Are you feeling troubled with sleeping or spending your nights counting sheep? In a world full of busy schedules and stressful routines, getting a good sleep becomes challenging. Almost everyone is troubled by some stress in their life, be it personal or professional. This stress sometimes leads to sleepless nights, eventually resulting in a bad mood, low productivity at work, and decreased enthusiasm. Here the weighted blankets come into play. But exactly, what does it mean, and how can a piece of blanket contribute to healthy sleeping habits? Let's dig out the answer.

What are weighted blankets?

A weighted blanket is not a new concept but recently; gained much popularity across the globe.

A weighted blanket is also reckoned as a gravity blanket, generally weighing between 5 to 30 pounds. These weighted blankets have an added weight that differentiates them from other ordinary blankets. It applies gentle pressure on the person underneath to promote a calm and soothing effect while sleeping, eventually a cure to many diseases such as anxiety, stress, and insomnia.

Weighted blankets are specially designed following a therapeutic technique called deep pressure stimulation, which gets clinically used to reduce stress and promote healthy sleeping habits by inducing a firm and gentle pressure on the body, just like swaddling babies.

Weighted blankets are generally available in two styles, knitted and duvet style. Duvet-style weighted blankets are filled with plastic pellets or glass beads, whereas knitted weighted blankets get filled with dense yarn. Many scientists have clinically recognized its benefits by conducting various tests and research.

Many fold Benefits of weighted blankets:

There are numerous noted benefits of the weighted blanket, such as relieving pain, reducing stress and anxiety, and much more. A weighted blanket gets claimed as the best alternative to medications and drugs for treating various sensory issues. Let's discuss the tremendous benefits these weighted blankets possess:

• Get quality sleep: Restful sleep is essential to recharge your battery and feel refreshed throughout the day. Many doctors recommend 7-8 hours of sleep to lead a healthy life. But many times, a stressful mind, anxieties, and many other factors disrupt our sleep. Poor sleep can lead to a frustrating and stressful day. It also reduces the efficiency at work. Weighted blankets promote the production of mood-boosting hormones called serotonin which helps to relax, and melatonin which helps to sleep, which helps to get quality sleep at night. Making weighted blankets part of routine life can help a person improve their sleeping habits. 

• Give a hug sensation: sometimes, there is a time when we crave a hug that can give a comforting feeling. Even when a child is hurt, he goes to hug his parents. Hugs are the best feeling in the world that can ease suffering and relieve pain. A hug releases a hormone called oxytocin that creates a relaxing feeling. Weighted blankets get designed in a such way that the person underneath feels a hugging and holding sensation. These blankets signal a calming effect like a hug, eventually improving sleep and overall behavioral symptoms. 

• Fight insomnia: This weighted blanket is a boon for people; suffering from insomnia or going through sleepless nights. Many people face trouble with sleeping because of insomnia and other sleeping disorders. Instead of counting sheep and listening to tales every night to fall asleep, using weighted blankets are the best bet. The weighted blanket promotes the production of serotonin, which regulates sleep by giving a relaxing feeling and releasing oxytocin, which helps relieve pain and stress. These hormones promote a calm and comfortable sleep at night. Many scientists have clinically recommended weighted blankets as a tool to fight insomnia. 

• Reduce stress and anxiety: be it personal or professional life, almost everyone suffers some kind of stress in the present world. This stress may result in a disturbed sleeping schedule. But a weighted blanket can help you fight this stress and anxiety. The pressure released from the weighted blankets reduces the production of cortisol, a hormone responsible for causing stress and anxiety. Thus, adding these blankets to routine life can reduce stress and anxiety; from disturbing your sleep. 

• Help with Autism spectrum disorder: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a condition where a person finds it difficult to interact, communicate, behave and socialize with others. Several studies observed a positive behavioral change in Adults and teens diagnosed with ASD after making weighted blankets part of their routine life. These blankets give them a hugging and swelling feeling that develop a sense of security and calmness. Although there is no cure for ASD, managing its symptoms is possible through these therapeutic techniques. 

• Reduce heart rate: a weighted blanket gives a touch effect that eventually helps to decrease heart rate. These heavy blankets leave a calming and grounding effect that helps prevent a quickened heart rate by calming down the nervous system and releasing the hormone oxytocin in the body controlling the heart rate and reducing blood pressure, and creating a relaxing effect; that contributes to improved sleep. 

• Calm the nervous system: the overactive autonomic nervous system can cause severe issues like anxiety, shortness of breath, quickened heart rate, and hyperactivity. A gentle pressure applied to the person underneath helps calm the nervous system and reduce its activity while sleeping. A calm nervous system can help to reduce stress and anxiety, control the heart rate and improve sleep quality.

Final words:

Weighted blankets are gaining much popularity for reducing stress and improving healthy sleeping habits among people with different age groups, be it, adults or teens. Adding Better Sleep weighted blankets to the routine life can keep away stress, anxieties, and various other chronic diseases; that get triggered by poor sleeping habits. It helps to lead a healthy life and promotes wellbeing.