Have you ever gotten “chills” down your body from someone whispering in your ear or scratching your back? Well that is called ASMR, aka Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. According to our handy friends over at National Center for Biotechnology Information, ASMR is when “individuals experience a tingling, static-like sensation across the scalp, back of the neck and at times further areas in response to specific triggering audio and visual stimuli.” Which is a fancy way to say that you get tingles down your back.
Okay, it may seem a little odd at first, but it can actually be super helpful! For people like me who have trouble falling asleep, ASMR is a godsend. There is a whole section of YouTube dedicated to ASMR type content. They use different triggers to elicit ASMR, and it is so relaxing! One of these triggers is whispering, so almost all of the videos are whispered to make it relaxing and to try to trigger the ASMR.
Another really popular trigger is tapping on different objects. Now I know it sounds weird, but trust me it’s really calming for some reason. ASMR videos also have a lot of different subgenres like: role play, fashion hauls, non-talking, unintelligible whispering, and even whispered unsolved mysteries believe it or not. And even if I’m not having trouble falling asleep, they are really good for calming me down when I am super stressed out. Which let’s be honest, we are in college. We’re always stressed out.
One of my favorite YouTube accounts is Lily Whispers. She does a lot of videos about beauty products and makeup. She is also a vegan and a very strong animal rights activist. One thing that she does that not a lot of other ASMR people do is videos about unsolved mysteries. It doesn’t seem like listening to an unsolved mystery about people disappearing or people getting murdered would be relaxing, but somehow, she makes it work.
So next time you can’t fall asleep or you need to relax, try listening to ASMR. It might be weird at first, but once you find a video that you like, you’ll be hooked. I am personally obsessed, and I think everyone should try it