Instant relief
Janet Marietta works in the basement shop of her Washington home to mark the pocket measurements on fabric that will become a weighted blanket.
Two lining layers and two cover layers of fabric are stitched on a commercial machine to assemble a weighted blanket. Janet Marietta, a registered nurse at Burgettstown Area High School, started making weighted blankets to help calm students who came to her office with anxiety issues.
The plastic chips and pellets used to provide the weight for the blankets and wraps Janet Marietta makes are provided by a manufacturer in California. Using these chips and washable fabrics allows the blankets to be machine-laundered and tumbled dry.
The plastic pellets and chips used to fill each pocket of the weighted blankets and wraps are measured to within a quarter-ounce.
It was difficult for Maura Angelucci of Jefferson Hills to get her then 8-year-old son with cerebral palsy to fall asleep at night. Nothing seemed to work, until she tried putting him to bed with a weighted blanket, a sleeping aid that contains weighted pellets that can help relieve symptoms of anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
“It has definitely made a difference in his sleep patterns,” said Angelucci, who works in the human resources department at St. Clair Hospital. “It’s been a relief for both of our sleep routines.”
Now, Angelucci’s son, Dominic, gets nearly nine hours of sleep every night, a feat that was unheard of before. She credits the weighted blanket with helping her son get the amount of rest he needs at night.
Angelucci had read about the blankets before, but it was not until she met Janet Marietta of Washington at a school open house that she finally decided to purchase one.
Marietta, a registered school nurse at Burgettstown Area High School, started making the blankets after students at her school would repeatedly come to her office suffering with crippling anxiety or panic attacks.
“I was becoming increasingly frustrated because I couldn’t help them,” Marietta said. “So over the holiday break, I did some research on weighted blankets and whether they would be helpful for anxiety. When I realized they were, I made one and took it into school.”
It was an immediate success. The therapeutic effects of the weighted blanket helped many of Marietta’s visitors to calm down and remain so throughout the rest of the day. Because of the success at her school, Marietta now finds herself in the midst of a small business, making weighted blankets in her spare time for anyone who might be interested in them.
“Little by little, people started hearing about it, and other nurses heard about it, and I would talk to friends or be out in the community and somebody says, ‘My nurse at school needs that,’ so I made a blanket for her school,” Marietta said.
Marietta makes the blankets by hand, filling them with high-density polyethylene pellets similar to those found in bean bags. She then sews each section off until the final weight and size requirements are met for the given request.
According to Marietta, the calming effects of the blanket are the result of the pressure of the pellets being evenly distributed throughout the blanket. This allows for stimulation of various nerve endings when placed on an individual and allows for the release of serotonin into the bloodstream, creating a more calmed and relaxed feeling.
The blankets, however, are not just for those who experience anxiety. Marietta said the “deep pressure” technique the blankets create is cited by occupational therapists and clinicians as being an effective comfort aid for those who experience anxiety, autism, PTSD or ADHD.
“It has been described as like swaddling a baby, or when people go to the dentist and they place that lead shield on you,” Marietta said. “It actually calms people down in the dentist’s office, where people have high anxiety.”
Each blanket can be customized in terms of its design, size and weight. Marietta suggested that each blanket weigh 10 percent plus 1 pound of the user’s body weight, but no more than 12 pounds to allow for easy removal.
Marietta said she has made blankets for all age groups, from infants to those in their 90s. In addition to the blankets, Marietta also makes lap pads and neck wraps, which have the same kind of therapeutic calming effects as the blankets. While the blankets may help people who experience these symptoms, they are not a cure for them.
For more information about the weighted blankets, call Marietta at 724-228-1665.