Posted on 10/03/2022 7:43:35 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
A new study shows that using a weighted blanket at bedtime increases melatonin in young adults. This hormone increases in response to darkness, and some evidence suggests that it promotes sleep.
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% of participants' body weight) reduced the activity of stress systems in the body. To this end, saliva was collected repeatedly from participants while they were covered with either a weighted or a light blanket to measure melatonin, oxytocin, cortisol, and the activity of the fight and flight sympathetic nervous system.
"Using a weighted blanket increased melatonin concentrations in saliva by about 30%. 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.
"Our study may offer a mechanism explaining why weighted blankets may exert some therapeutic benefits, such as improved sleep. However, our findings rely on a small sample and investigated only the acute effects of a weighted blanket. Thus, larger trials are needed, including an investigation of whether the observed effects of a weighted blanket on melatonin are sustained over longer periods," says senior author Christian Benedict.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
30% more melatonin in saliva throughout the night is not a small increase.
This is awesome.
I'm 78...and trust me...lotsa sleep problems at this age...probably because of lack of vigorous activity more than anything. You're simply not physically tired.
I was in the hospital a few years ago and they put one of those things on me. Hated it. I wouldn’t care if it turned my spit into 100% melatonin, I don’t want any part of those things. One of my coworkers just loved hers, though.
Whatta bout the benefits of a young, nubile woman climbing on top of a man to weight him down most of the night?
I’ve been fascinated with the idea of weighted blankets.
Might make it more difficult for the cat to shove me off the side of the bed every night...
Try doing that to someone with cleithrophobia. They put one on me while I was in the hospital, telling me it would make me feel “comfy” My bp went off the scale.
Funny we’re all so different. I love the weighted blankets. My daughters do too. My son hates anything but a sheet. He must be his own furnace?
I guess we all have fantasies...
A $50 blanket is a whole lot cheaper. Quieter too.
If a weighted blanket increases melatonin 30%, imagine what a big 1500lb concrete slab would do!
I purchased one a few years ago. Hated it. Like getting wrapped up for your casket.
I sleep next to a ‘furnace’ at night...and on top of that, the cat...
Pretty nice, in the Winter.
Lotsa’ BM problems too! Only real solution is don’t get old. :)
A return to the heavy buffalo pelts and bearskins of our ancestors
I just laugh at everything. But don’t laugh too hard...or cough..or sneeze...
Definitely help you get a long sleep.
I like to sleep warm, so a sheet isn’t enough except in summer. Regular blankets are fine in winter, but that weighted blankets made me feel like I’d been in a mine cave-in.
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