- (dramatic orchestra music) Rachel and I are going to see
a scary movie tonight so I'm bringing my weighted blanket.
- I'm so scared!
- I think it worked.
(upbeat guitar music)
- Hi everybody, I'm Merle.
All my life, I have had sleep issues.
I can remember when I was a kid, I used to actually try
to hypnotize my mother into falling asleep while she
was reading me bedtime stories.
First of all because I thought I had that magical ability,
I am still waiting for my letter from Hogwarts,
but I did, I used to try and get her to fall asleep next
to me because I didn't want to sleep alone.
I've always had trouble actually falling asleep.
I'm laying there in bed, it's getting later and later,
(clock ticking quickly)
and I'm doing the math in my head that, like, now I'm only
going to get 7 hours of sleep, now I'm only going to
get 6 hours of sleep, and then I don't get any sleep.
This is no way to live.
I've started taking melatonin before I go to sleep and I
know melatonin is notoriously non-habit forming but
I kind of feel like I've made a habit of it.
I've kind of avoided weighted blankets for a really long
time for two reasons.
One: because I don't trust anything that's marketed
to me in this day and age. Two: because they're expensive!
But I think one thing that would really help me, hopefully
have more energy throughout the day, be more productive,
is to get a better nights sleep.
So, I tried one out for a week.
Okay, I just got the weighted blanket.
Holy shoot, it's hefty!
Feels like I have a child.
The first night was kind of a disaster.
It felt like I was carrying a dead body.
It weighs 18 pounds but 18 pounds is a lot heavier
than you think it is, trust me.
I am both alarmed and embarrassed to admit that my
heart rate in increased after walking the blanket
over to my desk.
I felt ridiculous in the first place carrying the blanket
over the threshold of my home.
Reese, are you ready to try a weighted blanket? Yeah?
Okay, let's do this.
Very intimate ritual to be sharing.
It immediately felt like there was a body on top of me.
Feels like a very gentle elephant is sitting on my legs.
I don't know why I'm whispering. (calm flute music)
I'd read other peoples experiences and a lot of them were
like (birds chirping) "ah, the first night was the deepest
sleep I've had in my whole entire life, I woke up and I was
freaked out by how rested I was".
(record scratch) That did not happen to me.
That was not a good experience.
I did wake up a few times throughout the night
the first night.
It's 3 in the morning and I swear to god I thought that a
person jumped out of my ceiling, onto the floor next to me.
It was the fricken blanket, it fell off my bed and hit the
floor so hard that it sounded like a person.
I was frustrated about it.
That was not the magical, anxiety reducing slumber
that I was promised.
(calm guitar music)
Guy's I'm nervous to go back to sleep
with the blanket tonight.
I just want to get a good night sleep because if I
have 7 nights like I did last night I'm not going to be
doing well and I'm worried that there's just something
wrong with me that the blanket isn't working on me so
(deep sigh) I'm going to give it another try.
The second night was a lot better.
I slept through the night with the weighted blanket.
I didn't wake up once.
I didn't have nightmares.
I just slept.
And I actually got up when my alarm went off.
That was a success.
I'm becoming slowly but surely a little bit more
of a believer.
I was starting to get really excited that sleep was
becoming a positive thing in my life.
Okay, so since last night was such a success, I'm going
to up the anti a little bit tonight.
I'm not going to take any melatonin.
I've heard that maybe the blanket can kind of, help your
body produce more melatonin naturally and, I mean,
that's the ideal situation is that I don't
need to take something to fall asleep, so...
Sweet dreams everybody.
Guys I have very exciting news.
We had a breakthrough morning.
I went to sleep on my side last night, just like this,
and I woke up in the same position.
That has never happened to me ever before, ever.
I feel like last night I fell asleep, and I was
in a deep deep slumber.
I didn't even know that was a thing.
You know if I was retired, I could do a crossword
puzzle right now.
Today I've just felt kind of more mellow and relaxed.
I was late for a meeting and instead of getting flustered
and letting it kind of work me up, I just was able
to look at it from the outside and be like "this is one
meeting, this is one hour, it's a bad hour, it's
not a bad day".
I continue to marvel at the benefits of adequate sleep.
(laughing) Why wasn't I trying to fix this a long time ago?
I could have been way more productive probably.
Rachel and I are going to see a scary movie tonight,
so I'm bringing my weighed blanket.
This is probably a really stupid idea.
- [Rachel] Oh my god, is she
- Hello Rachel.
- [Rachel] Is she serious right now?
- Are you ready to get spooky? (Rachel laughing)
- I do not do horror, okay?
I do some light thrillers.
- Thanks.
- [Rachel] Nothing abnormal here.
- We're about to start the movie. Wish us luck.
- I'm so scared.
- I think it worked.
- I hated it.
- I've been able to fall asleep within like 20 minutes
which for me is huge, and I'm finding that I wake up
much more refreshed, which makes getting up a lot easier.
Okay so it's day 5 and I'm actually looking forward to
going to sleep, where that was never, never really
a thing for me.
I'm learning that the weighted blanket
means it's time for sleep.
This morning I woke up at 6:00 am. I didn't hit
my snooze once and I did some writing.
Who even am I?
Reese doesn't even recognize me anymore, right?
I'm killing life right now,
I'm just like, at the top of my game.
This is the last morning of my 7 days sleeping with
the weighted blanket.
I'm honestly just so amazed at
how wrong I was about this thing.
I've been sleeping insanely well, I've been sleeping
consistently, it hasn't been taking me as long
to go to sleep, I feel good.
The weighted blanket helped me sleep better, and since
I was more well rested I was more likely to do other
healthy things so I had more energy, so I was more likely
to workout, I wasn't as tired so I was more likely to
cook for myself instead of getting fast food.
Since I got up early I made breakfast at home.
Now I'm off to work, I feel like a spring chicken.
So it's really a snowball effect.
I'm sure you're wondering, am I still going to use
this blanket and heck yes I'm going to use this blanket.
I hope their planning on letting me
keep this blanket, because I want it.
Can we give all of the credit to the weighted blanket?
No, but it is one step in kind of, the building blocks
of trying to live healthier throughout the day.
The blanket has another use, if you lay with it like this
it kind of feels like a person.
It didn't feel sad when I was thinking it, but now hearing
it come out of my mouth I realize.
(upbeat pop music)