Jennifer Aniston Calls Her Weighted Blanket a ‘Game-Changer’ for Sleep: Inside Her Nighttime Routine
Jennifer Aniston previously described going to bed during her worst stretches of insomnia as “almost like walking the plank."
Jennifer Aniston has been open about her years-long battle with insomnia, and the actress credits one bedtime upgrade — a weighted blanket — with helping her finally get real rest. Here is what she has said about her nighttime routine and why readers keep asking about it.
Why does Jennifer Aniston call her weighted blanket a ‘game-changer’?
Aniston says sleeping under a weighted blanket has been a turning point in her quest for better sleep, calling it a “game-changer” in a 2023 interview with Real Simple.
“I have a weighted blanket and that is another game-changer,” the Morning Show star said. “I got one about two years ago, and that’s very helpful for sleep.”
Woman's World Answers
Aniston has been candid that sleep did not always come easily to her. She told Women’s Health in 2023 that her struggles began roughly a decade and a half ago, and that the consequences crept into nearly every corner of her life before she made changes. “My sleep started to suffer 10 or 15 years ago,” she said. “I realized I don’t feel good, and I’m not performing the way I should be performing when I didn’t sleep well. My workouts are suffering. My work and memorization is not on point. My skin my hair my everything starts to pay the price for your lack of sleep, which accumulates over time. You can’t catch up on sleep.”
What is a weighted blanket and how does it work?
A weighted blanket is a blanket filled with materials like glass beads or plastic pellets that make it significantly heavier than a regular comforter, typically ranging from about 5 to 30 pounds.
The added weight is designed to create gentle, even pressure across the body, often referred to as “deep pressure stimulation.” That sensation is thought to promote a feeling of calm and relaxation by encouraging the nervous system to shift into a more restful state, similar to the comfort of being hugged or swaddled.
People use weighted blankets for a few different reasons: to help unwind before bed, to reduce feelings of restlessness or to try to improve overall sleep quality. The strength of the scientific evidence varies, and results can differ from person to person. Weighted blankets are generally used as a comfort tool rather than a medical treatment, and they tend to work best when chosen at an appropriate weight for the user’s body size.
For Aniston, the appeal seems to line up with that broader goal of calming the body before bed. She has described going to bed during her worst stretches of insomnia as “almost like walking the plank,” she told People in 2022 — a feeling many readers searching for sleep solutions will recognize. Tools that create a sense of physical security, like a weighted blanket, fit naturally into a routine built around easing into rest rather than forcing it.
It is worth noting that a weighted blanket is not a cure-all. Aniston pairs hers with a long list of other habits — a consistent bedtime, a hot bath, meditation, stretching and even putting her phone in another room. The blanket is one input, not the whole system.
She also emphasizes that getting professional input matters. “I just wasn’t thinking clearly, and my doctor was so helpful,” Aniston told SELF in 2022, adding that she “absolutely recommends people do” see a doctor for ongoing sleep issues. “Sleep is usually the last question on the list when you’re at the doctor’s because everything else seems more important. And now it’s the first question on my list. Everything starts with sleep. If I haven’t slept properly, my exercise is crap and my diet is out the window. I’m just diminishing returns.”
What is Jennifer Aniston’s nighttime routine for better sleep?
Jennifer Aniston’s nighttime routine centers on consistency, screen-free wind-down time and a sequence of calming rituals — including her weighted blanket — that she tries to start about two hours before she wants to be asleep.
The first step is getting her phone out of reach. “My phone goes into the kitchen or the bathroom. I walk the dogs. I lock all the doors. I’m really trying to be in bed at eleven o’clock,” Aniston told SELF in 2022. From there, she layers in self-care: a hot bath when she can fit one in, stretches, yoga, meditation and prayer before sleep.
The routine is intentional, and the motivation is the payoff she feels the next day. “When I make myself do that ritual, that nightly routine, I just know how good I’m going to feel the next day. And that inspires me,” Aniston told Women’s Health.
Early call times for film and TV shoots force adjustments, but they do not break the ritual. “When I do have to go to work and I have that awful wake-up hour, I am so good about doing my nightly routine and my nightly ritual. I’ll start it two hours before I know I have to be asleep,” she said. “I can do it and I actually feel more refreshed when I wake up at those awful hours.”
She acknowledges that on-set life sometimes throws everything off, especially during the late-week shifts the industry calls “Fraturdays.” “It’s a little destructive to the old body clock, to say the least,” she told SELF. “But when I have the luxury of maintaining my routine, it’s everything.”
How did Jennifer Aniston deal with insomnia and sleepwalking?
Aniston has talked openly about both insomnia and sleepwalking, and she credits a combination of professional medical advice, a stricter bedtime routine and a shift in how she values rest with helping her get her sleep back on track.
She told People that her sleep issues likely started in her 30s, even though the consequences took years to register. “I think it started somewhere in my 30s or even earlier, but you just don’t start to notice the effects of a lack of sleep when we’re younger because we’re so invincible,” Aniston said. “It began as something that I would just accept and then all of a sudden you realize the effects of your lack of sleep and how it affects your day and your work and your mind function and your physique.”
The sleepwalking got serious enough that house alarms became part of the story. “I have been known to do that. I’ve been woken up by house alarms going off that I’ve set off. And I don’t think I do that anymore — that was when I was super sleep deprived,” she told People, adding that “at least there’s that silver lining” to her sleep issues. “The body is saying, ‘Now don’t go out and set the alarm off again, OK?’”
Insomnia, meanwhile, started to undercut the rest of her health goals. “It became something that I really was struggling with,” she told People. “It used to be the last thing on the list, but you can’t really abide by the three pillars of health — which are diet, exercise and sleep — if you can’t really exercise and you can’t really eat right if you haven’t slept well because your body clock is so completely thrown off.”
Seeing a doctor was a turning point. “I just wasn’t thinking clearly, and my doctor was so helpful,” Aniston told SELF, adding that she recommends others do the same.
She also wants the message about rest to land for parents, especially those who routinely sacrifice their own sleep. “Even with my mom friends who are running on fumes because of the time that they put toward their kids, all of their self-care comes afterwards and they have no time to recover,” Aniston said. “And then eventually they just feel that their patience is less, and they don’t have the tolerance level that they want. I think it’s just about shifting your perspective a bit and understanding that self-care is not selfish — it’s a positive because you are able to really be present and useful to your family when you are well rested.”
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