Tossing and turning in bed for hours may be a thing of the past thanks to a neurological breakthough.
It’s called the autonomous sensory meridian response, and it helps to combat symptoms of insomnia and promote relaxation.
Defined by a sensation of tingles in the head, scalp, neck and peripheral regions of the body, ASMR is separated into types A and B. While type A is a natural response, not brought on by external stimuli, type B comes about through visual and auditory triggers, according to ASMR Research & Support, a group investigating the episodes.
Common external triggers include instructional videos, artists at work, hairdresser and doctor exam roleplay, and slow, accented and unique speech patterns, per a 2013 report titled “It Feels Good to Be Measured: Clinical Role-Play, Walker Percy, and the Tingles” published in Perspectives in Biology and Medicine.
A quick YouTube search for ASMR will yield thousands of videos, consisting of people painting, softly talking in different languages, folding towels and using other popular methods of triggering the response. Binaural techniques – the use of two microphones to create 3D sound – are also common in the community.
Since 2008, Internet users with shared ASMR experiences have expressed their own experiences with the sensation. While experts have found the phenomenon difficult to research, the anecdotal evidence surrounding the subject is strong. Online communities, such as the Unnamed Feeling and the ASMR Lab, boast the therapeutic effects of ASMR on relaxation and sleep.
ASMR Research & Support is conducting a series of studies to explore the phenomenon and find out just what causes it.
While thousands say they experience the reaction, all of the evidence thus far is anecdotal; it has yet to be seriously studied.
To find out if you have the ability to experience ASMR, log on to YouTube, put in some headphones and press play.
Stephan Reed is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
