A study on the effect of chain blankets was recently published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. The study was conducted at Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge, and observed the effect of heavy chain blankets on insomnia (sleeplessness) in people with psychiatric diagnoses.
The article,“A randomized controlled study of weighted chain blankets for insomnia in psychiatric disorders”, is written by the occupational therapist Bodil Ekholm, who has extensive experience as a prescriber of weighted blankets. The co-authors are Dr. Stefan Spulber and Dr. Mats Adler, who are both researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
The study was conducted with 120 patients suffering from insomnia, and who were previously diagnosed with severe depression, bipolar disorder, generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), and/or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
This is the first large-scale study with a high scientific quality to be carried out in the field, and it shows very good results. Randomised studies are generally valued higher in terms of treatment effects. The advantage of randomisation is that the random procedure should result in all factors, other than the treatment, being divided equally between the two groups.
The conclusion of the study is that heavier chain blankets are an effective and safe aid against insomnia in patients with severe depression, bipolar disorder, generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which also improves daytime symptoms and activity levels.
At Abilia, we have compiled a summary of the study, and you can access it by downloading it on this page.
For those who wish to read the study in its entirety, the scientific summary is available in English and for digital purchase in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.
Go to: https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/full/10.5664/jcsm.8636
