Weighting blankets increases melatonin secretion

A new study from Uppsala University shows that using a weighted blanket when young people sleep can increase melatonin
.
This hormone has an increased response to darkness, and there is evidence that it promotes sleep
.
The findings were published in the Journal of
Sleep Research.

Previous studies have shown that heavy blankets can relieve insomnia
in humans.
However, the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood
.
So researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden conducted experiments on 26 young men and women to see if using a weighted blanket before bed increased sleep promotion and the production
of anti-stress hormones such as melatonin and oxytocin.
In addition, they investigated whether the use of thick blankets (12 percent of participants' body weight) before bedtime reduced activity in
the body's stress system.
To achieve this, the researchers repeatedly collected the participants' saliva while covering them with weighted or thin blankets to measure the activity of
melatonin, oxytocin, cortisol, and the fight-and-flight sympathetic nervous system.

"Using a weighted blanket increased the concentration of melatonin in saliva by about 30 percent
.
However, no differences in the activity of oxytocin, cortisol and sympathetic nervous system were observed under heavy and light blanket conditions," said
first author Elisa Meth, a doctoral student at the Department of Medicinal Biosciences at Uppsala University.

"Our study may provide a mechanism to explain why heavier blankets may have some therapeutic effects, such as improved sleep
.
" However, our findings relied on a small sample and investigated only the acute effects
of thickened blankets.
Therefore, larger trials are needed, including investigating whether the observed effects of heavy blankets on melatonin persist for a longer period of time," said
senior author Christian Benedict, associate professor of pharmacology at Uppsala University's Department of Medicinal Biosciences.