A weighted blanket is a blanket filled with glass beads or plastic pellets, or knit from thick, heavy yarn, so it presses down evenly on your body like a firm hug. Most weigh 10 to 25 pounds. People use them to fall asleep faster, settle anxiety, and feel calmer on the couch. The research is promising for insomnia and anxiety, though still limited, and many people simply like how one feels.
Our top pick is the YnM Weighted Blanket. It has small 2-inch pockets that keep the glass beads from bunching, ties to hold an optional duvet cover, and nearly 24,000 Amazon ratings averaging 4.6 stars, for about $45 in a 15-pound queen. If you sleep hot, the Baloo Weighted Blanket is cotton inside and out and machine washable. For the most breathable and best-looking option, the Bearaby Cotton Napper is a chunky hand-knit blanket with no beads at all.
Our Picks at a Glance
| Weighted blanket | Best for | Fill | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| YnM Weighted Blanket | Best overall | Glass beads | About $45 (15 lb queen) |
| Baloo Weighted Blanket | Hot sleepers | Glass microbeads, all-cotton shell | About $200–$220 |
| Bearaby Cotton Napper | Breathability, style | None, hand-knit cotton | About $199–$269 |
| Bare Home Cotton | Budget cotton | Glass beads | About $52 (17 lb queen) |
Best Overall: YnM Weighted Blanket
Best overall
YnM Weighted Blanket, 15 lb Queen
A 7-layer glass-bead blanket with small 2-inch pockets, duvet ties, and machine-washable fabric.
YnM is the best-selling weighted blanket on Amazon, and it gets the details right. Its glass beads sit in small 2-by-2-inch pockets, about the smallest you’ll find, so the weight stays spread evenly instead of sliding to one side when you turn over. YnM uses a 7-layer construction with more glass beads and less fiberfill than many cheap blankets, which helps keep it from sleeping hot.
Sixteen loops around the edge let you tie on a duvet cover, sold separately, so you can wash the cover instead of the whole heavy blanket. You can machine wash the blanket itself on gentle and tumble dry low, though a 15-pound blanket may be too heavy for a small home washer.
It comes in a wide range of sizes, weights, and colors. YnM’s sizing guide is 10% of your body weight plus a pound.
Buy it if you want a well-made weighted blanket without spending $200.
Best Cooling: Baloo Weighted Blanket
Best for hot sleepers
Baloo Weighted Blanket
Cotton inside and out with glass microbead fill, OEKO-TEX certified, and machine washable and dryer safe.
Most cheap weighted blankets use polyester or minky fabric and a polyester liner, which traps heat. Baloo says it’s the only quilted weighted blanket made with 100% cotton inside and out, with no synthetic liner, filled with glass microbeads. Cotton breathes, so it’s the better choice if you sleep hot or live somewhere warm.
It’s quilted into small channels, OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certified, and machine washable and dryer safe, which matters with a blanket you’ll sleep under every night. Baloo suggests its 15-pound blanket over the 20-pound one for side sleepers and anyone with joint pain.
At about $200 or more, it costs four or five times as much as the YnM.
Buy it if you sleep hot, want natural materials, or plan to wash it often.
Best Knit: Bearaby Cotton Napper
Best knit weighted blanket
Bearaby Cotton Napper
A hand-knit organic cotton weighted blanket with no beads or filler, machine washable.
The Bearaby Napper doesn’t use beads at all. It’s hand-knit from thick tubes of cotton, so the weight comes from the yarn itself, and air moves through the big open loops. It’s the most breathable kind of weighted blanket, the easiest to wash, and the one that looks like a designer throw rather than a quilted mat.
It’s made from organic cotton and OEKO-TEX certified. The trade-offs: the open knit lets fingers and toes poke through, the weight is a little less even than a tightly quilted bead blanket, and it’s smaller for the weight. The 15-pound Napper measures 40 by 72 inches, which covers one person but doesn’t reach across a queen bed.
Buy it if you want a weighted blanket that also looks good on a sofa, or a gift that doesn’t look like a medical product.
Best Budget Cotton: Bare Home Weighted Blanket
Best budget cotton
Bare Home Cotton Weighted Blanket
A cotton-covered glass-bead weighted blanket with reinforced stitching and small pockets, for about $50.
Bare Home makes a cotton-covered weighted blanket with glass-bead fill, small pockets, and reinforced stitching to keep beads from leaking, for about $50 in a 17-pound queen. With nearly 12,000 ratings averaging 4.5 stars, it’s the cheapest way to get a cotton shell instead of polyester.
Buy it if you want cotton on a budget.
What Weight Should You Get?
The common rule, used by nearly every brand, is about 10% of your body weight, rounded up to the nearest available size:
| Your weight | Blanket weight |
|---|---|
| 100 to 130 lb | 10 to 12 lb |
| 130 to 170 lb | 15 lb |
| 170 to 220 lb | 20 lb |
| 220 lb and up | 25 lb |
The 10% figure is a convention rather than a research finding. The main studies used heavier blankets: one trial used 6- to 8-kilogram (about 13 to 18 pound) chain blankets. If you’re new to weighted blankets, it’s fine to start a little lighter, especially if you’re a side sleeper, have joint pain, or plan to use it on the couch.
Size: choose a blanket about the size of your mattress top, not one that hangs over the edges. A weighted blanket that drapes off the bed tends to slide off. Most “queen” weighted blankets are 60 by 80 inches, for one person. For two people, get a larger, heavier blanket or one each.
Do Weighted Blankets Work?
The evidence is encouraging but limited.
- Insomnia. The best-known trial randomized 120 adults with depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, or ADHD to a heavy metal-chain blanket or a light plastic one for four weeks. The heavy blanket improved insomnia severity much more, with a large effect size, along with better sleep maintenance and less daytime fatigue, depression, and anxiety. People who kept using it kept the benefit at 12 months (Ekholm et al., 2020).
- Anxiety. A 2024 meta-analysis of nine studies with 553 psychiatric patients found weighted blankets reduced anxiety symptoms compared with controls, but rated most of the studies as having some or high risk of bias (Wong et al., 2024).
- Chronic pain. In a trial of 94 adults with chronic pain, a 15-pound blanket reduced how much pain bothered them more than a 5-pound blanket did, though it didn’t lower pain intensity ratings (Baumgartner et al., 2022).
- Autism in children. The American Academy of Neurology’s guideline on sleep problems in children with autism says weighted blankets don’t appear to help, based on the trials so far.
Most of the research involves people with psychiatric conditions, so it’s less clear how much a weighted blanket helps someone who already sleeps reasonably well. The simplest test is to try one: if it feels calming, it’s worth keeping.
Who Shouldn’t Use a Weighted Blanket
- Babies and young children. Never use a weighted blanket for an infant or toddler. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises against weighted sleep products for babies, and young children can get trapped under one. Talk to a pediatrician before using one with an older child, and choose a light blanket the child can easily push off.
- People with breathing problems, such as sleep apnea, COPD, or asthma, should check with a doctor first.
- Anyone who can’t easily move the blanket off, including people with limited mobility or strength.
How to Care for a Weighted Blanket
- Use a removable cover if your blanket has ties, and wash the cover instead of the whole blanket.
- Check the weight before machine washing. Many home washers handle up to about 15 to 20 pounds; heavier blankets may need a laundromat’s large machine.
- Wash cold on gentle and dry low, or line dry. High heat can damage the stitching that holds the beads.
- Spot-clean small stains to avoid frequent full washes.
Pair a weighted blanket with good pillows: see our guide to the best bed pillows. And if you’re cold at night, a heated blanket solves a different problem.
How We Chose
We compared the most popular and best-reviewed weighted blankets on fill type, pocket size and weight distribution, fabric and breathability, washability, certifications, sizes and weights offered, and price. We included one bead-free knit option because it suits hot sleepers and people who want a blanket that doubles as decor.
Weighted Blanket FAQ
Are weighted blankets good for anxiety?
They may help. A 2024 meta-analysis of psychiatric patients found weighted blankets reduced anxiety symptoms, though most of the studies had quality limitations. Many people find the pressure calming.
Can you sleep with a weighted blanket every night?
Yes, for most healthy adults. Choose the right weight, make sure you can easily push it off, and don’t use one for babies or young children.
Do weighted blankets make you hot?
Polyester and minky blankets can. Cotton blankets like the Baloo, and open knit blankets like the Bearaby Napper, sleep much cooler.
What’s inside a weighted blanket?
Usually small glass beads, sometimes plastic pellets, sewn into a grid of pockets. Knit weighted blankets get their weight from thick yarn instead.
Can you wash a weighted blanket?
Most can be machine washed on a gentle cycle and dried on low, but check the label and your washer’s capacity. A removable cover makes it much easier.
What size weighted blanket should I get?
About 10% of your body weight, in a size that matches the top of your mattress. A 15-pound, 60-by-80-inch blanket suits most adults between about 130 and 170 pounds.
