About 1 year ago I got an email from a finance expert I follow. This time, his email began foraging in my area of expertise …

As soon as I read “weighted blankets”, my mind ‘shut-up shop’ (like that part of the population who hear “sleep training babies works'“).

That’s because a few years ago, I remember reading a really good study that tested weighted blankets as a way to improve sleep.

The study was published in one of the best journals, and was led by a trusted pediatric sleep researcher.

It Started With A ‘D’

Let’s take a step back and think about why someone came up with an idea to make blankets heavier.

And no - it wasn’t some parent at their wits end who thought putting some bricks in their toddlers blanket would prevent them from coming out and asking “I’m thirsty”, “I need to go to the toilet”, “I’m hungry”, “I’m bored”, and “What are you guys doing?” and “Can I ride the horsey too?”.

Applying ‘weight’ or ‘evenly distributed deep pressure’ to an individual can help to decrease their arousal (ie, calm them).

Those who require such deep pressure have sensory integration difficulties - such as children and adults diagnosed with Autism.

‘Weighted vests’ have been used since the 1980s as an occupational therapy tool to help calm young people during the day, so they can focus their attention and learn.

Delving into the scientific literature shows the first instance of testing weighted vests was on a single teenager (named ‘D’) who was diagnosed with autism. The paper came out in 1987.

This test of a single young person then led to better quality tests of groups of young people.

Many saw the potential benefits of weighted vests helping to calm those with autism during the day.

So it made sense to consider calming them for the other 33% of their 24-hr day.

Do Weighted Blankets Work?

According to my finance guy’s experience - the answer is ‘Yes’.

According to the randomised controlled trial conducted by Gringas and colleagues in 2014 - the answer is ‘No’.

They tested 67 children and teens aged between 5 to 17 years.

One fortnight (aka, 2 weeks) they slept with a weighted blanket (containing steel pellets) - and the other 2 weeks was a ‘control’ blanket’ (ie, contained lighter plastic pellets).

Sleep was measured with both sleep diaries and wrist monitors.

Sleeping with a ‘blanket full of shotgun pellets’ was no better than sleeping with the control blanket.

The only difference found between the two blankets is that the kids and the parents preferred the weighted blankets.

Just like my finance guy.

Conclusion?

Young people with Autism sleep poorly - we know this as we’ve also studied it (Baker, Richdale, Short & Gradisar, 2013).

So it’s understandable that parents of kids with autism would want a quick fix.

A review last year in The American Journal of Occupational Therapy concluded that:

“Weighted blankets may be an appropriate therapeutic tool in reducing anxiety; however, there is not enough evidence to suggest they are helpful with insomnia.” (Eron et al., 2020).

Regardless, online shoppers can pay a hefty price for a shotgun blanket …

At WINK, we always recommend people do their own research.

So here’s an insight into what I did for this blog.

I went to Google Scholar and typed in some search terms:

When Google Scholar provides you with a list of studies, try to find a title that has the word ‘review’ in it. These papers summarise the scientific literature and they’re easier to read for those not trained in critically analysing scientific studies.

You could do this when you want to know more before buying a piece of sleep tech - or when you want to find out how to treat a certain sleep problem.

Heck, I do this for virtually every aspect of my health and the health of my family.

The finance guy I use to follow use to end his blogs with ‘Tread Your Own Path’.

I couldn’t agree more!

Sneak Peek …

Yesterday our WINK Sleep Community discussed ‘How To Deal With The Media’. Specifically, how you can engage with the media - form working relationships - and use the products of your interviews to better your business.

We’re going to send this blog as an email to our subscribers, and at the end, provide a link to view a snippet of yesterday’s Live Q&A recording.

After all, we like to give little nuggets to those who follow us at WINK.

If you wish to get on board and ride the WINK train, subscribe below.

If you’re already a subscriber, note that we recently changed our email - so our weekly newsletters may have ended up in your SPAM or Junk folders.

• Prof Michael Gradisar