Blankets are so much a part of the roughly one-third of our lives most of us spend in bed that it’s almost impossible for many of us to imagine sleeping without them. Available at all price levels – from cheap close-outs to absurdly expensive textile extravaganzas — and made from all kinds of natural and synthetic materials, retail and wholesale blankets are as ubiquitous as air and water when sleepy time comes.

Indeed, blankets are such an ancient and unquestioned part of daily life for people of all economic levels all over the world, that trying to find out how the practice of using them began would probably take at least enough research to get started on a PhD in Anthropology. It’s just a fact that, unlike our furrier friends in the animal kingdom, most of us in most climates need some kind of warm covering to deal with cool evenings and the normal lowering of body temperature that goes along with rest.

Of course, as all parents and children know, blankets provide more than physical warmth. A toddler’s favorite “blankie” is a definite must-have for pleasant trips. A child may have the most loving parents in the world, but they cannot be there all the time. As she grows older, she’ll learn she doesn’t want them there all the time, but she still wants that feeling of emotional warmth.

Moreover, the phenomenon of the “security blanket” being carried into later childhood is far from limited to Linus of “Peanuts” fame. Though we may not openly obsess over blankets as we grow older, the emotional qualities of these coverings for older children, teens, and grown-ups are plain to see. For one thing, regardless of the actual textiles, most of us favor soft, “cushy” blankets that warmly embrace us.