• Best overall weighted blanket: Gravity Cooling Weighted Blanket
• Best splurge: BlanQuil Chill
• Best knitted weighted blanket: Bearaby Weighted Blanket
• Best for the bed: Baloo Weighted Blanket
• Best cooling weighted blanket: Luxome Bamboo Cooling Weighted Blanket
• Best budget buy: Syrinx Cooling Weighted Blanket
• Best beadless weighted blanket: Nuzzie Knit Weighted Blanket
• Best weight range: Weighted Idea Cooling Weighted Blanket

Weighted blankets are heavier than the kinds of blankets people usually buy. They typically weigh anywhere from 4 to 30 pounds, making them heavier than the average comforter or down quilt.

For many people who have health conditions, such as anxiety, insomnia, or autism, weighted blankets may be a safe complementary treatment to traditional methods like medication.

Although more research needs to be done in the area, weighted blankets have been foundTrusted Source to be an effective and safe coping mechanism for insomnia and mental health conditions like generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).

A weighted blanket is a heavy blanket — usually one that weighs between 4 to 30 pounds — that’s used as a therapeutic tool to invoke calm and reduce stress.

Weighted blankets simulate deep pressure touch therapy (DPT), which provides the same physiological response people get when they’re hugged or heldTrusted Source.

The blanket itself can be made from various materials, from cotton to bamboo to flannel, and the fill (which provides the weight to the blanket) is usually micro-glass beads, although it can also be sand, grains, or steel beads.

Weighted blankets can help reduce anxiety in both children and adults, and they’re typically safe to use. They help many people achieve a relaxed state, allowing them to sleep more deeply.

Grounding

Weighted blankets help ground your body during sleep by pushing it down. This process, known as “earthing” or “grounding,” may have a deeply calming effect. The blankets also simulate DPT, a type of therapy that uses firm, hands-on pressure to reduce chronic stress and high levels of anxiety.

Older research from 2014Trusted Source shows that grounding may help reduce nighttime levels of cortisol, a stress hormone. Cortisol is produced when your brain thinks you’re under attack, eliciting the fight-flight-freeze response.

Stress can escalate cortisol levels. This can have a negative impact on the immune system. It can also increase blood sugar levels and adversely affect the digestive tract.

Elevated cortisol levels, especially those that don’t drop back down to normal levels naturally, can cause multiple complications. These include:

• depression
• anxiety
• insomnia
• weight gain

Pressure touch

By providing deep pressure touch, weighted blankets can promote relaxation and help break this cycle. This may trigger the release of the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin, which are feel-good hormones produced in the brain. These hormones help combat stress, anxiety, and depression.

A 2020 review of studies indicated that weighted blankets may be helpful in relieving anxiety. More research is needed to determine whether they can also help with insomnia.

According to the review, grounding helped reduce cortisol production in the participants during sleep. This improved their sleep and alleviated stress, insomnia, and pain.

A study from 2008 found that 30-pound weighted blankets are a safe and effective way to reduce anxiety in adults. Of the 32 adults who participated in the study, 63 percent reported lower levels of anxiety.

Sleep improvement

Because weighted blankets can reduce stress and calm you down, they may also lead to improvements in sleep quality.

In a 2020 study, researchers found that people who slept with weighted blankets reported reduced insomnia, better sleep, and more energy during the day. They also said they had fewer feelings of fatigue, depression, and anxiety.

It’s worth noting that, in addition to insomnia, all participants in this sleep trial either had major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, GAD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

In a 2015 study, participants with mild to moderate insomnia who used a weighted blanket for 4 weeks experienced better sleep with less tossing and turning. The participants also reported that they were more comfortable.