Road Test: I tried a weighted blanket to help my chronic anxiety

I also spoke to a sleep expert to see how weighted blankets actually work.

I would describe my anxiety as unrelenting. It’s hard to remember a time when my heart wasn’t beating too fast, my stomach wasn’t churning and I didn’t feel agitated and borderline panicked.

It often feels like I can’t escape my persistent unease. Even in my sleep, I clench my jaw and grind my teeth, suffer from nightmares and experience lots of disruptions in my slumber. I practise good sleep hygiene, (a bougie term for a nighttime routine), and I consciously decompress from the day while getting ready for bed.

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I switch my phone off, journal, drink cups of tea, lay in the calming haze of my sunset lamp, read, breathe, stretch and rub essential oils on my temples – all in an effort to achieve a sense of calm from the constant chaos that lives in my brain.

However, even though I’ve been practising these strategies for some time, I still find that my day-to-day anxiety is too intense and I can never quite switch off. Whether I’m asleep or awake, I’m still enduring those subtle symptoms of general unease – I experience what I call a ‘washing machine stomach’ and beads of sweat that appear on my upper lip.

When I told my psychologist how chronic my anxiety was, she suggested exploring deep-pressure therapy stimulation. It’s something I’d heard of but didn’t really know much about. She advised me to try out a weighted blanket, in the hopes that it would stave off oncoming panic attacks, soothe my everyday anxieties and provide a deeper, more restful sleep.

Putting it to the test

My plushy, pale pink weighted blanket arrived from Woosah (with a bonus gift of essential oils – score!), and I was eager to try it out that night. I completed my routine, threw my hot water bottle under the blankets while I brushed my teeth and then climbed into my cosy bed. Sunset lamp on, tinkly music playing and heat pack secured, I slid under the soft, quilted blanket.

I woke up the next morning with the sense that my sleep had been much more restful than usual. I only woke up once during the night, and I felt energised in comparison to the sluggish wake-up I usually experience.

The following weeks resulted in higher-quality sleep – I could feel the difference. Usually, I wake up feeling instantly anxious and not-quite-rested, but since I’d started using the blanket, I noticed I was having more restorative, uninterrupted sleep and was waking up feeling more refreshed and satiated from my snooze.

I spoke to sleep expert Olivia Arezzolo in order to find out how weighted blankets actually work and discovered there’s a strong evidence base behind them. Essentially, the weight of the blanket “mimics the action of deep pressure stimulation”, which “activates the parasympathetic nervous system”.

This resonated with me, as I can consciously feel my heart rate slowing down and my breath becoming slow and rhythmic when I hop under my snuggly pink blanket. I’d even gotten into the habit of lying on my living room floor with the blanket on top of me when I felt a panic attack coming on, and just observing my breathing slowing down.

According to Olivia, the parasympathetic nervous system is what activates our ability to “rest and digest”, therefore enabling us to “naturally feel more relaxed”. This is what gives me the feeling of everything slowing down, which allows me to achieve a sense of calm once I start panicking.

I also asked Olivia about the impacts of a bad night’s sleep (or in my case, ongoing problems with getting my forty winks), and she told me “fatigue, brain fog and memory loss, [anxiety] and making mistakes” are all side effects of low-quality sleep.

Olivia also mentioned a clinical trial in the Journal of Sleep Medicine and Disorders which showed that people who used weighted blankets “regardless of anxiety”, “slept deeper and longer” compared to those who didn’t use one.

I’m completely thrilled with my weighted blanket and the positive effect it’s had on both my general daytime anxiety and my sleep. I would recommend that anyone who experiences frequent episodes of panic or trouble having a restful night’s sleep tries a weighted blanket to remedy these issues. And at this point, I basically have to fight my boyfriend for who sleeps under the blanket.

Find out more about weighted blankets here.