- The right bedding can help people with sleep disorders fall asleep.

A man sleeping in his bed. / iStock

An aid to sleep better: these are the blankets that promote the release of melatonin

Melatonin is one of the fundamental hormones in the regulation of the circadian rhythm, which is the cycle of alternation between sleep and wakefulness. For this reason, and although our body produces it naturally, many people who have mild to moderate problems opt for supplements and foods that contain it to sleep better.

Improve sleep in people with disorders

However, a recent study published in the specialized Journal of Sleep Research reveals another method to take advantage of the role of melatonin in falling asleep without the need to receive it from external sources. And it seems that weighted blankets could stimulate its production in the human body.

It was already known that weighted blankets can improve sleep in patients with certain conditions that affect it, such as insomnia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or autism.

In fact, some manufacturers even claimed that this effect was due to the fact that these types of blankets increase the production of hormones such as oxytocin or melatonin, but until now there was no scientific evidence in this regard.

Up to 30% more melatonin

The design of the experiment carried out to verify these supposed properties was simple: the authors simply recruited 26 participants and measured the concentration of melatonin, oxytocin (a hormone linked to physical contact, sex and feelings of attachment to people or animals). and cortisol (a hormone responsible for the body's response to stress) in their saliva after sleeping on a light or weighted blanket.

What they found is that those who slept on a weighted blanket showed a 30% increase in salivary melatonin concentration compared to those who slept on a light blanket. In contrast, no significant differences were observed in the concentrations of oxytocin or cortisol.

The idea that in addition to factors such as light, food or physical activity, other forms of stimulation such as touch can increase the production of certain hormones is not unreasonable, and would explain this effect observed in the use of weighted blankets. However, the results of this study still need to be validated in larger samples.

References

Elisa M. S. Meth, Luiz Eduardo Mateus Brandão, Lieve T. van Egmond, Pei Xue, Anastasia Grip, Jiafei Wu, Ayaat Adan, Filip Andersson, André P. Pacheco, Kerstin Uvnäs-Moberg et al. A weighted blanket increases pre-sleep salivary concentrations of melatonin in young, healthy adults. Journal of Sleep Research (2022) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.13743.

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