So I made a weighted blanket…
This is probably my biggest DIY project of this year.
I didn’t know about weighted blankets until last month. They’re supposed to help people with sensory problems. There’s plenty of info about the types of weighted blankets and how you should calculate the ideal weight and all that. But I struggled to find reviews or stories about how they actually help, other than offering deeper sleep.
I wrote about how my sleep is permanently ruined because of CPTSD. I’ve tried all kinds of things, from putting my phone away to killing blue light everywhere to improving my diet and nothing has helped. So I didn’t have anything to lose. I could try something as odd and unfamiliar as a weighted blanket.
I had two choices: I could buy a second-hand weighted blanket. Only one person sold them locally, and by locally I mean I’d have to go well across the city to find the shop and haul 7kg of blanket back home. Or I could make a weighted blanket. So, I did.
I’ll try to explain the process and the results as best as I can. I’m hoping it will help someone somewhere to manage their sensory shenanigans.
(Please forgive the photo quality.)
Making the blanket
The general rule is that a weighted blanket should be between 5 and 12% of your body weight, but the ideal is 10%. Last I checked, I weighed 70kg. 10% of that is 7kg. My existing duvet/comforter + cover weighed about 2kg. So to make it reach 7kg, I needed 5kg of filling. (I hope I’ll never have to crunch such numbers again. Yay, dyscalculia.)
The filling
My most accessible filling was dried beans. The cheapest beans I could get are the type we call “Wairimu” a.k.a red kidney beans.
I got these from a local seller. She was kind enough to sort the beans for me. So the initial cost came to about Ksh. 1,750 ($11.31 at this time) because the comforter was also second-hand and I got it three years ago for about Ksh. 900. I won’t add the cost of needles and thread because I always have them on hand. I don’t remember how much they cost but it was very little.
If I had to buy a second-hand weighted blanket, it would cost me Ksh. 3,500, so DIY was a good call.
The stitching
I’m very thankful that my duvet had a grid on the reverse side. The front is a boring grey, and I didn’t want to mark it up with a pen to make the pockets for the filling. It was much easier to follow the lines when I was sewing by hand.
The plan was to divide the existing pockets into four:
I had 20 big boxes on the duvet. They needed to turn into 80 smaller ones to hold the beans. And I worked from the outside in. It made more sense to do it that way for some reason.
And of course my new housemate wanted cuddles instead.
It took several hours to do, but this was the result:
And obviously I started to worry that the boxes were too big and the beans would move around too much, or I had overestimated or underestimated the weight of the beans, et cetera, et cetera. But I was committed to the process.
Portioning the beans
Each pocket took about 62g of beans. I measured them with my kitchen scale and put them in these resealable bags:
I have only five of these, but they were sturdy enough to hold the beans without spilling, and I could arrange them around me as I worked. I wish I had maybe 10 of them to make the portioning faster.
Inserting the beans
I cut open a small section of the grid. This way, the resealing would be much quicker:
Also, almost all the DIY weighted blanket blogs and videos talked about using some kind of tube to get the filling inside the pockets. This was the best I could manage:
After inserting the beans through the makeshift tube, I sewed the gap shut again.
The filling-and-sealing process took many hours, but I was determined not to leave it halfway. I deeply disliked the thought of having only a partially weighted blanket. I felt like it would just piss me off rather than help, so I worked as fast as I could.
The results
I made my weighted blanket between December 4 and 5, so it’s been about a week now since I first slept underneath it. Very odd experience, good things and not-so-good things to discover.
1. It was a strange sensation
I was worried about lying under such a heavy blanket. It’s not easy to move 7kg around, let alone sleep under it. But it really wasn’t good or bad, just strange, like having extra contact while I slept. It was gentle, too. Once my body registered that it was okay under the weight, I relaxed pretty quickly.
2. I did not overheat
This one was unexpected. I get nightmares when I overheat in my sleep. I also expected that because the nights here are getting warmer, extra weight would be hotter. I’m guessing that’s not how physics works? Somehow the beans stayed cool. I didn’t even sweat while I was asleep. I only noticed that it was warm when I got out from under the blanket. Weird.
3. I don’t hear the sounds that would wake me
Maybe it’s because I’m sleeping more deeply under the weighted blanket, but if I’m to get up in the night (more about that next), it’s not because some sound woke me. Even a pin-drop would wake me before now. I could hear a lizard scuttering on the roof or the very first drops of rain or even the very, very tiny “click” of my very, very tiny fridge, and I’d be awake.
I’m not sure yet where the connection lies here. It’s the most interesting of all my observations so far.
4. It takes much longer to be fully alert
I’m still waking up at least twice every night for some reason. It seems that the extra weight doesn’t help me sleep until morning. I don’t understand this. And I’ll wake up just to wake up, not really to go to the bathroom or because I heard a noise or anything. Maybe my brain is already wired to stay vigilant permanently. I don’t know.
Then, when I do wake up in the morning, I’m not exactly jumping out of bed. It usually took me maybe 20 minutes or less to be fully alert. By the time I’m sitting down for my tea, I’m 100% on. It doesn’t mean I enjoy it because I still dislike mornings, but I’m not yawning 5 hours after waking.
I’m extra curious about this outcome. Maybe I really am sleeping more deeply despite waking up multiple times at night. It’s the same with naps, too. As long as I nap under the blanket, it will be a bitch to get back into the zone afterward, and it’s worse than non-weighted naps. Not entirely sure why.
5. I can’t sleep on my side anymore
I much prefer to lie on my side when I sleep. But under a weighted blanket, it’s a very laborious sleeping position. Turning from one side to the other is so, so difficult. I have to maneuver the blankets, half-worrying that I would spill the beans (see what I did there?). And my hip joints would protest a lot, too.
I believe sleeping on your back is the ideal position for a weighted blanket. I tried it and I prefer it. It felt awkward at first, but the extra weight means I didn’t need to turn so much. I’m a chronic tosser-turner in bed. Not doing this anymore is actually quite nice. Side sleeping is now reserved for naps.
6. I still dream
I was worried about those rumors that a weighted blanket would make me black out til morning. Would it mean that I’d be so deeply asleep that I would stop dreaming, or would I still dream but not remember any of it?
The first couple of nights had no dreams. But after that they resumed their pace. I don’t know what I would do if I stopped dreaming. I should definitely write more about this because I believe it’s part of CPTSD. But all I can say for now is that my dreams have saved my life many, many times. To lose them would be to lose my defenses.
Verdict: Your results may vary
It’s still early days (nights?) to know exactly how my weighted blanket is helping my sleep patterns. Maybe it’s a slow process and I’m being impatient. My guess is it’s my particular nervous system that needs to adjust gradually. It’s a challenge because all I’ve heard or read about seems to say, “I immediately had the best sleep of my life.” That’s going to be a journey. Some may try a weighted blanket and literally transform their lives overnight. Others, like me, have to wait and see.
I’d recommend asking a doctor about it if you have access to one. If there are any pre-existing joint conditions, maybe even breathing conditions or low blood pressure, extra weight may not be recommended.
If you’re in great physical shape, your type of neurodivergence is the next factor. People with anxiety, autism, and ADHD seem to benefit the most. I’m trying this because my nervous system needs a break. I need to feel like I’m not in fight/flight/freeze mode all the time.
Ultimately, I hope my DIY efforts show that there are alternative ways to have a weighted blanket if you can’t buy one. Some skill is needed though, like sewing, but I didn’t do anything fancy really, just simple stitches that get the job done. If you can work a sewing machine, awesome. If you can find someone to help with the sewing, awesome. If you can find a weighted blanket from a thrift shop, awesome. It’s worth a shot.
