Marcy Eberts and her team from St. Jude Hospital in Kansas City completed pilot clinical trials that demonstrated that short-term use of a weighted blanket significantly reduces anxiety in people in hospitals.
Fifty-four adult patients, including 39 women, who all reported experiencing anxiety participated in the randomized crossover trials. Participants were randomly divided into two equal groups.
The first group of patients was covered with a weighted blanket for 20 minutes; the blanket covered about 70 percent of the body surface, measured 183 x 107 centimeters, and weighed 6.75 kilograms. Following this, they were given 20 minutes in a normal state. In the second group, the procedure was performed in reverse order.
Anxiety levels were measured using a 10-point verbal numerical scale: before the start of each session, at the end of it, and 20 minutes after completion.
The results of this study were officially published in the American Journal of Critical Care.