How Weighted Blankets Work
A moment of science please!
What is a Weighted Blanket?
Weighted blankets are heavy blankets, loved for their therapeutical, anxiety-quashing benefits and their magical ability to make you fall asleep.
They're usually filled with heavy beads (in our case microglass ones) that are evenly spread throughout the blanket.
Suitable for both children and adults, they're available in different sizes and weights to suit you (a blanket that weighs 10% of your body weight is recommended).
Designed to melt away stress and encourage a deep, restorative sleep weighted blankets are also used to help sensory needs, improve well-being and guide away restlessness.
Could a weighted blanket be your new favourite night-time companion? Let's find out!
How Do Weighted Blankets Work?
Weighted blankets use Deep Touch Pressure Therapy (DTP) to regulate chemicals in your brain, relax your nervous system and restore your mood.
Mimicing the feel-good effect of a tight hug, the blankets apply a gentle pressure over your body encouraging your brain to produce sleep-inducing hormones, fight stress and cue relaxation.
These hormones include serotonin, dopamine (feel-good hormones) and melatonin (the sleep hormone).
Together, they work to reduce anxiety, manage pain, induce relaxation and encourage deeper sleep so that you can feel a better overall sense of calm and well-being.
Want to learn more about how weighted blankets work and the conditions they help with?
Relieving Stress & Anxiety
It’s no secret that weighted blankets add an entirely new dream-like dimension to bedtime, but there is far more to them than just comfort.
Using deep touch pressure therapy, they release tension and trigger happy, calming hormones that flood your body like a warm bath.
It's totally normal to be sceptical that an overweight blanket could outweigh anxiety, but remember that anxious thoughts, stress, high blood pressure and increased heart rates are all very closely linked with your hormones.
They say you cannot underestimate the power of a hug, but you can certainly mimic one.
Trouble Sleeping?
If you find yourself tossing and turning at night, sleeping with a weighted blanket can change everything and make your troubles drift away.
Fed up of counting those pesky sheep?
Applying deep touch pressure to the body through a weighted blanket, can reset your sleep-wake cycle, regulate sleep stages and supercharge the quality of your sleep.
Click to learn more about using weighted blankets for insomnia.
The calming, sleep-promoting effects of a weighted blanket are triggered by Deep Touch Pressure Therapy. To break this down even further, the increase in Serotonin helps your body to produce Melatonin too. Both of which help people manage various conditions, including Restless Leg Syndrome.
Melatonin is the hormone that gently encourages you to feel sleepy and drift off at night.
Sensory Processing Disorder
The even weight applied by a Karmara blanket can help to create distraction, provide relief, comfort and address sensory seeking needs.
ADHD
Weighted blankets can be used as a tool to help manage symptoms of ADHD, regulate the mood and alleviate struggles with stress, anxiety, sleep and focus.
Autism
Hundreds of autistic people say that their weighted blanket is the best sensory tool they own. However, the benefits for autism are case dependant.
Weighted Blankets & Chronic Pain
The nagging discomfort of chronic pain can quickly take over quality of life and effect sleep, concentration and mental health.
If you’re feeling fed up of relying on over-the-counter pain medication to get through the day and you’re looking for a natural, side-effect-free way to fight pain, a weighted blanket may be the answer.
With a unique ability to reduce pain through therapeutic pressure, weighted blankets can recalibrate cortisol levels, and enhance the production of serotonin and oxytocin - all of which are hormones heavily linked to pain.
Tackle the debilitating side effects of chronic pain like lacklustre sleep, stress and depression with an easy-to-use, natural solution.
How Heavy Should a Weighted Blanket Be?
Determining how heavy a weighted blanket should be is fairly easy. We recommend choosing a weighted blanket that is 10 percent of your body weight.
The perfect sized weighted blanket will fill you with a sense of calmness, reducing stress and helping you fall asleep easily.
Remember, there are always exceptions to rules, if you don't feel comfortable, have a look for something lighter (or heavier), though this may not provide the same benefits.
Why Choose Karmara?
✔ Glass Beads
Glass beads are heavier than plastic pellets. They are also smaller, so they take up less space in the blanket. The finished product is thinner and more breathable than those made with plastic pellets.
✔ Material
Organic cottons and natural materials are the most breathable fabrics. Polyester is denser and will make you warmer. It is a good idea to invest in a double-sided blanket or a blanket like the Karma Snug with a removable cover so that you can take advantage of both materials.
✔ Weight Distribution
One of the more crucial considerations is even distribution of weight. From corner to corner, not a single section should sag or bunch up. Blankets with quilted pockets like Karmara are designed to guarantee an even distribution of weight.