How to Pick a Right Weighted Blanket:10 Tips

Can not sleep at night? Seeking for a natural, non-drug treatment for insomnia, anxiety, stress, ADHD? You should consider to add a weighted blanket to your household items.

Weighted blankets utilize deep pressure touch stimulation. This pressure induces the brain to release the serotonin hormone that has a calming effect on your body. The feelings of tranquility are similar to the ones you feel when a loved one hugs or cuddles you warmly.

Weighted blankets help you sleep better, but the price of weighted blankets is always expensive, so it is important for you to pick a right one at first time. If you are puzzled what to purchase, Here are the 10 tips to help you to make a decent purchase.

1. The Feeling of Deep Pressure  

Without this feeling, nothing else about the blanket really matters. The thing that truly sets weighted blankets apart from normal blankets is their ability to activate deep touch stimulation.  To make sure that you can get a feeling of “hugging down on the body” when you put a weighted blanket on your body.

2. Longevity of Weighted Blankets

Weighted blankets of generally made up of 3 specific parts. The soft outer layer, the more durable inner layer, and the filling inside of the inner layer.  The type of materials used in each of these parts is crucial. The longevity of weighted blankets decided by the materials. Before you buy, you should understand the ideal materials in each of these layers.

3. Outer layer

There are a variety of outer materials used however the most common are 100% cotton, polyester, and “minky” fabric.

• Cotton – Cotton is durable, machine washable, and reasonably soft (depending on the quality.) The main problem with cotton is that it is prone to shrinking and dyes tend to fade. 
• Polyester – Polyester, on the other hand, is machine washable very durable, doesn’t fade or shrink, however, it tends to not be as soft and doesn’t quite breathe as well. 
• Minky – Minky is an all-natural blended fabric that essentially takes the durability of polyester but uses a short pile that makes it similar in softness to cashmere. The fabric tends to resemble “mink,” hence the name, but it’s cruelty-free and far more durable.

4. Inner layer 

Again these inner layers can vary in materials but cotton is generally the best option here and there really isn’t a better alternative. You don’t need the “super-softness” of Minky fabric as you’ll never be touching it since it’s covered by the outer layer. Due to this, a material that provides the best functionality is key. Cotton does it all. It does a good job maintaining the “spread” of the inner filling, is strong enough to support the weight of the filling, and also provides quality temperature retention.

5. Inner Filling. Generally, weighted blankets use one of the three following fillers:

• Sand & Rice. A lot of small outfits fill their blankets with these as they are cheap and easy to source.  The problem is both of these lead to uneven weight distribution. 
• Poly Pellets – Poly Pellets do a decent job distributing heat, do not absorb much moisture, and offer reasonable weight distribution.  Also, the rounded shape is good for maintaining the integrity of your inner layer. 
• Glass Beads – Glass beads provides the smoothest weight distribution as the weight of each individual bead is nearly identical and they don’t bunch up. They also don’t absorb any moisture or excess heat.  Plus they are perfectly rounded and won’t damage the inner layers at all. 

6. Choose the right weight of the weighted blankets

As a general rule of thumb, we recommend roughly 10-12% of your weight as the starting point. For example, 15 lbs blanket is suitable for 90-150 lbs individual, 20 lbs blanket is suitable for 150-200 lbs individual.

7. Choose the right size of the weighted blankets

Follow the instructions provided by the sellers. For example, according to the guideline of YnM weighted blanket, 48”x72” for twin bed, 60”x80” for queen bed, the size 48”x72” maybe too short for people tall than 5’5″ and too narrow for people like tossing and turning on bed. A twin, queen or king size weighted blanket is much smaller than twin, queen or king size regular blanket.

8. See what others say about the weighted blankets

Obviously, this is probably one of, if not the best source regarding product quality. People who have hands-on experience with the product will be able to give you the best insight into the products quality.

9. Choose the handmade weighted blankets if possible

Machine stitching and automated filling would, in theory, lead to a uniform and consistent product. However, for blankets, the opposite appears to be true. Blankets made via automation tend to have substantially more quality control issues and overlooked design errors. Handmade blankets tend to have higher quality control and superior stitching.

10. To save money, buy the weighted blankets in a right time

Holiday season is the best time to buy cheap weighted blankets. Always keep an eye on holiday sales.

YnM weighted blankets, one of the top sellers on Amazon, provides the quality weighted blankets to the customers at budget-friendly prices. You can check their weighted blankets on their Amazon store and the product reviews.