For insomniacs, there is no shortage of gadgets promising a better night’s sleep. Here, try this hat that zaps your brainwaves into submission[1]. Here, stick these electrodes[2] just below your ribs. Here, try on this headset, or these goggles, or this wristband that promises, really, to help you fall asleep. Last year, one Kickstarter project[3] suggested something different: Forget all of the high-tech sleep wearables. Bury yourself under this 25-pound blanket and you’ll sleep like a baby.
Gravity Blanket
The Gravity Blanket became an overnight success, scooping up $3 million in crowdsourcing funding from over 15,000 sleepless people on the internet. The company described the blanket as “Advil PM for your whole body,” a $250 panacea for poor sleep, stress, anxiety, and more. The vision was so compelling, in part, because it was so simple. No wires, no batteries, no gizmos to bring into bed with you. No buttons, no apps, no unsightly headgear. All you needed was this soft, heavy blanket, filled with something like the Sandman himself.
Let me stop here: The Gravity Blanket is not a panacea. It is, well, a blanket. But while other consumer products for sleep seem to get weirder and weirder, Gravity Blanket brings a much-needed perspective. Sleep isn't something to be hacked. It's something we can all achieve as long as we lie down, pull up the covers, and relax.
To lie underneath a Gravity Blanket feels a little like being swaddled as a baby, or wrapped up in a toasty tortilla like a human burrito.
The blanket takes its inspiration from a technique called deep pressure stimulation, which involves applying pressure to trigger the sympathetic nervous system and...