Weighted blankets don’t improve the sleep of troubled children Kids from the foster system slept about the same with weighted blankets as with normal blankets The weighted blankets didn’t help kids go to sleep quicker, nor did they improve overall sleep quality TUESDAY, May 28, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Weighted blankets are trendy items, largely based on the idea that the pressure of a heavy blanket will help a person more easily slip into slumber. But they do little to help troubled children sleep better, a new study has found. There was no difference in sleep between weighted and normal blankets among a group of 30 children ages 6 to 15 adopted from foster care in Texas, according to a report published recently in the .
“We were somewhat surprised to find no differences in either objective or subjective sleep variables based on blanket type,” said researcher , a University of Houston psychology professor and sleep expert. For the study, the group of children were asked to use weighted blankets – between 5 and 10 pounds – for two weeks, and their normal blanket for another two weeks. During the entire month, their sleep was monitored continuously using both sleep diaries and actigraphs -- a wristwatch-like device that tracks sleep patterns.
The weighted blankets did not help kids or sleep better, results show. Weighted blankets also did not seem to improve the sleep of children who’d been abused or neglected, researchers said. Children in foster care can have p.