Weighted Blankets Are Awesome!

Yeah. Seriously. Weighted blankets have been known for helping children undergoing insomnia or anxiety-inducing conditions, but they can also help adults more than you'd think.

I'm not saying everything I've written in this website just from my personal experience, but I have to let you guys know that whenever I feel tired, anxious or just plain sad, the thing that helps me the most is my weighted blanket...

Actually, no. Of course it’s my girlfriend, duh... But sometimes, she’s not around.

And I can’t say the blanket makes me as happy as she does, but it definitely makes me feel comfortable and safe, and stay away from burdens, at least a little while.

Researchers talk about this “deep touch stimulation therapy”-thing I keep reading about, and it’s indeed amazing.

If you are reading this, and are a human being, you’ll most likely think that having an object that gives you such a warm hug (I’m not kidding here, they feel almost unnatural) must be comforting.

And it is indeed.

Will a Weighted Blanket Benefit Me, As an Adult?

I know, I know, you're asking yourself: "How do I know that this stuff can actually really help?"

I asked myself the same question before trying one, and I’m going to tell you the most honest answer I can, from my own experience and also what I’ve read; researches from occupational therapists and reviews and opinions from people that have acquired one.

The three primary reasons for which weighted therapy is well-known and why most therapists would advise on getting one, are insomnia, anxiety-inducing conditions, and autism spectrum disorders.

If you don’t suffer from any of these conditions, and are perfectly(ish) healthy, like me, you can still benefit from it; use it to feel comfortable and snuggled, some people don't know that they would love feeling like they’re sleeping inside of a permanent hug.

If you want to be sure about how a blanket might help you if you do have any of these conditions, feel free to go through our site to a section that interests you:

• Sleeping disorders
• Anxiety and Depression
• Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Alzheimer and Parkinson’s

What You Need to Know When Buying a Weighted Blanket

Which size and weight?

One of the things that are going to directly impact the price of your blanket is going to be the size, so depending on your height and weight you have to optimize your choice, you don’t need a blanket that’s bigger than you (besides that'd be more expensive!), because you only need it to cover around 80% of your total height.

You also want to make sure that your blanket is around 10% of your weight --that’s what occupational therapist recommend-- if the blanket is too heavy you might feel suffocated or uncomfortable underneath it, and if it is too light it won't stimulate your muscles that much.

You may be thinking about sharing it with your significant other, and I’ve got a tip for you in that regard; my girl weights around 120 lbs and I’m around 150 lb, so we discussed it, and she said she could be ok with a heavier one (she’s a hugger, so I guessed it made sense) so we got a 15 lb blanket.

But we had a little problem when it came to height, because I’m way taller (6 feet) than her, so I was the one that had to settle now for a shorter one, it was ok. The blanket covered about 50% of my height, and it actually was great, since I didn’t want it to cover my feet.

We ended up settling for a 38” x 60” so we can get a good cover when using it individually, or place it horizontally only over our legs if we just want to feel it there while we share it.

For more detail on how to pick the right size for you, go ahead and read here.

Choosing the Right Fabric

Here's where it gets a little tricky, I knew absolutely nothing about fabric. But I'll tell you a little about what I found out.

Cotton

Cotton is one of the best fabrics you will find out there, especially because its price doesn't scale the blanket's price up to the roof. A particular thing about this fabric is that it allows for a huge amount of designs, there virtually limitless kinds of cotton, and because of that, cotton is an easy material to work with, so it's highly customizable, another really important feature is that it breathes really well.

Minky

Minky isn't as cheap as cotton, but it for sure takes the feeling up a notch. If you haven't felt the pleasure of sleeping under a minky blanket then I must tell you that you are missing an enlightening experience.

Minky feels like pure softness mixed with electrical charges touching your body, and that's quite relaxing (until you get used to them). It'll make you feel really good, as the

material for a weighted blanket, I haven't tried them out as a weighted blanket fabric, so I'm actually a little confused because, to me, minky blankets are supposed to feel light and gentle over you, not the opposite.

You can read more about weighted blanket fabric in this article.

There seems to be a lot of people saying that polyester weighted blankets didn’t breathe too well in hot climates, so we just chose a cotton one. You can’t go wrong with that.

Still, if you do like the feeling of polyester, I guess it’d be a nice texture, just be sure you don’t live in a hot place, or you might end up not sleeping because of the heat. You can read more about choosing the right weighted comforter for hot weather here.

Keep reading for much more information

This is just the tip of the iceberg, there is much more information around the site which will help you learn more about weighted blankets, decide if they are you, and point you in the direction of some popular options.

Happy reading!