The Guardian ·
My wife swears by weighted blankets to sleep – and now I understand why
A 10-lb weighted blanket made a short night of sleep feel surprisingly restful – and I have found new uses for it too
In 2017, my wife, Tracey, and I bought our first weighted blanket. It was filled with thousands of tiny glass beads sewn into quilted pockets to spread gentle pressure across the body without layering comforters. Tracey grew up in eastern Canada, where piling on blankets and comforters was a perfectly reasonable way to make a bed feel cozy. When we lived in Arizona some eight years ago, the weather made all those layers unbearable.
For Tracey, the weighted blanket was the solution; she’s slept under it for nearly a decade. She noticed a big improvement in her sleep, and her ease helped mine as well. I understood the appeal conceptually, but I didn’t fully grasp the value until I pulled one over me to try to make the most of a short, six-and-a-half-hour night.
I woke up refreshed, having slept straight through until morning, without the grogginess that I usually feel after a night cut short.
