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Weighted blankets stepped onto the scene a few years back, being touted for their alleged anxiety-reducing and sleep-improving benefits. As a bona fide skeptic (and a chronic insomniac), I wasn’t convinced that sleeping with a 20-pound weighted blanket was going to put me to bed like a topical lullaby or even help me fall asleep fast—mainly because I assumed that all of that extra weight was going to simply make me downright sweaty—not sleepy.
The theory behind weighted blankets’ calming effects is predicated on the idea that the added weight on the body helps boost natural “happy” hormones like serotonin and reduces the production of cortisol (the hormone most associated with stress and our fight or flight response). Anecdotally, I had been told by several friends that their own weighted blanket had been a huge game-changer—one of which claimed theirs had helped them wean off of their prescription sleeping meds. Naturally, I was pretty curious about these so-called anti-anxiety blankets.