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Thursday, November 29, 2018

From The Editor  Find out what the Editor of The Telegraph thinks you should be reading.

A Bletchley Park codebreaker and rare access to North Korea ByChris Evans Editor, The Telegraph

Dear reader, Because you registered for The Telegraph, I'm delighted to share with you my choice of the best articles from this week. All of these are free for you to read – but will remain so for just a week. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have. There's also much, much more on our website.

Baroness Trumpington, Bletchley Park codebreaker and Tory peer, was a remarkable woman. This article about her life is a must-read. Read the full article

William Hague is arguing in favour of Theresa May's Brexit agreement. But why? Read the full article

These articles on the realities of North Korea are absolutely gripping. Read the full article

Can American's lost love affair with heavyweight boxing be revived? Paul Hayward explains. Read the full article

This – on having an only child – is such a thoughtful article from Bryony Gordon. Read the full article

PS Last week I mentioned that our Christmas Charity Appeal had launched and that we are raising money for Changing Faces, YoungMinds, and the Fire Fighters Charity. This Sunday, our journalists will be taking your calls as part of our annual phone-in. If you haven’t donated yet, or are feeling particularly generous, phone 0151 284 1927 any time from 10am to speak to one of our journalists and make a donation. You can also .

READ MORE FROM NEW YORK POST

Dirty sex secrets: Oral love, holy water, and abortion in the church

The Vatican treasurer on a harassment court

The German Catholic Church compensated 1380 victims of pedophile priests

• 4 reasons to date someone who’s been divorced
• Plus-size blogger claps back after trolls say she doesn’t ‘deserve’ her boyfriend
• This curvy mom is still taking sexy selfies for money, and she’s making $12K a month

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If you suffer from anxiety, you know just how difficult it can be to deal with constant worry-but you’re not alone. Anxiety disorders impact 40 million adults in the United States, making it the most common mental health issue in the country. And even if you don't have an anxiety disorder, we all feel stressed from time to time. There are plenty ofnatural remedies for anxiety, but recently one med-free treatment has been getting a ton of buzz: weighted blankets, also known as gravity blankets.

The name speaks for itself: they’re blankets-usually stuffed with polyfil or a similar material-with extra heft. People who swear by them say the added weight helps them fall asleep and stay that way all night. That’s a big deal, since a majority of adults dealing with anxiety experience sleep problems, like insomnia.

But for at least $100 per blanket, will it really make a difference? Or is this just another self-help gimmick picking up short-lived momentum?

Do weighted blankets work for anxiety and insomnia?

Some experts have, in fact, witnessed weighted blanket benefits firsthand. After Tennessee-based therapist Donna Durham, MMFT, started using them with her clients, she was blown away by their reactions. (Full disclosure, she ended up designing and selling her own weighted blankets.)

“They would be able to go from having trouble sitting still to ‘Hey, would you mind turning off the lights and letting me just sit here for a few minutes?’” she says. “I had some clients who just then started incorporating it into their self-care, to where they would have a weighted blanket in their car, or in a special bag, so if they had panic attacks, they would use them to interrupt those attacks.”

That said, weighted blankets have their critics who say there's not enough evidence to say one way or another whether they actually do anything to help ease anxiety. The science is limited, and only preliminary research suggests that sensory treatments like weighted blankets can help manage anxiety, explains Sandy Capaldi, PsyD, licensed clinical psychologist, and associate director for Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety at the University of Pennsylvania. More studies with large sample sizes need to be done to truly determine how effective they are, she adds.

Preliminary study results, though, are promising. A small study in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine found that “grounding” the human body, or pushing it downward with deep pressure touch (DPT)-similar to the experience of using a weighted blanket-reduces the production of cortisol, a stress hormone that brings about symptoms commonly associated with anxiety, such as increased heart rate, blood pressure, and muscle tension.