Weighted Blankets for Anxiety | Online Anxiety Therapy for High Achievers

By HAYDEN FINCH, PHD

Weighted blankets have been used for a long time for kids with developmental disorders, like Autism Spectrum Disorders and problems with sensory integration. But more recently, there’s been chatter about using them to manage anxiety. So what’s the deal? Is there any evidence they work for that?

Anyone who’s had a baby knows they tend to calm down when they’re held or swaddled. Swaddling is a form of deep pressure stimulation or deep touch pressure, which helps nurture or soothe the baby the same way a firm hug or massage feels soothing to adults. They’ve even taken that concept to dogs when they developed those Thundershirts. So if it works so well to calm babies, why couldn’t it work for adults?

There’s been lots of research about deep pressure stimulation and deep touch pressure in general, but not really much about whether it helps manage anxiety or whether weighted blankets actually do anything physiologically. Until recently. There have been a few reports come out within the past few years with preliminary evidence that weighted blankets actually do something.

Specifically, the research is showing weighted blankets calm the nervous system, which calms anxiety.

Research Study: “The corresponding STAI-10 survey responses showed that 63% of the participants rated their anxiety lower with the use of the weighted blanket. Furthermore, according to the exit survey, 78% reported a lower anxiety after using the blanket than when not using the blanket.”

Because weighted blankets have few side effects (does getting hot under the blanket count as a side effect?), many people might think they’re worth a shot in addition to or before trying medications. But be sure to check with your physician before trying one out because the weight can affect circulation, respiration, and temperature regulation, so that could affect your health. And of course, the weighted blanket won’t actually change whatever is causing the anxiety, so a more active treatment (like psychotherapy) might be appropriate. But this evidence is suggesting that a weighted blanket might be worth trying, at least to nurture and soothe ourselves.