Basically what a weighted blanket is, is the weight without the heat (it does what it says on the tin!)
Think back to before there was central heating in every home. Most bedrooms were freezing. Now I’m talking Elsa from frozen freezing. Where the frost was on the inside of the windows during winter. Where children slept together for warmth and there was no such thing as getting up for a morning shower. In fact. the worst part of the day was when your feet first touched the icy floor in the morning. Many a child got dressed for school in bed before braving the chilly air. We might not have had a hot potato in our pocket to keep our hands warm but we weren’t far off it.
Now think back to your bed. The average bed had at least three, if not four and five, heavy hairy blankets on it. It was also not unusual to have a coat or two on it as well, especially if your Dad had an army coat!
Do you remember crawling into the dense heavy cave that was your bed? I bet you slept like a log all night and even if you woke up it was too damn cold to get up so you just stayed in bed until you fell asleep again.
So? what has changed? Why have so many people difficulty getting and staying a sleep? Why are so many people taking sleeping tablets for chronic insomnia? Why is everybody riddled with anxiety, where thoughts run around our heads until we need something stronger to shut down our brains. Either in the form of drugs (both prescribed and ‘recreational’) or alcohol.
What has changed is the WEIGHT.
We are sensory human beings. Just in case you forgot we have five senses
- Sight
- Hearing
- Smell
- Taste
and ….….
- Touch
The skin is the larges organ of the body. It can tell you if something is hot or cold, wet or dry, light or heavy and responds accordantly.
Obviously I’m going to deal with heavy here 😉 Have you ever wondered why a hug feels so good? Receiving a hug, holding someone (or someone holding you), swaddling a baby. This ‘hug’ pressure releases oxytocin also known as the Love Drug. Oxytocin calms down the nervous system and boosts positive emotion. It makes you feel good. It lowers your blood pressure, especially helpful if you are feeling anxious. It lowers your cortisol (the stress hormone) enabling a higher quality of sleep.
Think about it. In caveman days, and the not too distant past, we slept in packs for safety and warmth. Humans crave touch. We crave it because it makes us feel safe and loved. Therefore we feel we belong. And feeling that we belong makes us feel that we are going to survive! Your not going to sleep very well if you don’t think your going to survive till the morning.
Which brings us back to our First World Problem of ‘my house is too warm and my deluxe duvet is too light’.
Lovely fluffy light duvets are gorgeous. But what many of us are finding is that we are not getting a good, deep, quality of sleep under them. Especially if you are sensory.
So how do you know if you are sensory?
- Are you extremely irritable?
- Do you have the urge to cover your eyes or ears when things get ‘too much’?
- Do you get ‘wound up’
- Do you feel stress, fear or anxiety but not sure why?
- Are you sensitive to textures, tags on clothing or other things that rub against your skin?
Everyone is sensory to some degree. The more sensory you are the heavier the blanket!
How can you tell if a Weighted Gravity Blanket is for you?
- Do you miss the weight of the five hairy blankets of when you were a kid?
- Do you have to be covered when you go to bed? No matter how hot it is!
- Do you like tight hugs?
- Do you double up blankets on your side of the bed? Maybe even put a few pillows on you as well.
Basically, our blankets are the weight without the heat. Depending on what weight you go for your blanket can be the weight of 3,4,5 or even 6 blankets on you but without any heat.
Our Weighted Blankets have the warmth of a summer duvet, around a 2tog.
In our lovely warm houses what we are missing is the weight, to shut down our senses to calm our minds and allow us to sleep. But we don’t need the heat.
So, you have two choices to get you longed for night’s sleep:
- Sleep out in the shed with a load of blankets and coats on you
or
- Get yourself a Weighted Deep Sleep Blanket 😊