"It’s like a little explosion, and then just little sparkles and little stars going down your back." - Maria aka GentleWhispering

Three months ago, I found myself clicking on a video that was recommended for me on YouTube. I had seen this link on my homepage for a while, but I never had the courage to click on the thumbnail. Finally, deciding to quench my inquisitive nature, I clicked on the page and was changed forever. This video was entitled, "What is ASMR?" 

ASMR stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. It is:

"A euphoric experience characterized by a static-like or tingling sensation on the skin that typically begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine, precipitating relaxation."

In other words, it is a feeling of tingles that radiate across your body. I can best describe it as when you feel something pleasurable and your whole body responds in a way that feels good. It is a performance art form that helps people relax from stress and find pleasure in sounds and visual images. How ASMR artists create this feeling is through different triggers. Triggers are stimuli that are acoustic and visual. Some triggers are:

- Soft spoken or whispered voice

- Listening to quiet, repeated tasks (flipping the pages of a book)

- Receiving personal attention (Hair brushed)

They achieve these triggers through the medium of YouTube and the use of a binural microphone which allows sound to be heard through both ears.

So where did ASMR Begin? ASMR began in 2007 when a blog post brought the subject of "tingles" to the attention of the internet. Replies signified that others felt this way too and from there a community was born. ASMR dates back to 1925 and maybe even earlier. Virginia Woolf writes in her novel, Mrs Dalloway, that the woman's voice "rasped his spine deliciously and sent running up into his brain waves of sound."

Throughout my life, I have lived with depression and anxiety. I have found that ASMR helps calm my hyperactive mind and it brings apart a positive mood all around. I have insomnia, in that I am not able to sleep. I have tried melatonin pills and hypnosis, but nothing seemed to work. Within ten minutes, I can fall asleep to any of these videos. There is a scientific reason for all of this. ASMR is most commonly associated with meditation. It decreases activity of the amygdala in your brain. The amygdala is responsible for regulating emotions during stress. ASMR then increases the activity in the Pre Frontal Cortex and Anterior Cingulate Cortex. The Pre Frontal Cortex is responsible for attention and focus-skills. The ACC is responsible for empathy, happiness and pleasurable feelings. It also reduces cortisol levels (the hormone involved in the stress response) and increases opioids. This shows that ASMR genuinely impacts my mental disorders in a positive manner.

My favorite ASMR artist is GentleWhispering. Maria is a Russian YouTuber who creates ASMR videos on her channel. She describes her channel as a place for peace and relaxation. She created her channel in 2011 and as of 2016 she currently has 760,486 subscribers. She has a personal, bubbly nature and she is genuinely interested in bettering her life and the lives of others. Her videos range from: role plays and cooking videos to personal vlogs (such as chakra cleansing).

I highly recommend everyone to try ASMR at least once. Most people will initially find it creepy due to the whispering, intimate nature. However, I believe that the videos will reach a level of relaxation if the brain allows it to. My friend who I converted to watching the videos states:

"The first time Tori showed me ASMR, I believed it was super weird. Then I found myself, falling asleep to it. I then thought 'hmmm, maybe I should give this a try.' Now I find myself falling asleep to it every night. There are certainly strange aspects of it, but the tapping and soft whispered videos really help me." - Jordan Benanti 

ASMR is an ever-growing genre and continues to help people across the world. Attached are a few videos from different artists that I believe are worth giving a listen.

Notable channels: Heather Feather, ASMR Darling