Previous research has shown that weighted blankets may ease insomnia in humans. However, the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Hence, researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden experimented with 26 young men and women to examine if the bedtime use of a weighted blanket increases the production of sleep-promoting and anti-stress hormones like melatonin and oxytocin. In addition, they investigated whether the bedtime use of a weighted blanket (12 percent of participants' body weight) reduced the activity of stress systems in the body. [...]
"Using a weighted blanket increased melatonin concentrations in saliva by about 30 percent. However, no differences in oxytocin, cortisol, and the activity of the sympathetic nervous system were observed between the weighted and light blanket conditions," says Elisa Meth, first author and Ph.D. student at the Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences at Uppsala University.
Journal Reference:
Elisa M. S. Meth, Luiz Eduardo Mateus Brandão, Lieve T. van Egmond, et al., A weighted blanket increases pre-sleep salivary concentrations of melatonin in young, healthy adults [open], J Sleep Res, 2022. DOI: 10.1111/jsr.13743
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday October 21 2022, @04:48PM
Our son (severe autism) has that habit - though he doesn't really need to find a defect hole in his socks or shirt to decide that a hole needs to be put there, and expanded. He usually stops when it's a little bigger than big enough to get a finger comfortably through.
Weighted blankets used to help him calm down when he was younger (turns 21 later this year), mostly he doesn't need them now - and/or you could say that they don't help much when he does.
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