Can a Weighted Blanket Help My 20 Year Old?

Our experience with a weighted blanket

I wanted to share with you all about our experience with a weighted blanket; first, because it is a great product and second, because my daughter is 20 years old. I knew about weighted blankets, but for some reason, I never really considered purchasing one for her because I’d always only seen the cute little sizes for little kids. As I think about it more, it might also be that I have become somewhat complacent (and adjusted) to how we’re living life; when you do things for so long, the same way, it somehow seems “normal” and there is a false sense of “calm” and “routine”. Again, I never really thought about getting my daughter a weighted blanket until her behavior therapist suggested it. This also came at the time when they suggested that we redo her room to a more “sensory-friendly” room. So, I thought “why not?” This is our “real life experience”, we were not paid by Sensacalm to do a review or to provide any kind of a promotional post for them.  We wanted to share with you because we were quite impressed with the results from the weighted blanket.

My daughter has always had issues with sleeping; she gets up out of bed several times every night and always woke up before 7 o’clock am. This started when she was still an infant and has continued ever since then. Our big “A-ha” moment came on the very first night after receiving the weighted blanket. She not only stayed in bed, but she actually slept in past 8 o’clock am. She even slept in until 8:27am one morning, which is a “record” in our world.

Out of the blue…Shock at the Profoundness of her words

One of the biggest reasons that I wished to tell you all about this is because, one morning, as I was stumbling to make my coffee, Kailee was eating her breakfast and getting ready for school. Out of the blue (so to speak) she said, “Mom, I want to say thank you to my blanket for my warm hug”. I was in such shock at the profoundness of what she said, that I had to write it down!! I wrote it down right then, and there, at 6:05 on a scratch pad so I wouldn’t forget it! Remember, I said I was making coffee and that I hadn’t even had a chance to have my first cup yet, and if you know me you know, then you know…..I need my coffee!!

A little while later, her sister was visiting and slept with Kailee in her queen size bed. We put the weighted blanket on her sister’s bed and she and Kailee spent the night together. In the morning, her sister had this to say about her experience sleeping in the same bed as Kailee under the blanket:

Last night, Kailee fell asleep incredibly fast, she didn’t move, and I actually enjoyed sleeping next to her. Typically, Kailee will rock her head and or ask 1,000 questions before going to bed. Last night was different; she asked one question and then zonked out and didn’t even move positions the entire night. When Kailee woke up, I decided to keep sleeping. So, I grabbed her weighted blanket, and I too drifted off into a very restful sleep. I also didn’t move positions; it was an overall, very well rested sleep.

This got me curious: How do weighted blankets work?

Weighted Blankets: How do they work?

The quick answer we found (through researching it) is that Weighted blankets use deep pressure touch (caused by the weight) to relax the body. The pressure causes the body to produce serotonin and endorphins (chemicals our bodies naturally use) to calm the body. When we sleep, the serotonin is converted to melatonin, which is our body’s natural sleep-inducing hormone.

So the saying “you can’t teach old dogs new tricks” is, perhaps, something we need to watch out for. Perhaps, we do need to be open to new things that are available to (and for) our children.

We have had positive results from having our daughter use a weighted blanket; my husband and older daughter, in fact, want one, too.

PS: For those of you that read the “Sensory friendly rooms on a budget” article, and might be curious, Kailee would not allow the beanbag chair to stay in her room. We ended up having to give it away!

Thank you Sensacalm for providing the sensory blankets for our Sensory Friendly rooms on a budget project!

SPECIAL NOTE: Sensacalm did donate the blankets, but their only request was that they got credited in the article.

Photos: Stephanie Davis

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