Weighted Blankets For Fibromyalgia - Are They Worth Trying?

 

If you suffer with Fibromyalgia, I'd first like to express my admiration for you. 🙌

You fight a daily battle that no one else can see. 

You’ve learnt to function through an incurable pain and you’re still here with your sanity (mostly) intact. 

You’re doing a ridiculously great job and you should be so proud of yourself! Honestly, you must get sick of hearing “have you tried changing your diet?” or “have you tried exercising?”. 

Urgh! It’s a little frustrating when you’ve tried everything. 

Fibromyalgia isn’t curable, but it is “manageable”.  

At least, there are a handful of ways that can help you get through the day a little easier and you shouldn’t stop looking for new ones either. This is the life you have and you deserve to enjoy it so don’t you dare give up on self-care! 

We're Karmara, specialists in weighted blankets. When we first started studying the impact that adult's weighted blankets have on people's lives, we quickly realised how incredible they can be.

There are hundreds of success stories plastered across the internet with fibromyalgia sufferers singing their praises. 

But, will a weighted blanket work for you? 

Let’s find out. 

What Are Weighted Blankets? 

Simply put, weighted blankets are heavy blankets.  🏋🏼‍♀️

They aren’t exactly as big and bulky as you’d expect. They’re usually about the same thickness as an ordinary blanket, except they’re filled with pellets or beads. 

Weighted blankets typically need to be 10 percent of your body weight in order to work effectively.

A good weighted blanket applies a perfectly even weight to your body’s sensory input receptors using a gentle but firm pressure.  Responding positively to the sensory input of the blanket can calm an overwhelmed nervous system and a restless body. 

Click here to learn more about how weighted blankets work.

Do Weighted Blanket Help with Fibromyalgia?

Since conditions like fibromyalgia are incurable, there aren’t many treatments for your doctor to recommend. Other than changing your diet and lifestyle, weighted blankets are one of the only, completely natural ways to help you cope with your condition. 

Medication is the go-to solution to help manage the symptoms of fibromyalgia and in some cases, meds do a great job. Unfortunately, many fibromyalgia drugs come with some really exciting side effects (I'm being sarcastic in case you couldn’t tell!)  

It's infuriating when your doctor prescribes you medication with side effects that you were already experiencing to begin with... 

Although I wouldn’t recommend ignoring your doctor’s advice, I'd definitely recommend you try a weighted blanket for fibromyalgia. Here’s why: 

How Weighted Blankets Help Fibromyalgia Pain 

Chronic pain might just be the hardest part of having fibromyalgia.  

Long term medication and repetitive use of over-the-counter pain killers can cause long term health problems, so some patients try to use drug-free options like weighted blankets where possible. 

Weighted blankets apply a pressure that mimics the feeling of having a therapeutic massage. It’s this pressure that relaxes the nervous system and induces an overall sense of calm and peace throughout the body. 

That’s why they're used to help reduce anxiety, manage autism, ASD and chronic pain.  

Check out our infographic below for a quick and easy explanation of the impact weighted blankets have on fibromyalgia.

How Weighted Blankets Increase Serotonin

If you didn’t know already, serotonin is one of the most important chemicals in your body. 

Often dubbed “the happy hormone”, serotonin impacts every part of your body. It’s your natural mood stabilizer and is responsible for sleeping, eating and digesting food. You’re likely to struggle with concentration, chronic fatigue and basic motor skills without healthy levels of this stuff. 

Sufferers of fibromyalgia don’t have much serotonin to spare.  

Weighted blankets are a great, natural way to increase serotonin and fall asleep faster. 

Do you see where I'm going with this? 

Applying gentle pressure to your activation points will kick start a series of chemical reactions in your brain, encouraging a surge of serotonin.  

Wait, what? A surge of serotonin, that sounds good to me! 

Weighted Blankets Help Fibromyalgia Fatigue 

You know better than I, that the fatigue that comes with fibromyalgia is debilitating and makes life so much harder to conquer. 

Ah! Sleepless nights and chronic pain. A recipe for exhaustion that holds you back from doing the things you love. It’s almost impossible to catch up and regain your energy which is why deep, restorative sleep is absolutely essential. 

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy to come by. 

The great news is that weighted blankets can help you drift off faster and allow you to experience a deeper, fuller and longer sleep.  

Grounding the human body helps reduce stress and gently leads the nervous system into a relaxed and comfortable state, making sleep easier than you could ever imagine. 

Click here to read more about how weighted blankets help with insomnia. 

Anxiety, Stress & Depression 

No doubt you’ve had a toxic relationship with at least one of the above for quite some time now. In fact, 3 out 4 fibromyalgia sufferers also experience anxiety and depression.  

It’s very difficult to pull away from those feelings when you also have to manage your condition. Weighted blankets can help rebalance the mood and promote healthy hormone levels.   

We’ve written a very in-depth article that dives deeper into why and how weighted blankets help with anxiety. 

 

Weighted Blankets and Fibromyalgia Flare-ups 

Fibromyalgia can be aggravated and intensified for short periods of time. These flare-ups come with fierce stress and heightened sleep troubles. 

Flare-ups can get progressively worse over a short period of time and cause a lot of discomfort.  

Weighted blankets can help alleviate some of the symptoms of flare-ups, however some fibromyalgia sufferers advise that the additional weight becomes uncomfortable during flare-ups. Just to be clear and honest, we can’t guarantee that a weighted blanket will help during those intense periods. 

Where Do I Buy a Weighted Blanket for Fibromyalgia? 

Choosing the correct weight and size is critical and we strongly advise you to buy a blanket that is 10% of your body weight (or as close as possible). 

Karmara blankets are available in several sizes and weights and are hand-made from premium materials in Europe. If you’d like to learn more about our weighted blankets, check out our full range here.

 

Sources:

1. Clauw DJ. Fibromyalgia: a clinical review. JAMA. 2014 Apr 16;311(15):1547-55. doi: 10.1001/jama.2014.3266. PMID: 24737367. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24737367/
2. Roberts L. Effects of patterns of pressure application on resting electromyography during massage. Int J Ther Massage Bodywork. 2011;4(1):4-11. Published 2011 Mar 30. doi:10.3822/ijtmb.v4i1.25 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3088531/