Weighted Blanket

Do you have insomnia, anxiety, depression??  Besides taking antidepressant, talking to an therapist, you can also try hypnotherapy and sound therapy, doing yoga and meditation, taking supplements and herbal teas.  Moreover, the newest trend is using the weighted blanket.

Weighted blankets are usually filled with plastic pellets or glass beads to add weight, ranging from about 4 to 25 pounds. You pick the heaviness of the blanket based on your own weight.

A study from 2015 found that after 32 adults used a 30-pound blanket, 63% reported lower anxiety and 78% preferred the weighted blanket to calm down.

Weighted blankets offer deep pressure stimulation, a form of touch pressure that feels like a firm hug, a massage, or swaddling. While research on weighted blankets is sparse, deep pressure stimulation has been found to calm adults and children with anxiety, autism, and attention difficulties, researchers say.

While they’ve been gaining popularity recently, weighted blankets have been around for a few decades now in the occupational therapy field, where they’ve been used as aids for children on the autism spectrum. They’re even the basis for products such as Thundershirts, which help your pup stay calm during thunderstorms, fireworks shows or other anxiety-inducing events.

So, I was interested in give it a try myself to see if it could give me a better night sleep.

At first, I tried the My Calm Blanket since it keep popping up on my Facebook.  When they arrived, the box is kind of broken where they didn’t taped since the box is not strong/not thick enough to handle the weight. After I opened the box, inside is a simple plastic bag which is open with the blanket folded inside.  I got a bad feeling on this because the packaging feels cheap.

So I took the blanket out, get a closer look, it doesn’t seems well made.  The size is not long enough (48×72), the stitches are wider than I expected, the inner fabric is kind of thin plus the string tie distance between inner blanket and outer blanket are also wider (every 4 blocks) than I would like; therefore, it won’t stay flat, in one place when you move around.  Overall, I am NOT happy with this one so I contacted the company one day after I have received the product for a refund.

The customer told me I am responsible for the return shipping as it stated on their website.  Fine.  Then he asks me to take picture of the box and packaging.  Fine. Then he said he has forward the photos to the warehouse for investigation.  WHAT??  Investigation for what?? They said, “It’s normal for their warehouse to inspect my return and it’s true to any company that has a refund policy.”

Ok.  I understand every companies will inspect each returned item; however, they usually inspect the items when it got mailed back to their warehouse and then inspect it.  This is my first time got asked to take photos of the box and the item and email it back to them for inspection.  Something is really wrong here because it has been a week since my first email request the return and still haven’t get my return label (by the way, I need to pay for the return shipping for this 15 lb blanket).

I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS “My Calm Blanket” COMPANY.

7/25 Update: I have requested a return on 6/28 and today is 7/25 and I am still waiting for a return label. Can’t believe this is a San Francisco company.

The second one I tried is Quility from Amazon.  I like this one way better.  The packaging is way more professional, the size is longer (48×78), how they sew the inner fabric’s edge is way nicer, the inner fabric is thicker or stiffer, they use bottom instead of string tie, and the distance between inner blanket and outer blanket are smaller (every two blocks) which really help to keep the blanket stay together after moving around.  The outer blanket is very soft and thick.

It does took me a few nights to get used to it and it does make me feel like a swaddle baby been held in the arm.

There are many different brands out there which I can’t try them all for a comparison.  However, just from the two brands I have tried, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the Quility from Amazon.  It also got over 600 positive reviews too.

Additional reading: Weighted Blankets for Autism: Reducing Anxiety and Providing a Good Night’s Sleep