As someone who battles with sleeping disorder, I find myself searching for unique materials and therapeutic aids to help me fall asleep. Few ideas are fruitful, others not very much.
Also, I develop high tolerance over time which leads to me getting bored with the new found activities that put me to sleep. It can be challenging, I must admit.
One night in 2020, while viewing videos on YouTube, I stumbled on a video of a lady brushing the hair of a doll and within 10mins I had fallen asleep. The next night I’m back on YouTube in search of that video, not realizing its effect on me.
Every night for the next 5 days, I would go back in search of the video and fall asleep within minutes. So my curiosity kicks in – wondering what is going on here? I have to know.
This is the first video I stumbled on back in 2020, introducing me to the world of ASMR
First the name, ASMR – what does that even mean? Let’s dive into it.
About a decade ago, a lady named Jennifer Allen introduced the term ASMR, meaning Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response.
I realize that might sound a lot for individuals unfamiliar with this niche, but for 10years now it has been the better term to interpret and help people understand the tingly sensational flow, happening within their bodies and why the senses react to peculiar sounds and whispers in these videos the way they do.
There are people that consider it as hypnotism, and believe that if you learn the elementals of hypnosis, it will be easier to figure out the effects of ASMR. There is yet to be a specific proven cause for these experiences, but one factor I can state for certain as someone who has been exploring this world for almost a year now is, it can become addictive.
At a point, you might depend on the sight and sounds to fall asleep or trigger an intimate sensation within you.
The ASMR world keeps growing larger with time, with more YouTuber getting interested in it and generating thousands to millions of views and subscribers. There are different ASMR contents on the internet.
From ASMR massage to ASMR fruit eating. ASMR chocolate, ASMR beard shaving, ASMR scalp scratching, ASMR saloon, ASMR ear cleaning, ASMR feet massage, ASMR facials, even ASMR role playing.
Each video having a theme linked to it, with the shared attribute of unique sound and/or whispers.
A video of ASMR ear cleaning
Once you identify what appeals to your senses, you will know.
An ASMR couple: theirs is the second YouTube channel on ASMR I stumbled on after the lady’s.
And a couple more videos for your exploration
Maybe someday, I will have an explanation for the feels I get from watching these videos, particularly the head massages and scalp check videos. But for now, all I can do is fall asleep as I explore
