Blog Notes

• Anxiety wreaks havoc on your health and happiness and will lead to disease and suffering if left untreated
• Lower your anxiety, and everything improves…MAKE A COMMITMENT TO MANAGING YOUR ANXIETY
• Research shows that weighted blankets stimulate the production of “feel good” and “calming” hormones resulting in an anti-anxiety effect and more restful slumber
• Improve your sleep = improve your anxiety. This is guaranteed

Anxiety. A feeling of fear or apprehension? A nervous stress? Unease that lasts months or years? Sounds about right.

You could put a dollar value on how much your anxiety has cost you. It affects your ability to be productive. Perhaps it cost you a promotion or even your job.

It can be brutal. People describe it as debilitating, paralyzing.

You could trace your failed relationships to your anxiety. Your irritability and lack of patience…all because of your anxiety.

You could blame your life struggles on your dysfunctional coping mechanisms to anxiety (spoiler – even meds fall into this category). Weight gain, alcohol/drug addiction, excessive fatigue and lethargy are all byproducts of your anxiety-coping-lifestyle.

The worst part is, modern treatments for anxiety have failed us.

But I take Fancy Medications for My Anxiety

Pharmaceuticals…don’t get us started…

Up to this point, many of the things you’ve been doing to cure your anxiety may actually be making it worse.

Unfortunately, the trillion dollar pharmaceutical industry has convinced you that the answer to life’s problems lie in their magic little pills.

The truth is, these pills cause more health problems than the ones they solve and are often worse than the issue they were supposed to cure. Have you ever taken a look at the possible side effects of those drugs? 

You’ve experienced some of these haven’t you? Has it been worth it? Does the above list look like effective anxiety management? Dealing with these resulting health issues is stressful. You could even trace your anxiety to your anxiety meds! Brutal isn’t it?

The bottom line is that the pharmaceutical industry wants you on their meds because it is profitable for them. They do not have your best interest at heart, they have theirs.

I Want to Be Healthy and Anxiety-Free. Now What?

The boring answer is:

“Good anxiety management requires – the building of a strong emotional awareness, with the help of good counseling, supplemented with a healthy lifestyle comprised of proper diet and exercise”

And it’s true. You need those. But there’s a better, more interesting answer. And (as you’ll soon see), it’s an easy-no-effort-required-and-no-downside solution.

So…ready?

“You need to sleep more, and you need to sleep deeply.”

(Without drugs of course…)

…it gets interesting…

Think about how complex and important the processes during sleep must be that you are required to be unconscious and immobilized throughout its duration. Everything that happens during that period is meant to keep every aspect of you functioning optimally.

It’s during sleep (more specifically deep sleep) when all forms of emotional and physical healing take place. The problem is that often we never get to the deep stages where all the therapeutic benefits occur. We get stuck in the preliminary stages because the accumulation of our anxiety, stress and unhealthy lifestyle block our entry into the “healing segments” of sleep.

Think about how things start to break down when you’re tired. Think about how your productivity and your quality of life suffers when you’ve lacked sleep over a long period of time. It strongly resembles the struggles that accompany anxiety doesn’t it?

This lack-of-therapeutic-sleep is a modern world epidemic. And there is plenty of cringe-worthy evidence revealing the wake of destruction it can leave behind.

We understand, sometimes life is so hectic that you can’t get to bed at a reasonable hour, or sometimes responsibilities keep you up at night. We’re not here to judge or to tell you how to run your life because life is complicated. But what we are saying is that when you do finally lie down, you have to ensure you’re going to make it to the “healing stages” of sleep.

OK I Get it. I Need to Sleep Better. How do I Get to Deep Sleep (AKA “Healing Mode”)?

(I promised it would get interesting…)

Have you heard of DPS? It stands for Deep Pressure Stimulation. It is a gentle but firm pressure to the body which has been shown to calm the symptoms of anxiety. It’s very likely that you’ve experienced this before, both as a child and an adult. If you have ever been hugged or held tightly after being physically or emotionally hurt, you’ve been the recipient of DPS.

The feeling of “being comforted” (which is both physical and emotional) happens at a biochemical level. It’s the “calming hormones” particularly oxytocin (aka “the cuddle”) hormone that are at work.

DPS not only reduces anxiety by stimulating oxytocin, its calming effect also promotes a deeper (thus more restorative) sleep. And restorative sleep ALSO REDUCES ANXIETY! So you can see the benefits of DPS are piling up!

Sign Me Up. Where Do I get DPS?

The Weighted Blanket is the biggest trend to hit the Health and Wellness Industry due to its ability to apply Deep Pressure Stimulation.

The brilliance of the weighted blanket is in its simplicity. It’s a blanket – that has been made heavier – with the aid of small beads residing in numerous pockets within the blanket. This concept has gained a lot of momentum due to the immediate improvement of Anxiety Symptoms and Sleep Quality (see this 2011 study). Of all the health management protocols we’ve researched, it has risen to the top of our “best Bang for Buck Health Tools” list because:

• immediate results of lowered anxiety and more restful sleep
• FEELS AMAZING and is natural (no ingestion of chemicals)
• requires no work or effort (you lay there while the blanket works its magic)
• DPS (body naturally produces calming hormones…without the use of chemicals)
• extremely affordable compared to mattresses 

Amazing eh?

We’ll leave you with one thought…

Many experts consider “optimal sleep hygiene” the backbone of emotional and physical health. Remember…deep sleep is where are physical and emotional healing occurs. Whether improving-anxiety-improves-your-sleep, or improving-sleep-improves-your-anxiety, is up for debate, but the link between the two is undeniable. Either way, the weighted blanket is the easiest, most natural and effective way to kick-start your journey back to health

OK. I Want a Weighted Blanket to Help With My Sleep and Anxiety.

Not all weighted blankets are created equally. We tested 11 blankets available in the UK and narrowed it down to the 3 top weighted blankets based on effectiveness, quality and price.

#1 – The Koala Blanket is our favorite weighted blanket.

The goal of this UK based company, was to create a product that solved the issue of bead spillage, ripping, and uneven weight distribution – issues that other weighted blankets struggled with. After 18 months of development, they produced a product that overcame these struggles, that still provided an affordable price for their customers.

This blanket is made out of organic cotton and the cover is two sided. It has smaller pockets to keep the weighted beads in place. They also use extra strong thread and double stitching to ensure the blanket doesn’t break and spill its beads. This is a big complaint with other weighted blankets so it is nice to see this feature.