We know what you’re thinking — Stress relieving blankets are for babies, like Linus in the Peanuts cartoons.
You’re an adult now. You’ve read or heard the snippet from the Bible, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”
You took that passage to heart, you put your
Well, when Paul was writing to the Corinthians, he did not have the benefit of modern science to point out that there are blankets that can improve your sleep and reduce anxiety. If he did, he might have made a clear exception to his statement in regards to blankets.
Meet the Gravity Blanket, which is being described as “A weighted blanket engineered to be 10% of your body weight that naturally reduces stress and increases relaxation through deep pressure stimulation.”
Gravity, the company that makes these blankets, was started by John Fiorentino. The company founder didn’t initially set out to sell a groundbreaking blanket, “I started working with a bunch of sleep scientists on this whole concept of an organic pillow,” Fiorentino told Elite Daily. “Then, one of the sleep scientists passively mentioned that
When Fiorentino investigated the scientist’s quip, he noticed that there is some serious science supporting the use of weighted blankets.
One Australian study observed that “individuals who used [a] weighted blanket reported significantly greater reductions in distress and clinician-rated anxiety than those who did not.”
Another study by scientists in Massachusetts noted that “63-percent [of weighted blanket study participants] reported lower anxiety after use, and 78-percent preferred the weighted blanket as a calming modality.”
Impressed by the research, Fiorentino knew he had to try a weighted blanket out. “I ordered one,” he recounted to Elite Daily, “and it just didn’t look very nice. It didn’t feel very comfortable to the touch, but I put it on, and while it usually takes me around 45 minutes to fall asleep, I passed out that night within 10 minutes. It was pretty incredible.”
That’s when Gravity really took off. Fiorentino decided to take weighted blankets from being a “niche medical product,” to the masses.
Fiorentino started a company, built a team, experimented with prototypes, and got a Kickstarter up and running to develop the capital needed to get the Gravity Blanket into mass production. His initial goal was to raise $21,500 – enough for around 100 blankets at their retail price. As of early May 2017, the Gravity Blanket has about $1.25 million pledged towards that goal.
It seems that a lot of people are interested in getting a better night’s rest.
The Kickstarter closes at the end of May 2017. If you donate early, you can save around $100 off the retail price of one of the magical blankets.
“Sleep loss, prolonged anxiety, and stress take a real toll on our lives—they decrease productivity during the day and can lead to long-term health problems like diabetes, obesity, and even heart disease,” writes the author of the Gravity Blanket Kickstarter page. “Gravity is natural, affordable, and—finally—accessible solution to these widespread issues.”
