Full article on the Bulletproof blog.
By: ALISON MOODIE
Excerpt:
Weighted blankets and sleep
According to Ellen Vora, M.D., a holistic psychiatrist, weighted blankets may turn down anxiety by recalibrating our nervous system. Our ancestors made a point to keep infants in constant physical contact with another person, usually the mother, she says. Nowadays, babies typically spend a lot of time in cribs, strollers, and swings, depriving them of close touch. (Note that weighted blankets should never be used on children under age 3.)
“Perhaps the relative absence of that early touch in modern life leaves the nervous system in a state of feeling slightly more stressed, slightly less relaxed, which can manifest as depression and anxiety later in life,” says Vora. “Perhaps a weighted blanket is effectively like a big, belated hug, attempting to reprogram the nervous system that we are in fact okay and secure.”
