Althouse: "The [20-pound] blanket enacts a fantasy of immobilization that is especially seductive in a world of ever-expanding obligations—to work, to monetize, to take action, to perform."

February 26, 2018

"The [20-pound] blanket enacts a fantasy of immobilization that is especially seductive in a world of ever-expanding obligations—to work, to monetize, to take action, to perform."

"Last weekend, a friend came over and tried out the blanket. 'That’s really good,' he said, eyes closed, unmoving. '“I kind of want more. I kind of want to not be able to move at all.'"

From "The Seductive Confinement of a Weighted Blanket in an Anxious Time" by Jia Tolentino (in The New Yorker).

Had you ever heard of weighted blankets? Here's an example of one on Amazon: "Weighted Blanket by YnM for Adults, Fall Asleep Faster and Sleep Better, Great for Anxiety, ADHD, Autism, OCD, and Sensory Processing Disorder." The weight is "sand pellets."

I've never thought about weighting myself down as a way to fall asleep, but I have noticed that if I'm reading my iPad and get drowsy, putting the iPad in the center of my chest seems to help me go right to sleep. Something about the weight?

52 comments:

narayanan said...: swaddles for adults; 2/26/18, 4:08 PM
Robert J. said...: I have one -- it's great. 15 lbs for an adult.; 2/26/18, 4:08 PM
YoungHegelian said...: Is this a Thundershirt for humans?; 2/26/18, 4:11 PM
Paddy O said...: My wife very much needs a heavy blanket for sleeping. So much so she tends to put on too many blankets. I looked into the actually weighted blankets, but then found these that were a lot cheaper and is now her favorite blanket of all time. Gift success!; 2/26/18, 4:12 PM
320Busdriver said...: Funny, strapping on my mask and turning the iron lung machine on has the same effect.
I'm asleep in seconds.; 2/26/18, 4:12 PM
JaimeRoberto said...: This reminds me of that restraining contraption Temple Grandin made for herself.

I've always kind of liked that lead apron the dentist places on you during x-rays.; 2/26/18, 4:19 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: When one of my children was about five, he had trouble staying asleep at night. A weighted blanket made a big difference. These days he sleeps just fine with or without it.; 2/26/18, 4:22 PM
PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...: Do the blankets come from Qwylghm by any chance?

John Henry; 2/26/18, 4:32 PM
Michael K said...: The next step with be a strait jacket.

None too soon, either.; 2/26/18, 4:46 PM
Ralph L said...: Your boobs burn a lot more energy when they read your iPad.; 2/26/18, 4:52 PM
JMW Turner said...: Weighted blankets, Thunder Shirts! That's the ticket! Weight the little nervous bastards down!; 2/26/18, 4:53 PM
The Godfather said...: Another thing to try if you have trouble sleeping is not going on the web during the last hour or two before going to bed. For a lot of people, all those excited pixels can get the brain all charged up, so its hard to go to sleep.

For me, that's not a problem. I just go to Althouse.com and read the comments by a certain commenter. It puts me out like a light.

No, I'm not going to name names.

But you KNOW, don't you?; 2/26/18, 4:53 PM
tim maguire said...: I don't know about weighted blankets, but I do know I sleep better in a cold room under a big pile of quilts. Which might amount to the same thing.; 2/26/18, 4:56 PM
Roughcoat said...: Thunder shirts don't work for my border collies. They get very anxious during thunderstorms. Not so much afraid, as anxious and distraught. Supposedly border collies have super-super sensitive hearing, more so than most dogs -- so they can here the shepherd when he's half mile away whistling or calling out commands. Thunder and noises at certain frequencies actually hurt their ears, cause them pain, and that can morph into fear. I think this might be correct. They also get very upset when fire engines come down the street with their sirens screaming.

Other than thunder my BCs are absolutely fearless. They would herd a pack of tyrannosaurs or velociraptors if I gave them the command to do so, and they wouldn't hesitate.

I couldn't read that other thread about putting your old dog down because it makes me too sad.; 2/26/18, 5:11 PM
FWBuff said...: @JaimeRoberto I like that lead apron, too.; 2/26/18, 5:14 PM
bagoh20 said...: I remember having a terrifying nightmare a few years ago. I imagined I was trapped under rubble from an earthquake. I struggled to move and to breath for what seemed like forever. I was suffocating, and I knew it. Then suddenly I forced myself awake to find my pillow on my face. That was a relief. I imagine this would make me uncomfortable.; 2/26/18, 5:54 PM
Howard said...: Good one Doc, I concur.; 2/26/18, 5:59 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Yeah, Temple Grandin’s squeeze thing and the dentist’s lead apron... those were my 2 thoughts as well.; 2/26/18, 6:11 PM
Jaq said...: Good one Doc, I concur

“I should have said ‘I concur!’” - Catch Me If You Can; 2/26/18, 6:11 PM
Comanche Voter said...: I was reading some memoirs of WW II soldiers who had contracted malaria. Apparently when an attack of chills came on (part of a malaria episode) very heavy blankets were used to restrain movement and anxiety.; 2/26/18, 6:12 PM
Michael K said...: I don't know about weighted blankets, but I do know I sleep better in a cold room under a big pile of quilts. Which might amount to the same thing.

I do too. My wife hates it. I told her how when I was a kid in Chicago, I would have snow on the floor in the morning.; 2/26/18, 6:26 PM
Bob Boyd said...: I wonder if there is a comparable anxiety reduction of the kind described here in people who retain excess body fat.; 2/26/18, 6:29 PM
Chuck said...: I never heard of weighted blankets. But I have, for as long as I can remember, been something of a believer in the general idea. My thermostat is set for 67 degrees -- sometimes 65 degrees for sleeping, and I sleep under 3 or 4 blankets.

And just now, before posting, I thought that there must be some cold-weather Althousians, in Wisconsin, in Chicago, in Michigan, in upstate New York, who do the same. And I see that sure enough tim mcGuire beat me to it.

It's not all about weight; it is about warmth. But I'd much prefer 3 blankets (say, one cotton, one polarfleece and one wool) to a single lightweight electric blanket cranked up to 7. So maybe it is the weight.

Very interesting, Althouse. Looking forward to my hard copy of The New Yorker.; 2/26/18, 6:32 PM
Chuck said...: Michael K said...
"I don't know about weighted blankets, but I do know I sleep better in a cold room under a big pile of quilts. Which might amount to the same thing."

I do too. My wife hates it. I told her how when I was a kid in Chicago, I would have snow on the floor in the morning.

Yep. My girlfriend sets it at 70 degrees plus in her house, and she'd sleep under a sheet as long as the heat allowed it. (And she'd make it so.); 2/26/18, 6:34 PM
William said...: New frontiers in laziness. I always welcome any innovation that makes it easier to stay in bed and do nothing. As you get older, a dry mouth, cold feet, and frequent urination make laying flat and still somewhat challenging. Laziness doesn't come easy.....On the positive side, Netflix and Amazon Prime allow you to chose one tv show and watch it to exhaustion. You don't have to go to all the trouble and bother of choosing what to watch. I hope to someday achieve a state of zen laziness where I'm no longer bothered by the afflictions of sentient life.; 2/26/18, 6:51 PM
gilbar said...: we had these back in the clinic; except they weren't so much sheets as jackets; 2/26/18, 6:59 PM
sinz52 said...: I have noticed the reverse.

I bought a blanket that is so soft and fluffy that it practically feels like it's floating in midair. As a result, it's hard to get to sleep.

So yes, I've sometimes thrown anything else on top of it--a pair of pants or even a couple of magazines--to weight it down some more so it feels more comfortable.; 2/26/18, 7:05 PM
Ralph L said...: I would have snow on the floor in the morning.
My grandparents slept on his father's sleeping porch the first 3 years they were married. In her 90's, she remembered waking up with snow on her face.; 2/26/18, 7:06 PM
Henry said...: My oldest son used top pile 6 or 8 blankets on his bed to sleep under. I think there was definitely a weight-comfort component.; 2/26/18, 7:07 PM
wildswan said...: I used to read my botany book at night. It put me right out, even though it often fell on me and woke me up - very slightly. But I only had to murmur: "With regard to the growth of walls during the differentiation of tissue, two possibilities are recognized (1) The growth of walls of adjacent cells is so adjusted..." and blam, I was gone again.; 2/26/18, 7:14 PM
Ralph L said...: Since I started fast-walking 30-40 minutes a day, I would sometimes get too warm under flannel sheets and one thin wool blanket doubled over, so I switched to cotton. Popsicle toes are gone, too.; 2/26/18, 7:15 PM
Michael K said...: I slept outside on the second floor porch of my fraternity house one year,

I had four blankets but the challenge was always getting from the bed inside the house in the morning.

One morning I got up and looked at the front lawn of the fraternity house and it was all torn up.

The guys told me there had been a police chase that ended on the front lawn and involved a shootout.

I slept right through it.; 2/26/18, 7:22 PM
Marcus said...: I am one of those who sleep (in South Florida) with the AC on low and a goose down comforter. But when I had a Maltese, I would take naps with him on my chest. It did, somehow, make sleep come quicker. As soon as I fell asleep, he would get down so he didn't like it.; 2/26/18, 7:23 PM
MadisonMan said...: Wouldn't want one in the summer. But when it's cold, like others above, I do love being smothered in blankets.; 2/26/18, 7:23 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: I like heat and weight. and lots of it.; 2/26/18, 7:35 PM
RigelDog said...: Nothing is more conducive to great sleep for me than a very cold room with layers of blankets. I can still get overheated so I need to be able to peel some layers on and off during the night. My husband accuses me of wanting it cold enough to hang meat. Thermostat is set to 60 at night, although I could go a little colder.; 2/26/18, 7:47 PM
Bilwick said...: Instead of a weighted blanket, a big fat woman (or man, depending on your preference) sitting on one's face can facilitate sleep. Or so I've heard.; 2/26/18, 7:51 PM
Ralph L said...: Could be a big sleep, W C.; 2/26/18, 8:02 PM
Meade said...: "Thermostat is set to 60 at night, although I could go a little colder."

Like an old pickup truck I used to own, I seem to run hot, especially while idling. We set our thermostat on 50 at night and it's still too warm for me. If I had my way, every night would be 40 degrees with the windows wide open and a light down comforter. But it's called the marital bed for a reason, so I happily compromise and sacrifice and go along to get along because... bliss.; 2/26/18, 8:03 PM
traditionalguy said...: Swaddling clothes work to calm babies fresh out of the womb into the wild world.

This is also Temple Grandin's "squeeze machine" invention that settled her autism down. These machines are for sale on Google.; 2/26/18, 8:22 PM
bagoh20 said...: There is really no reason why we can't just stay dressed for the cold when we go inside, use blankets, snuggies, whatever and keep the heat turned way down - saving a fortune.; 2/26/18, 8:32 PM
bagoh20 said...: I like it cold inside, but with light fluffy blankets. In the summer sleeping with no blankets at all feels great. FREEEDOMMMMMM!; 2/26/18, 8:36 PM
Simon Kenton said...: For years as a bachelor I slept under the hide of a moose I had killed back when. Heavy, comfortable, warm with the windows all open, not easily explained to or tolerated by to the occasional female. On the other hand it made a wonderful ground-pad beside a wilderness river for the non-occasional female.; 2/26/18, 9:17 PM
Jeff said...: I have a fifteen pound feline self-propelled cure for restless legs syndrome. He particularly likes sleeping on top of human knees. He's warm and heavy, and if I move around a bit he just sort of conforms his mass accordingly without waking up at all. It's kind of amazing how much thrashing about it takes to dislodge him.

Can your blanket purr?; 2/26/18, 10:05 PM
Megaera said...: As a child I was often farmed out to stay with my grandparents; Grandmother, who never discarded ANYTHING that was "family", would put me to bed under at least two blankets and a quilt of her grandmother's that felt exactly like the dentist's lead apron... trying to sleep on my back the cumulative weight pushed my toes down like some neoEdwardian version of footbinding, and they've never been right since. And I can't tolerate sleeping under anything heavier than a single fleece blanket, mostly with my feet uncovered. Ah, those formative years...; 2/26/18, 10:34 PM
Alex said...: Another perfect example of the ongoing infantilization of adults. Adult swaddling. SMH...; 2/27/18, 12:08 AM
Yancey Ward said...: And they call it their "Binky"?; 2/27/18, 1:22 AM
Yancey Ward said...: I have found that as I get older, I don't like having the blanket swaddle me at all. I sleep much better with a good deal of it tented by the pillow between my knees, with the blanket only on my lower legs (my feet I have always hated having covered at night and have always left them uncovered) and my upper chest.; 2/27/18, 1:25 AM
Breezy said...: When my youngest was infant to toddler age, and it was time to sleep, but he was a little restless, I would simply lay my hand on his chest and he would be fast asleep in a few seconds. I had such power then.; 2/27/18, 2:38 AM
Kyzer SoSay said...: I tend to sleep under a lighter comforter. On occasion, my cat will come and rest on my belly while I read in bed or play games on my phone, but she always leaves when I roll over for actual sleep. My wife has trouble sleeping unless she falls asleep with her head on my shoulder or chest. I gently move her off when it's my time for sleep - if I sleep on my back I snore very, very loud, so I got in the habit of side sleeping or on my stomach. If I find myself working in the garage until late, sometimes I'll come upstairs to bed and she'll be waiting for me, well past her bedtime, simply because of that.; 2/27/18, 6:58 AM
Henry said...: Every time I get x-rays at the Dentist I fall asleep.; 2/27/18, 10:13 AM
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