Weighted Blanket

Posted by Craig on August 27th, 2019

Weighted blankets are now mainstream, seen as a fad just a few years ago.

While the attributes can differ, generally, they are packed with plastic pellets or more expensive glass beads to add weight, generally between 2 and 12kg. The appropriate weight rests on the weight of the person.

Time magazine called one of them, the Gravity Blanket, "One of the 2018 Best Inventions of Time."

Gravity has plenty to compete with these days. Experts estimated that weighted blankets were produced by half a dozen or so businesses in 2018. The list has risen over two dozen by the spring of 2019. Big names such as Gravity, Mosaic, SensaCalm, YnM, and Beautyrest share the market with many other firms including Sensory Goods, Peace, ZonLi, and Snugcosy.

Although the blankets are becoming more common, there is still scarce scientific research. Much of the studies is funded by industry, like one that blanket manufacturers pay for. It discovered that 31 males and females who had mild insomnia reported a calmer night's sleep with less movement after using the blanket for 2 weeks.

In another research, 32 adults who used weighted blankets were researched by scientists. It discovered that 63% reported less anxiety and 78% preferred the weighted blanket as a manner of calming down.

In another research, scientists looked at the complete sleep time of 67 kids with autism spectrum disorder, randomly allocated for 2 weeks to sleep under a standard blanket or weighted one, then switched for 2 weeks to the other blanket type. The researchers did not find the weighted blanket to help the kids sleep longer, fall asleep faster, or wake less frequently; but they found the kids and parents liked the weighted blanket better than the usual.

More lately, Gravity Blankets has done their own research, looking to use the blanket for more than 1,000 weeks of sleep, claims Mike Grillo, the managing director of Gravity. The research, validated by an external business, discovered that more relaxed and restful sleep reported by 72 percent of weighted blanket users.