Every day more and more Americans are turning their attention to weighted blankets as a natural solution to their day to day stress, anxiety, and insomnia. As the number of people sleeping under weighted blankets steadily increases, so does the number of people enjoying full nights of restful sleep on the regular! But there’s more to these wonderful tools than simply helping us drift off to dreamland. Did you know that a weighted blanket can actually help decrease your anxiety and stress levels, both in and outside of the bedroom? That’s right! Soothing your worrying thoughts can be as simple as curling up in a Huggaroo weighted blanket on the couch, in your desk chair, or in the bedroom – wherever and whenever anxiety strikes! Today we’ll take a look at what it means to be the best weighted blanket for anxiety relief, and help you find the right Huggaroo weighted blanket for you and your family!
Step one in understanding how a Huggaroo weighted blanket will ease your anxiety is understanding what anxiety is in the first place. Most of you reading this article probably suffer from anxiety yourselves, but for friends and family who are looking for a gift to help a loved one who struggles with anxiety, it may be hard to understand how it feels. In short, anxiety can be described as a state of extreme stress that is beyond your control. We all feel stress from time to time – moving into a new home, interviewing for a new job, and preparing for big holiday dinners are all common stressful events in our lives. But for a person with anxiety, stress comes far more often and sticks around much longer. Something as routine as going grocery shopping can trigger anxiety in some, and they may run over the scenario several times in their head the night before, planning and replanning everything they’ll buy and rehearsing what to say to the cashier. The stress and constant worry over common events can take a great toll on a person’s day to day life, and the endless looping thoughts about these scenarios keep those who have anxiety awake for hours after they’ve lain down to rest. Worse, the anxiety doesn’t necessarily turn off when we go to sleep. Many people with anxiety suffer from disruptive sleep patterns and stressful dreams as their minds continue to whirl even after they’ve finally managed to fall asleep. If this sounds like the struggles faced by you or someone you love, let us assure you we can help.
Weighted blankets have been used by thousands of people to soothe their anxiety, with wonderful results. It may seem hard to believe that a simple comforter could be the solution to such an overwhelming problem, but as you become more familiar with weighted blankets you’ll soon understand. First and foremost, weighted blankets are unlike the quilts and comforters you have on your bed today. As the name implies, weighted blankets are a fair bit heavier – they feature inner pockets with extra padding such as cotton, glass beads, polypropylene pellets, or even grains such as barley or rice. For our weighted blankets, we use hypoallergenic, non-toxic glass microbeads and polypropylene pellets to avoid any issues with food allergies. This added weight is key in soothing anxiety, among many things, because it provides deep pressure stimulation.
What is deep pressure stimulation? Put simply, by applying gentle, dispersed weight across the body, we can trigger a natural process within the body to increase positive chemicals like serotonin and lower stress hormones like cortisol. This response is already built into us, and in fact, it’s triggered every time we receive a nice big hug from someone we love. The gentle pressure of deep pressure stimulation signals to the brain that we are safe, and it’s powerful enough to even bypass anxiety! As anyone who suffers from anxiety can tell you, simply knowing you aren’t in danger is rarely enough to stop the anxiety from happening. That is because it’s caused by your brain chemistry, and even if you are aware it is happening you can’t escape its effects. Deep pressure therapy tells your brain to change the chemistry it’s making, to shift into a calmer chemical state, and this helps free us from those endless looping thoughts. In other words, the best weighted blanket for anxiety relief is the blanket that takes you out of fight or flight mode and into a more relaxed state.
The increase in serotonin isn’t just good for clearing our heads, either. Serotonin also helps to lower blood pressure, and it gives melatonin, the chemical in charge of sleep, the room it needs to work efficiently. So, by lowering your stress levels and increasing serotonin, Huggaroo weighted blankets can actually help you sleep deeper, fuller, and wake up feeling truly well-rested. There are even studies suggesting weighted blankets can help regulate your circadian rhythm! Sleep and anxiety are closely tied; when we’re feeling anxious it’s hard to sleep, and when we haven’t slept well it’s easy to feel anxious. But with a Huggaroo weighted blanket, you can soothe away the anxiety that’s keeping you awake and end the restless nights that have been aggravating your anxiety! How’s that for two birds with one stone?
So now that you understand what a weighted blanket is and how it helps, it’s time to find the best weighted blanket for anxiety relief for you. It may surprise you to know that at Huggaroo we have not one but four different weighted blanket options for older teens and adults, as well as two for children! This is because different blankets suit different lifestyles. The climate you live in, your preferred way of sleeping and the size of your bed and body are all important factors to bear in mind when choosing your new weighted blanket.
Before we get into the differences between Huggaroo weighted blankets, let’s first talk about what you can expect from any Huggaroo model. As noted before, all of our weighted blankets get their weight from either glass microbeads or polypropylene pellets. These are all non-toxic, hypoallergenic, and one hundred percent washing machine safe! The Huggaroo Extra Fluffy Weighted Blanket (15 lb) uses fluffy cotton in addition to its polypropylene pellets for that extra fluffy feel. In every Huggaroo blanket, these microbeads and plastic pellets are sewn into the inner quilt in evenly distributed little pockets, so they will always stay in place. You’ll never have to worry about shifted, sliding, or slumping inside your Huggaroo.
As for the outer covers, most of our blankets use strategically spaced ties to hold the inner quilt and outer cover in place while allowing for easy separation when it’s time for washing. With the exception of the Huggaroo Cooling Weighted Blanket (15 lb), which uses a special cooling bamboo-derived rayon fabric, our weighted blankets all come with super soft Minky or Chenille polyester outer covers. We also offer a separate one hundred percent polyester duvet cover for the Huggaroo Cooling Weighted Blanket (15 lb) in order to transform it from a cooling summer blanket to warm and snuggly winter comforter.
The first thing you will notice when you browse our collection is the range of weights covered by our blankets. Everybody is different, and it is important to choose a weighted blanket that will best suit yours. The general rule of thumb when picking the weight of your blanket is to choose one that weighs about ten percent of your body weight, give or take a few pounds. You’ll find recommendations in each blanket’s description regarding who would be best suited to the blanket. Our 15 lbs weighted blankets are best for adults and teens weighing over 90 lbs. The Huggaroo Weighted Blanket (20 lb) is especially hefty and is best suited to adults and teens weighing over 160 lbs. Please note the Huggaroo Weighted Blanket (20 lb) is not to be used for children, as it is too heavy for them. We offer much lighter 7 lbs models for children over 3 years of age who weigh between 30 and 90 lbs. As for the size of our blankets, our adult-sized weighted blankets measure at 58 x 80 inches, perfect for full, queen, and king size beds. Meanwhile, our children’s blankets are 36 x 48 inches and easily fit all twin and full-size beds.
When choosing between Huggaroo weighted blanket models, it’s also important to consider the climate you live in, as different models provide a different amount of heat. Most people living in temperate climates find the standard Huggaroo Weighted Blanket 15 lb to be perfectly comfortable any night of the year. However, there are some people who naturally run hot and find the warmth of the ultra-plush polyester outer cover is just too much for a good night’s rest. For those who struggle with keeping cool or who live in an area where the summers are quite warm, the Huggaroo Cooling Weighted Blanket (15 lb) is the best weighted blanket fit for their needs. We’ve designed this blanket with a silky smooth bamboo-derived rayon fabric that stays cool all night long. This way you can enjoy the soothing power of your weighted blanket without feeling stifled or overheated. And if you find you’d like to sleep under plush polyester covers when winter’s chill rolls in, we also sell an optional plush duvet cover that easily transforms your cooling blanket into a plush and cozy winter comforter.
On the other hand, some find our Huggaroo Weighted Blanket 15 lb isn’t fluffy enough! So, we stepped it up and created the Huggaroo Extra Fluffy Weighted Blanket (15 lb), stuffed full of extra cotton to be the comfiest blanket ever! If you live in a region with especially chilling winters, or just want a super snuggly blanket to cozy on up in, the Huggaroo Extra Fluffy Weighted Blanket (15 lb) is just for you.
While we only offer the standard Huggaroo style weighted blanket for children, we do have cooler alternatives for parents who are concerned about the bedtime warmth. The Huggaroo Pouch is not a weighted blanket, but it provides similar deep pressure stimulation without the heavyweight. This sensory compression bed sheet is made of a special stretchy nylon/spandex blend that stays elastic even after being stretched over and over again. It’s fun to play in and cozy to curl up in, as it provides a swaddle-like sensation to promote sleep and relaxation. So many parents tell us their children have turned from hating bedtime to getting excited to snuggle up under their Huggaroo Pouch Sensory Compression Bed Sheets, and we’re honored to have made such a wonderful difference in so many children’s lives. The Huggaroo Pouch Sensory Compression Bed Sheets is available in twin, full, and queen sizes, as even teens and adults may find it a soothing aide to sleep and anxiety!
Above all else, finding the best weighted blanket for anxiety relief means finding a weighted blanket – or weighted blanket alternative – that was designed with your well being in mind. Here at Huggaroo, there is nothing we value more than our customers’ happiness and health. We’re parents ourselves, and we’ve seen what an amazing difference a weighted blanket can make firsthand. It was the joy of finally finding the right solution to our son’s sleeping troubles that inspired us to create Huggaroo, and the knowledge that there are so many others out there struggling just like him that drives us to keep improving. We are absolute perfectionists when it comes to our work because we think you deserve the very best. That’s why every Huggaroo product comes with an unconditional thirty-day money-back guarantee, as well as a full 1-year manufacturer’s warranty. If you find an issue with your Huggaroo blanket, we want to hear about it, and more importantly, we want to make it right. Your feedback, your comfort, and your happiness are of the utmost importance to us.
Thank you for choosing Huggaroo and letting us help you work toward a better life with less anxiety and more sleep!