ‘Deep pressure touch’ from weighted blankets has been shown to stimulate the release of serotonin, a pre-cursor to melatonin, which is very important in regulating your sleep cycles.

Why are sleep cycles important? Well, not all forms of rest are equal. To recover from a stressful day, your brain needs to go through sleep cycles in a certain routine and rhythm.

If your serotonin levels are erratic, you will not get the most of out of your sleep even if you sleep for long hours.

10. Ease PTSD

Yes, you read that right. Using weighted blankets for PTSD treatment is not even a novel concept. In fact, Deep Pressure Touch Stimulation (DPTS) is a common form of therapy for many mental-health related issues.

Weighted blankets mold to the body like a hug, promoting the release of serotonin and calming the nervous system. This can help patients feel more grounded and safe.

11. Reduce hyperactivity

Hyperactivity can be a sign of deeper issues, such as ADHD, and may eventually lead to other issues such as anxiety and depression, especially due to how others respond to and perceive hyperactive behavior.

By relaxing your body through DPTS, a weighted blanket can put it into ‘rest mode’ and reduce hyperactivity. Added bonus: this significantly improves social interactions and helps restore confidence!

12. Helps with Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a medical condition characterized by chronic widespread pain and a heightened pain response by your nervous system to pressure.

The major benefit offered by weighted blankets for fibromyalgia works by stimulating the production of serotonin, which relaxes and calms your body and also helps with anxiety and depression caused by the condition.
Wow, who knew serotonin was connected to so many things?

13. Reduce heart rate

Increased heart rate is a good sign of affection, but probably not a good sign when your body is in resting state. A weighted blanket simulates Deep Touch Therapy, making you feel calm and grounded, and decreases your heart rate in the process.

14. Lowers the frequency of seizures

Weighted blankets can help with seizures in two ways. One, by calming the parasympathetic nervous system through Deep Pressure Stimulation, weighted blankets can put your body in a relaxed state. And two, seizures are often worsened by lack of sleep, so using a weighted blanket can induce the release of melatonin and help you get enough night-time rest to reduce the frequency of seizures during the day.

15. Improves communication ability

Deep pressure stimulation can help improve communication, especially in children on the autistic spectrum and hyperactive children.
An overactive nervous system can make it difficult to communicate and cause the sufferer to be perceived negatively. Weighted blankets are extremely useful when it comes to calming the nervous system down. Also, since poor sleep can affect verbal ability, weighted blankets can help ease the problem by improving sleep quality.

16. Help with Panic Disorder

People suffering from panic disorders find it extremely beneficial to wrap a weighted blanket around themselves, whether it’s during a panic attack or when they can sense it building up.

In addition to calming down the body, weighted blankets help a person suffering from panic disorders feel better by helping reduce stress and inducing ‘feel-good’ hormones.

17. Feel secure and safe

No stats or study could describe this benefit as plainly as these words from a user who swears to never go to sleep without her weighted blanket:
“It’s like being wrapped in a cocoon of blissful dreams.”

Seriously, put this on your checklist – wrap yourself up in a weighted blanket like a burrito, at least once. You’ll never want to get out. Or do it every night if you toss and turn a lot.

18. Help patients with Alzheimer’s symptoms

One of the most common symptoms of Alzheimer’s is depression. Up to 20% of patients suffer from it. Although a weighted blanket cannot heal Alzheimer’s, it can definitely make life a little easier.

19. Help manage OCD

OCD is linked with low serotonin levels. Yes, yet another issue that can be regulated with serotonin! Weighted blankets can help increase serotonin levels in your body.

20. Ease symptoms of autism

Studies show that Deep Touch Therapy (the kind you get from a weighted blanket) can relieve muscle spasms and social anxiety. This is especially beneficial for helping children and adults suffering from autism.

21. Calm down sensory disorders

The feelings of comfort and security that come from wrapping a weighted blanket around you can be very helpful for children suffering from sensory disorders.

Weighted blankets can induce the release of neurotransmitters that help calm down an over-sensitive nervous system.

22. Menopause relief

Women going through menopause often experience sleep disruptions, anxiety and depression. Weighted blankets can help relieve each of these symptoms, by inducing the release of melatonin and serotonin. Melatonin helps with sleep disruptions, and serotonin can help combat anxiety and depression.

23. Improve Mood

Affected by seasonal affective mood disorder? Change in seasons can cause you to feel down. It’s linked to the lack of sunlight throughout the day. Exposure to more light will help, but so will using a weighted blanket, as it promotes the release of oxytocin and serotonin in your body (feel good hormones).

24. Induce and Improve sleep

Yes, in addition to helping you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer, weighted blankets also help to improve the overall quality of your sleep. Better rest means better cognitive functioning the next day!

To ensure your brain fully recover’s during sleep, it’s important that it passes through sleep stages in an appropriate way. That’s exactly what weighted blankets will help with, by modulating serotonin and dopamine levels in your brain.

25. Create a calming effect

Weighted blankets cause the same responses in your body that happen when you get a hug. You get a surge of feel-good hormones, such as oxytocin, serotonin and dopamine and decrease of cortisol, which is sort of our stress hormone.

Being wrapped up in a weighted blanket is so comfy, it’s practically impossible for your stress to not melt away!