The Best Glass Beads for Weighted Blankets

Probably the most fascinating thing about a weighted blanket is how something that bears weight can actually calm a person down. Proven itself useful on so many levels, it turns out that the weighted blanket is even safe for teens and children, as long as a few ground rules are followed.

The Best Glass Beads for Weighted Blankets

What Is “Deep Pressure Stimulation”

Weighted blankets are based on a concept that’s called “deep pressure stimulation”. This is a type of therapy that relies on firm, yet gentle squeezing, with the purpose of relaxing the nervous system. Specific not just to this product, this kind of pressure can also be applied with special massage tools

It’s widely recognized for its therapeutic applications, which help the body transition from the sympathetic nervous system to the parasympathetic nervous system. Psychologically speaking, it tunes the mind out of the fight or flight response.

Then the body is led by its sympathetic nervous system, it basically means that it’s in a state of alert. This is a natural reaction that occurs when someone is feeling stressed, anxious, threatened, irritated, or angry. It can occur at any problematic time, like when you get in a fight with someone or you have to deal with an issue at work. The more the body lingers in this sympathetic nervous system, the more your stress period is prolonged.

The parasympathetic nervous system is basically the opposite of what we’ve described before: it’s a state of peace, which calms down both the mind and the body. When your body is under the influence of the parasympathetic nervous system, your heart rate begins to slow down, your mind starts to feel at ease, and the body releases what it has known as the “happy hormones” (endorphins).

Since a weighted blanket practically pushes you to switch between these two systems, it can help induce a better state of mind and tones down those tense muscles. Your body begins to release serotonin and dopamine, which are neurotransmitters that help you feel better, more motivated, get better sleep, eat better, help you control your impulses, make you more socially active, an even increase your memory and your attention span.

Weighted blankets are a piece of the deep pressure stimulation puzzle, alongside lap weights, neck wraps, weighted vests, and even compression clothing.

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Benefits of Weighted Blankets

We wanted to lift the fog on what deep pressure stimulation is because as we discuss the benefits of weighted blankets, you’re going to hear a lot about this concept. That being said, gravity blankets can be useful in a lot of different scenarios, including:

• Reduces stress and anxiety – Sadly, there are a lot of stress triggers that one encounters throughout the day. Some people manage to ignore them and carry on with their daily tasks, while others get angry, sad, anxious, nervous, etc.because that’s how they cope with problems. Unfortunately, most people take stress with them to bed, and this literally keeps them up at night. As studies have shown, deep pressure therapy (and weighted blankets, consequently), can relax the body and the mind and put you to sleep faster.
• Prevents restless leg syndrome – Have you ever lied in bed at night and has this strange sensation in your legs that urged you to move them until it stopped? That’s called “restless leg syndrome”, a problem that urges sleepers to move their legs almost continuously. One of the go-to solutions for this problem are compression socks, but they can be tight and uncomfortable to sleep with, so a weighted blanket is a much better option.

• Help ease fibromyalgia pain – A silent condition, fibromyalgia is characterized by idiopathic pain and affects women more than men. The flare-ups can be at ease with the pressure applied by a weighted blanket.
• Helps ease pain without medication – You’d be surprised how many different pains go away when you just apply pressure on the painful spot. However, one can’t simply hold their hand and press again a specific body part throughout the entire night. Thankfully, weighted blankets can do that for us. Which means that you might just take less pain medication than usual when you have one of these.

• Calms panic disorders – The true tragedy of a panic attack is that it can strike at any time and without warning. Because studies have shown that weighted blankets can reduce anxiety, they can also prevent panic disorders. Even more, weighted blankets are known for inducing a state of a deep sleep, which means that people wake up feeling well-rested. This eliminates fatigue, which is one of the main triggers of panic disorders.
• Mimics the hugging sensation – Have you ever been hugged so tight when you weren’t feeling at ease that you could actually feel how the pressure of the hug triggered something inside your body that made you feel calm? Weighted blankets are designed to do that: to recreate the sensation that you get from a hug. From children to adults, it’s very normal for people to feel the need for a hug, because the body relaxes when that happens.

• Eases insomnia – Insomnia today affects more adults than you could possibly imagine. If you ever went to bed feeling tired, but there were so many through rushing inside your head that you couldn’t get any shut-eye, we have news for you: that’s how insomnia manifests itself. There are about 40 million Americans that have insomnia, a condition that’s on the rise, and not one to be neglected. With a weighted blanket, you benefit once more from the deep pressure stimulation technique, which triggers the release or serotonin, a chemical that can literally put you to sleep.

You may be interested in: The Best Weighted Blankets for Sleeping

Bottom Line

Glass beads will always be a good fill for weighted blankets because they make less noise compared to other types of fill. Since they are available in a multitude of pack sizes, you can easily find one that matches just about the amount you need to make your own weighted blanket.