The average American could spend as much as 36 years of their life sleeping in bed. However, with a recent increase in nationwide and global health and safety concerns, people may not be sleeping as well as they should be.

Good sleep is essential. A weighted blanket provides many great benefits for those who may have difficulty sleeping due to a number of underlying issues. But you may also be wondering if these weighted blanket benefits apply to sleeping on cold nights as well.

If you're interested in finding out more about the benefits of weighted blankets, keep reading this post below to discover further information. 

What Are Weighted Blankets?

If you don't know what weighted blankets are, we'll briefly explain them to you here first.

A weighted blanket is a type of blanket that contains some kind of weighted material inside. They can weigh between 5 to 30 pounds. The ideal weight of your weighted blanket should be around 10% of your total body weight.

Common blanket weights used are typically small weights sewn into the blanket, glass beads, rice, or plastic pellets to increase a blanket's weight. While the concept of a weighted blanket may seem scary to some, it can actually be very therapeutic. 

Key Benefits of Weighted Blankets

Sleeping with a weighted blanket can offer many great benefits for your health and sleep. Let's take a look at the 7 key benefits of weighted blankets for more information. 

Improves Your Quality of Sleep

Your immune system relies on proper sleep to function at its best. A lack of quality sleep can weaken your immune system and make you more vulnerable to getting sick. Around 20 million Americans can experience occasional difficulty falling asleep, but 40 million people within the U.S. suffer from chronic, long-term sleep issues.

One of the top benefits of weighted blankets is their ability to improve your sleep quality. A weighted blanket's gentle pressure stimulates the relaxation hormone Serotonin.

This feel-good hormone helps you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer and deeper. It gives you quality sleep, so you'll feel rested and more refreshed throughout the day.

Enhances Your Mood

With improved sleep thanks to the benefits of weighted blankets, you'll also experience an uptick in your general outlook on life as well. You may notice you'll feel less irritable and moody from the increase in that wonderful mood-lifting brain chemical Serotonin.

Weighted blankets increase Serotonin in the body through deep sleep. They can also help reduce levels of Cortisol, the stress hormone. As a result, your body is more able to relax in the process. 

Say goodbye to groggy, cranky mornings and say hello to restful sleep with weighted blankets.

Helps Keeps Your Warmer in the Cold

You may be wondering "Do weighted blankets keep you warm?" The answer is yes.

Their thicker and heavier overall construction provides more warmth. Plastic is also an excellent insulator, so weighted blankets containing plastic pellets as weights will retain heat better. Even when you're sleeping in the cold winter months, you can still feel relaxed and cozy. 

When you're sleeping in the cold fall and winter months, a weighted blanket can hold the warmth in against your body. This will help warm you up throughout the night, even as temperatures drop. 

The type of material used around your weighted blanket also influences its ability to breathe or let heat escape. You can add a duvet cover to the top of your weighted blanket to hold in more heat without making you feel too warm. 

Assists Those With ADHD

Those individuals who have trouble managing the symptoms of sensory issues like ADHD can also reap the benefits of weighted blankets. Using a technique called deep touch pressure therapy can assist in helping people with ADHD to better manage their feelings of being disconnected and tense.

A weighted blanket is its own form of individual deep touch pressure therapy. It soothes and provides a calming effect that helps ease the symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) so you can feel self-regulated and more relaxed.

Weighted blankets aid both adults and children with these feelings of restlessness. It's like a soft, controlled, and reassuring hug.

Helps People With Anxiety and Panic Disorders

40 million adults, about 19.1% of the population in the U.S., suffer from an anxiety or panic disorder each year. If you're one of the many individuals suffering from an anxiety or panic disorder, then you should test out the benefits of weighted blankets for yourself.

Just as it does to improve your sleep and mood and decrease restlessness, a weighted blanket can also help relieve your anxiety. The weighted blanket's gentle deep touch pressure can soothe your body's anxious fight-or-flight response so you sleep through the night. It helps you feel more grounded.

The key benefits of weighted blankets lie in their deep pressure therapy, which gives users a reassuring touch. Weighted blankets help to relax you so you can actually sleep better. You can feel more refreshed and less anxious the next day.

Eases Pain

The benefits of weighted blankets don't stop there. The gentle pressure provided by a weighted blanket goes a step further by also helping to relieve pain.

You experience pain when the soft tissues and nerves in your body send signals to your brain's pain receptors. But with a weighted blanket, pain receptors and soft tissues in the body get a form of light acupressure therapy, calming pain signals to the brain.

Feeling soothed by a weighted blanket's gentle hug releases Oxytocin chemicals from the brain simulating love and feelings of connectedness, which can lessen feelings of pain. Those who suffer from chronic pain conditions like arthritis can find some natural calming relief from the regular use of sleeping with a weighted blanket.

Stress can also cause your body to feel tense even while you sleep and lead to you feeling achy and sore the next day. Your weighted blanket creates a calming effect through its simulated deep-pressure touch. This can lead to a decrease in your overall body tension while also diminishing body pain.

Try the Weighted Blanket From Nest Bedding for Yourself Today

With so many benefits of weighted blankets, you'll probably want to try one out for yourself. It's like your own personal therapy blanket. Weighted blankets also make great gifts for friends and loved ones who struggle with getting the restful sleep they need.

The weighted blanket from Nest Bedding offers luxury and ultimate comfort. Try it for yourself for 30 nights and see the difference it can make in your sleep cycle. You'll wonder how you ever got by without one in the first place.

Contact our team of Nestologists with any questions or place your order on our website today.