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The best weighted blankets for better sleep and less stress
High-quality weighted blankets work using a technique called ‘deep touch pressure therapy’, also known as DTP. Here’s GQ’s top picks
All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.
All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Widely known for their sleep and anxiety benefits, weighted blankets have quickly become a staple in many of our lives, helping us to unwind in the evening and feel calmer and more relaxed, both crucial contributing factors to a good night’s sleep. It’s quite scientific too. The key here is something called Deep Pressure Therapy (DPT) which, while sounding complicated, can be summarised as how applying small amounts of pressure across your body, through a dispersed weight, can lead you to feel calmer, more secure, and ultimately more likely to drift off to sleep. Think of it as a pressure stimulation hug in blanket form, just with the added bonus that it can’t break up with you.
Naturally, it's not a magic fix-it-all solution (you'll want to make sure you've got some of the best mattresses and best pillows to give yourself every fighting chance of relaxation), but wrapping one of the best weighted blankets around yourself can go a mighty long way to improving your general mood and stress levels, transforming you into a bonafide napper.
So whether you want a weighted blanket for a good night's sleep, or one for simply lounging around in comfort on the sofa, we've rounded up some of the best weighted blankets below to help make your buying decision easier, whatever your style, age or budget.
Skip to: What is the best weighted blanket? | What is a weighted blanket used for? | How does a weighted blanket work? | How do I choose a weighted blanket? | Who shouldn’t use a weighted blanket? | Can a weighted blanket be too heavy? | How we test weighted blankets | Shop GQ’s edit of the best weighted blankets in 2024…
What is the best weighted blanket?
We’ve outlined each of our favourite weighted blankets in detail throughout this guide, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses and what you should be looking for. But if you just want a quickfire rundown to the best, look no further than our roundup below.
Not only is Mela our favourite weighted blanket thanks to its soft covering, range of weights available and how comfortable it is to lie under, but the brand has currently discounted it to only £39. If there were ever a time to get your hands on one of our favourite products, this is it.
As far as weighted blankets under £100 go, Slumberdown's is the most worth your while. Constructed with a glass bead filling, all housed in equally stitched pockets to ensure an even distribution overnight, it's soft, has a good 7kg weight and won't wake you up at night when you turn over.
Cleverly acting as both a duvet and a weighted blanket, Remy's Airy Sleeper is designed to be more breathable and cooling than most, meaning you can sleep with it and not worry about overheating. A huge win.
- Best weighted blanket overall: Aeyla Mela weighted blanket, £39 at aeyla.co.uk
- Best budget-friendly weighted blanket: Slumberdown Sleepwell, £54 at argos.co.uk
- Best soft weighted blanket: John Lewis Specialist Synthetic, £120 at johnlewis.com
- Best weighted blanket for breathability: Remy Airy Sleeper, £119 at remysleep.com
- Best stylish weighted blanket: Bearaby Napper Organic Hand-Knit, £287 at amazon.co.uk
Brand | Weights available | Filling | Cover |
---|---|---|---|
Oodie | 4.5kg, 6.8kg, 9kg | Glass beads | Plush outer cover |
Emma | 7kg | Glass beads, microfiber polyester pad | Bamboo |
Aeyla | 4kg, 5.5kg, 7kg, 9kg | Rounded quartz glass micropelletswith a cotton shell | One side 100% cotton, one side recycled polyester |
Simba | 6.8kg, 9kg | Weighted glass nano-beads | 100% cotton |
Kudd.Ly | 4.7kg, 7kg | Glass beads | MicroCool Fleece cover |
What is a weighted blanket used for?
Weighted blankets have a surprising range of uses that go beyond regular blankets and throw blankets or toppers. Sure, you can just use them for their snuggly and comforting extra weight to keep you warm, but the main reason you’d buy a weighted blanket — as opposed to just a normal throw — is for the extra benefits that the weight provides. Simulating the feeling of a hug, weighted blankets can be really useful for helping manage stress, reducing anxiety, and encouraging you to fall asleep faster by helping your nervous system relax. It’s all about how the pressure encourages your body to relax, which can be great for a whole range of different people.
How heavy of a weighted blanket is best?
As much as it's important to think about size, material and filling when you're shopping for a weighted blanket, nothing is as crucial as what weight you pick. And while some brands only offer one lightweight option, there's a lot to be said for personalising it to your body. According to the Sleep Foundation, ‘as a rule of thumb, the weight of a weighted blanket should be around 10 per cent of your body weight’ with preferred weights being between 5 and 12 per cent. It also depends on what kind of weight you find the most comfortable, but do bear in mind that if you're shopping for a child, it's even more important to pay close attention to the guidelines of the brand you're buying from before making a purchase.
How does a weighted blanket work?
Weighted blankets work using a technique called 'deep touch therapy', also known as DTP. By placing pressure on the body through the additional weight (normally in the form of plastic pellets or glass beads), this can lead to the happy hormone serotonin being released in the brain, in a similar way to a warm hug or cuddle. Through applying even pressure and the right weight to your body, weighted blankets have been shown to reduce anxiety and stress levels and help you feel more relaxed, all of which can contribute to a restful eight hours of snuggling.
According to Dr. Cristina Cusin, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, “weighted blankets have been around for a long time, especially for children with autism or behavioural disturbances.” Dr. Cusin does say that “while some people swear by these blankets, concrete evidence is unfortunately lacking,” but she also adds that “blankets may be of help for anxiety or insomnia.”
Scientific support for using weighted blankets may be inconclusive, but there are studies that find deep pressure therapy to be helpful and beneficial in improving sleep and anxiety levels. According to a study conducted by Remy, out of 300 participants, 83 per cent found the company’s blankets helped them sleep and 90 per cent felt less stressed.
How we test weighted blankets
We've tried and tested some of the best weighted blankets around in order to help inform this guide, looking at how they all performed against a range of criteria. This includes the materials, how they felt, what the fillings and covers were made from, how easy to wash they were, the number of different weight options available, and ultimately how they felt to lie under. We got a team of contributing testers and experts on board to help with the process meaning these recommendations come from different GQ editors. Of course, weighted blankets are pretty challenging to move around, meaning there were a few instances below where we haven't managed to lie under the blankets ourselves. In these cases, we informed our decisions on the specifications available to us and only included brands where we know and love the products they produce.
All of GQ’s interiors guides are written by our in-house team of contributing testers and experts, and are edited by Daphne Bugler, British GQ’s Senior Commerce Writer, who has been working at GQ for the past four years, and has written extensively about interiors since 2020. The team regularly talks to experts in a variety of interiors categories to better understand the products we write about and what we should be looking for.
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