Scientists conducted a small study and found that using a weighted blanket before bed is associated with
According to a 2005 review published byAccording to the Journal of Biological Rhythms, melatonin production is influenced not only by light, but also by environmental factors such as meal times, physical activity, and social interactions. So the scientists wondered whether another sensory signal—the pressure of a weighted blanket—could regulate the hormone.
They asked 11 women and 15 men agedfrom 20 years old to spend several nights in the laboratory. The first day was allocated for the participants to get used to the environment. Then they were asked to sleep first under a light blanket, and then under a weighted one. None of the study participants suffered from insomnia or had previously used weighted blankets.
During the experiment, each participant had lunchsat in bright light for two hours and then in dim light until the lights went out at 11 p.m. An hour before bedtime, they wrapped themselves under either a light blanket or a weighted one. Over the course of 60 minutes, the researchers took saliva samples every 20 minutes to monitor each participant's melatonin levels. It usually makes up about 30% of the amount present in the bloodstream.
On on average, the participants who were lyingunder a weighted blanket, melatonin levels were about 32% higher than when they were wrapped in a light blanket. However, this did not in any way affect the participants’ sleep itself; They were equally sleepy before going to bed and after waking up in both scenarios, and their total sleep time was the same in both scenarios.
“This is a very interesting study,but it would be nice to repeat it in a second cohort,” said Håkan Olausson, a neuroscientist at Linköping University in Sweden, in an interview with The Washington Post. If it confirms the results, it will help stop taking sleep medications.
Melatonin helps the body go into sleep modeduring which body temperature drops, metabolism slows down and the level of the stress hormone cortisol decreases. It is also responsible for the fact that a person feels drowsy several hours before bedtime. Typically, melatonin levels increase in the evening, peak at night, and decrease as morning approaches. This is due to the functioning of a part of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). It is the main generator of circadian rhythms in mammals, controls the release of melatonin in the pineal gland and synchronizes the “biological clock”.
Read more:
Hydrogen energy, material against cold weather and bioadditives against COVID-19: what scientists are creating in the North
10 scientific facts that turned out to be fakes. Cards
Unusual decoration in an ancient grave surprised scientists
</ p>