Fall in love with sleep with Emer's weighted blanket

A YOUNG Co. Mayo entrepreneur has launched a revolutionary weighted blanket to help poor sleepers to get a better night's rest, writes Tom Gillespie.

Emer Flannery, 30, who is from Belmullet and who lives in Galway, came up with the idea of a customisable weighted blanket to aid sleep and relaxation and promote better mental health.

Her Kocoono blanket 'stimulates pressure points to enable the user to relax by reducing stress and anxiety felt in the body and lends itself to induced relaxation, a sense of calmness and better quality sleep'.

The blanket is ethically made in Europe and contains 30% upcycled material in the internal layer.

It comes in three weights - 5kg, 7kg and 9kg, with the weight distributed evenly across the body through a series of weighted removable strips.

The removable strips can be placed in a fridge/freezer to act as a cooling aid. This is particularly beneficial for those suffering from sports injuries or women experiencing hot flushes during the menopause.

Emer stated: "My background is in psychology and I have studied in this area for five years and worked across care sectors and continents for nine years with a huge desire to see the world.

"I have a huge interest in positive psychology and always focus on what is right with people rather than what is wrong.

"Kocoono was initially created by accident as I made a weighted product for a child with autism that I worked with.

"A mother told me how her child benefited from the use of a weighted blanket at home, it had a calming effect when the child was felling agitated or anxious.

"The child was having issues sitting down in school so I gathered the materials and manufactured a weighted lap-pad for his use in school."

She added: "From this experience I developed my first Kocoono for personal use. My experience of using the blanket has led me to develop Kocoono into a commercial product for use as a sleep aid.

"Personally, Kocoono has made a huge difference to my own quality of sleep and because of this I want to bring it to a wider audience and support others to fall asleep easier, naturally."

Kocoono launched on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter and early bird prices started at €185.

More information can be found at www.kocoono.com.