Sleep, relaxation, and a tingling feeling. These are all characteristics of autonomous sensory meridian response or, as it is commonly shortened to, ASMR. This means experiencing a sensation of tingles, or as some people call it, pleasurable goosebumps, due to visual or auditory stimulation and the most common triggers of this are whispering, tapping, scratching, crinkling sounds, and hand movements. Not everyone experiences ASMR, but for those that do, tingles typically start at the top of your scalp and move down your back but can end just about anywhere. However, if you do experience tingles all the way down to your feet, you might want to see a doctor. ASMR has many correlations to other types of experiences such as mirror-touch synesthesia, a type of synesthesia where a person experiences touch because they see another person performing or experiencing an action. If you would like to read a more in depth article about synesthesia and the many forms of it, click here.

ASMR has been around for a long time with Bob Ross being the oldest most common association. Many kids remember feeling very relaxed when watching Bob Ross, and a small majority would experience a tingling sensation in their scalp when he would scratch on the canvas or tap on his paint palette. With access to YouTube, ASMR has taken on a whole new identity with people deemed ASMR artists, creating more and more “tingle triggers” every day with binaural (ear to ear) microphones. As of when this article was published, only two ASMR channels have broken one-million subscribers (ASMR-Darling and GentleWhispering) with many more in the hundred-thousands. Most popular ASMR artists have a variety of noises and uses different techniques to give people tingles, whether it be tapping on wood or shaking a small liquid container, the possibilities are endless. Many content creators have very unique serieses of ASMR and even build their own type of reality complete with lore and individual characters that interact with each other (albeit indirectly), such as Ephemeral Rift (the man in the thumbnail of this article) who has built a lore around a place called Arkham Sanitarium for Mental Rehabilitation where he hosts a series of strange characters such Deep One Dave, a strange fish-like creature inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s book  “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” and, his most popular character, Dr. Corvus Clemmons, a modern day plague doctor complete with mask and outfit doing check ups on patients. 

ASMR videos are not only used to experience these tingles but also used to sleep and relaxation. On those insomniatic nights ASMR could be the deciding factor of sleeping and staying up and just tossing and turning until it is time to go to school. ASMR is also very calming and is great after a stressful day, especially when students need to calm down and prepare to study for a test.  If you would like alternatives for stress relief, click here for some helpful tips for reducing stress so you can stay PEAK.

One quick note about watching ASMR videos at night is that your phone emits blue light, a light that exists in sun rays will trick your brain into thinking that it is day time and will cause you to stay up longer. Try downloading a blue light filter app that will allow you to change the hue of your phone to an orangish color and will eliminate most blue light coming from your phone.

ASMR is not for everyone and can make many people uncomfortable but, for the rest, ASMR can be the ultimate stress relief and maybe the ultimate way to fall asleep on a long night. So definitely give ASMR a try and find an ASMR creator that you enjoy; whether it be more raw and natural like “RaffyTaphy” or high quality with special effects editing like “ASMRZeitGeist,” there will be a channel that makes content that you can enjoy.