Benefits of Weighted Blankets for Anxiety

Anxiety can be crippling for those dealing with the stressful feelings and well as loved-ones standing by witnessing anxiety’s side effects of stress, insomnia, and even weight gain. Weighted blankets for adults with anxiety, as well as children, can be the drug-free answer to finding relief and getting back to living life.

What Exactly is a Weighted Blanket for Anxiety

A weighted blanket is more than the mere blanket it looks like. Within the lining of a weighted blanket are evenly distributed pellets or chains that equal the weight that is needed for the individual user. this allows the blanket to feel a heavy comforting sensation as it is draped atop the body.

A weighted blanket for anxiety helps to calm the person laying under it, much like a child is calmed when wrapped in a blanket. The blanket’s evenly distributed added weight allows for pressure applied to the body that calms anxiety as if being held in a comforting hug.

Benefits of Weighted Blankets for Anxiety

Weighted blankets for anxiety and insomnia are a wonderful alternative to use in place of traditional drugs that can produce harmful side effects. By covering the body in a weighted blanket the pressure gives one the sense of grounding – with the benefit of calming anxieties to help one reduce stress and achieve healthy sleep.

The deep pressure touch of the weighted blanket simulates a massage type therapy that works to remove stress from the body. Once stress is removed, anxiety is lifted and one benefits with a sense of calmness that will help to sooth physical and emotional health issues. Weighted blankets for adults with anxiety are a great comforting tool to use to help end depression, insomnia, and weight gain.

Reduction of Stress and Depression

Pediatric providers have long seen the health effects that a weighted blanket has on patients. As with swaddling a newborn, weighted blankets and vests have been used to calm children with autism. Hospitals use weighted blankets to calm elderly patients as well as patients healing from psychiatric and trauma issues.

Using weighted blankets for adults with anxiety allows for the pressure of the covering to provide relief in its sense of being held. This works to reduce stress and depression is eased just as it would be when held tightly in a caring hug.

Aids Anxiety with Insomnia

The pressure applied by the weighted blankets for anxiety and insomnia on the body helps to boost the production of the serotonin brain chemical. Serotonin lifts one’s mood and calms overthinking that can keep one awake. Also, as serotonin is encouraged so is the melatonin hormone which works to promote sleep.

Helps Reduce Weight Gain

Cortisol is generated by the brain feeling under attack – as it will when one is feeling stressed and anxious. The excess cortisol can increase blood sugar levels which will then cause problems with the digestive system. A rise in cortisol levels can cause weight gain and other health complications. As the body is comforted in the hug of a weighted blanket the stress hormone of cortisol can be reduced, thus, reducing the possibility of weight gain due to anxiety.

How Does a Weighted Blanket Work to Reduce Anxiety

The weighted blanket for anxiety works the same way deep pressure touch stimulation therapy does. The deep pressure that the blanket provides on the body is much like receiving a soothing massage. As it sooths it also gives the entire body a hug sensation to calm one who is feeling anxious and stressed.

Gives Sensation of Being Hugged

Anxiety, depression and insomnia can be ongoing or come on with a day that has turned bad. There are times that just about everyone just longs for a warm hug. The weighted blanket works to provide a sense of being hugged that, in turn, can reduce blood pressure and pulse rates, and at the same time work to produce mood boosting serotine. It is a wonderful drug-free therapy to aid in the relief of anxiety.

Activates Serotonin Brain Chemical

The compression that is applied to the body’s pressure points by the weighted blanket encourages the production of the brain chemical serotonin. This is the chemical in the body that works to lift one’s mood and reduce anxiety. Depression is linked to low serotonin levels so the increased serotonin that the weighted blanket fosters can have a positive effect on one’s mood and entire wellbeing. The increased serotonin will also help to reduce stress and pain that leads to anxiety.

Discharges Melatonin Hormone

Once serotonin production is encouraged by the pressure of the weighted blanket, the serotonin then transforms to melatonin. This is the hormone than tells the body to relax and rest.

Induces Better Sleep

With a healthy-better sleep being promoted by the melatonin hormone linked to the production of serotonin, the weighted blanket pressure works to reduce insomnia problems. The hug feeling of the weighted blanket also allows the body to release the oxytocin hormone. This is the hormone that reduces blood pressure and slows heartrate which also will calm anxiety and relax the body.

What Weight Should a Weighted Blanket Be

For a weighted blanket to work properly it needs to be just the right heftiness for the individual who will be using it. One’s own weight will be the determining factor of how many pounds the blanket should weigh.

Experts suggest that a weighted blanket for anxiety and insomnia should be between seven and 12-percent of a person’s weight. The rule-of-thumb is that a weighted blanket is generally 10-percent of the adult user’s weight. When children are concerned, the blanket should be 10-percent of the child’s body weight – plus an added one to two pounds. One may want to consult a medical professional to help determine the best weight for a blanket fashioned for themselves or a loved one.

The soothing weighted blanket should not be overly heavy, but have just enough weight to provide the pressure one requires to achieve the feeling of being hugged. The positive hugging sensation allows for one to receive a safe feeling that calms anxiety as well as comfort health problems that can make one stressed and anxious.