 |
| Best Weighted Blanket Ever! |
Restless sleep is a tough one. For those who know me, you know I’ve
struggled with insomnia for years and I have had to work with my son on many
sleep strategies. Recently we have been
using the SleepTight weighted blanket and I cannot say enough great things about
it!! The SleepTight has a rounded out
area at the top of the blanket so that the weight from the blanket can go over
your shoulders. This is huge because the
weight on the shoulders is very calming, yet the blanket doesn’t bunch up
around the sleeper’s neck. Just the
thought of that makes me cringe.
Also I hear a lot of talk about weighted blankets should be
10 percent of a person’s body weight.
Who came up with this magic number?
When you have a teen or adult with autism who needs a weighted blanket
12-15 pounds of weight distributed across their body often isn’t enough. When you take into account the larger size of
the blanket, the amount of weight distributed across their body is much lower
than a smaller size blanket. The large
SleepTight has a weight of 16 pounds the XL has a weight of 25 pounds. For my son who weighs 120 pounds he prefers the
XL.
I have been looking for published research on weighted
blankets. If anyone has read or found
any current research on this topic please let me know! I don’t doubt how helpful they can be, it’s
just everyone seems to be guessing on what weight to suggest for their weighted
blanket. It would be nice to have some
academic answers!
Please note: the weighted blanket I refer to was furnished
to us as a gift from National Autism Resources.
1 comment:
Bonnie, I think the 5-10% weight is what is suggested as a generic weight - including for small children, and for things like weighted cushions, vests, belts and the like.
An OT acquaintance of mine told me there was not much research based evidence about using weighted products to help with behaviour - it is mainly anecdotal.
http://www.acot.ca/files/Commentary_Weighted_Blankets_c_Append.pdf
Here is one article you may find interesting. It does talk about adults needing extra weight.
Glad to hear the weighted blanket has been so successful - and the efficacy of the cut out makes good sense. This OT has done research into how well weighted vests work and she talks about how positioning the weights over the shoulders is important. http://otvest.com/
Sorry, probably too much info in reply but I've been recently looking into this for work - I'm an aide at a disability organisation.
Interesting post! It's great to hear how well it is working :)
Post a Comment