Things You Need to Know About Weighted Blankets
By Space Coast Daily // February 9, 2020
A feeling of calm and restfulness is priceless. It’s the difference between being agitated and having a clear head to go about the day.
So many of us are plagued with anxiety, insomnia, and just a bunch of rapid-fire thoughts going on and on at a million miles a second.
These bouts of anxiety and distraction seem almost unavoidable to some. Others may have a handle on it, yet it manifests in other ways.
One of the top complaints among people—especially city dwellers, is that they have a hard time falling asleep. This is where weighted blankets have shined in the market recently.
They’re being hailed as everything from a miracle cure to a key psychological aid. Here we’ll explore what a weighted blanket does as well as how it can potentially help you. You’ll come to find that it’s much, much more than just sleep.
Aid in Anxiety
A weighted blanket can potentially lessen anxiety in people with diagnosed or suspected issues with being anxious. When you have something gently applying pressure to a large portion of your body, what you’re actually doing is giving your autonomic nervous system something proprioceptive to focus on.
According to this article, the weight, in turn, allows one relief from the full body terror that is anxiety or a full blown panic attack. The weight putting you at ease is nothing new.
That’s how hugs work. A weighted blanket is a perfect impartial CNS aid for people that may have issues coming in contact with others.
Trouble Sleeping
Most people that have trouble sleeping are experiencing a low level of anxiety about the next day. People have so much they have to think about on a day today basis that the ability to just shut it off and go blank is a near impossible feat. This is where the weighted blanket comes in.
Through the same means it helps anxious people, it can put a person in a state of relaxation. When you’re not physically reacting to the thoughts stirring in your head, they have nowhere to go. You can calm down, take a breather, and get to sleep.
ADHD Cases
The calming effect of the weighted blanket has also been used in many ADHD youth cases. The easily distracted and often detracted accept stimuli from everywhere. This means that they can cease to focus on a topic or a conversation if there’s an external stimuli that their brain can’t not pay attention to.
Activating touch and feel is a way to anchor that focus to something. There’s the “other thing” that’s taken care of by the weighted blanket, so now they can give more focus to the task or the assignment at hand.
Weighted blankets may seem like a fad, but there are numerous studies out there supporting its use. They’re also completely harmless.
The effectiveness of the weighted blanket doesn’t come from anything other than some extra mass. No extra drug that can cause contraindications. No extra supplements that are unproven. Just a heavy blanket to keep your mind at ease.
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