“If I fall asleep now, I’ll get four hours.”
“Ah, crap. I’ve still gotta go get gas and groceries in the morning. Make that three hours.”
“Wait… did I leave the stove on?”
The laundry list of shiz to worry about’s like this massive, cerebral twister – gaining momentum and speed and picking up new debris to brood about as it cycles ’round your mind. Especially at night. You’ve been on the move all day. You’re survival til Friday relies on 99% adrenaline and caffeine, eleventy hundred percent charismatic smile, and zero percent mathematical or other problem solving capacity. Which is why you’re laying here, in vain, trying to calculate how many hours you can possibly manage to squeeze into this evening’s seemingly impossible bed venture. Or how many chores you can still fit in tomorrow morning if you hit snooze just once. And it’s becoming suddenly clear that your overactive mind’s obviously not the solution here. But you know what might be?
Heavy metal.
No, I don’t mean the music you made out to with your smoke soaked high school boyfriend back in the 90’s.
(Though you can feel free to try that out ‘n then tell me in the comment section how it worked out for ya.)
Rather, what I mean is this concept of the “weighted blanket”. What it is is this body swaddling swathe with anything from plastic pellets to ball bearings stitched into it. And how exactly does that subdue the psycho living in my head, you might be asking? If you’re like me, reading about this for the first time? By hacking our relaxation response, of course. You see, we’ve got this bodily response to deep touch. There are receptors all over your body that, when stimulated, cause you to feel safe.
(Though, if your child’s sleep-smiling, you’ve got bigger issues of the lock-your-door-at-night variety.)
In fact, according to Temple Grandin, Ph.D.(who did research on deep touch – not only in insomniacs, but ADHD kids, too), “Deep touch pressure is the type of surface pressure that is exerted in most types of firm touching, holding, stroking, petting of animals, or swaddling. Occupational therapists have observed that a very light touch alerts the nervous system, but deep pressure is relaxing and calming.”
(Ah, so that’s why being tickled lightly makes me angrier than catching a haymaker upside the head.)
What’s more – per clinical studies done on the topic, this receptor activation has the domino effect of sending the signal to your brain to make more serotonin. (If you’re not familiar, that’s the “well being” hormone” we all rely on so our internal narrative doesn’t feel like a constant Morrissey song.) Thus, with this elixir of touch and hormonal tranquility drifting through your vasculature, you find yourself finally free from fretting, and fully capable of powering down well before that horrid alarm sounds. It’s kinda strange. It seems counter-intuitive – like it’d make you feel suffocated or something. But apparently a cumbersome comforter initiates said serenity mechanism, making it a super effective insomnia assassin.
So, when the weight of the world’s keeping you awake, try a weighted blanket to lull you back to sleep.