ASMR

Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response

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From Lexipedia, not an encyclopedia

At the start of the year, I mentioned that I'm enjoying bed-time a lot more now than I used to. I guess it's about time I explained myself.

The power of suggestion on the human mind is a fascinating thing. Every time I read about stuff like the placebo effect, it blows me away. Hypnotism and subliminal suggestion are such bizarre concepts that it's hard for me to believe they're even real. Recently, I discovered there's an internet community based around a phenomenon known as Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR)—which is actually a made-up bullshit term for a sensation that a lot of people say they experience, but nobody's ever seriously researched. Long story short—I'm currently using it to help me get to sleep.

Since this post is long, I've organised it with the least critical (and more to the point—least interesting) content first. The idea being that you can use the table of contents below to easily skip past the parts you don't care about. For instance, the first section is just about my sleep issues. Let's face it, we all have sleep issues, and there's nothing special about mine. The second section describes what ASMR actually is. If you already know what it is, you don't need to read this bit either. Alright, you get the idea …

Contents

1. My Issues
2. What is ASMR?
3. My Experience
4. Final Thoughts

My Issues

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I've mentioned before that I hate going to sleep. That doesn't mean I hate sleeping—what I hate is the process of transitioning from being awake to being asleep. Why? Because sometimes it takes forever and is full of unpleasantness. For example, sometimes I get this thing which I call the wandering itch. This is where some part of my body will itch, and the second I start to scratch it, the itch will go away and reappear on another part of my body. For instance: I scratch my head and my elbow itches, I scratch my elbow and my foot itches, I scratch my foot and my nose itches … This goes on and on indefinitely.

The other thing I get is guilt-trips. Basically, my unoccupied mind will amuse itself by dragging up all the nasty and horrible things I've ever done in my life and making me relive them. Yes, thanks to my cunt of a brain, I get to have a full understanding of exactly what people mean when they say, How do you sleep at night?

So, to paint a picture; falling asleep often requires me to lay in bed—potentially for hours—feeling horrible (and sometimes borderline suicidal) while trying to ignore an itch that's driving me crazy. And as an extra special kick up the arse, sometimes when I'm very, very nearly asleep, I'll get a sensation like I'm falling and then jolt awake—meaning that I then have to start the process all over again.

So far, the best solution I've found is exercise. In general, the more physically exhausted I am when I go to bed, the quicker and easier it is to go to sleep. The down side is that it's also the only solution I've found; meaning, if—for any reason—I don't get in a sufficient workout, or it simply isn't doing the trick on a particular night, I'm up shit creek without a paddle. I suppose I could look into drugs—but I'd really rather not. For this reason, I'm always on the lookout for methods of getting to sleep—just so I can have an extra arrow in my quiver. So far, I haven't had much luck with emptying my mind, counting sheep, warm milk, boring literature, or white-noise—but this time, I think I might be onto a winner.

What is ASMR?

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There's two parts to this. Firstly, a rough explanation of what ASMR actually is, and secondly, what the community is all about. The first part is relatively easy. ASMR is a sense of euphoria, accompanied by a pleasurable tingling sensation that starts in the head and sometimes travels down the whole body. If you've ever experienced it, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about—chances are, you just didn't have a word for it until now. If you haven't experienced it before, I'm guessing you also haven't got a fucking clue what I'm talking about. the important thing to understand is that it's not a state of mind or something you can do; it's an uncontrollable physical/chemical reaction that happens to you. A bit like a sneeze, or when the doctor hits your knee with that little hammer thingy and your foot kicks out. Some people describe it as a brain orgasm, but most people in the community avoid this term—mostly because they want to push the point that it's a completely non-sexual experience.

Because there's never been any serious medical research done into ASMR, nobody really knows where it comes from or what causes it. The only thing that is known is that different things trigger it in different people and some people don't get it at all. The most prevalent theory is that, when we are very young, our brains create deeply embedded connections between certain—very specific—sensory stimulus (taste, touch, sight, sound, smell) and a primal, pre-sexual sense of pleasure. The idea is that if you get exposed to that stimuli again—under the right circumstances—your brain turns on the happy juice. For those of you who have never experienced ASMR and are having trouble imagining what it feels like, it's not the type of happy feeling that makes you want to get up and dance; it's more the type that makes you want to curl up and go to sleep while sucking your thumb. Less ecstasy and more heroin.

Since it's hard to communicate taste, touch, and smell, over the internet, the ASMR community basically consists of a bunch of people trying to create audio and visual material which stimulates ASMR in other people. So, if you search for ASMR on Youtube, you'll find hundreds of videos of people whispering in reassuring tones, slowly and deliberately acting out mundane household tasks, and role-playing trips to the doctor or hairdresser; usually in a manner that makes the audience feel as if they are viewing the action from the perspective of a very small child.

My Experience

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To give you an idea of how weirdly specific this stuff is, for me to get a response, I need to be wearing headphones, and the audio should preferably be recorded with a binaural microphone setup which mimics the human ears. Videos should feature a woman in the age range of 30~50 who is slowly and methodically doing things with her hands—preferably things that cause her nails to scratch or tap against something—including skin. Hair brushing is also acceptable. She should only talk in a low, whispery voice. What she says is less important than the tone. Foreign languages are acceptable.

I think it's safe to assume that my ASMR trigger is somehow linked to subconscious imprinting from my mum.

The audio in this particular video leaves a lot to be desired, but it does give you a good look at a binaural microphone.

Final Thoughts

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Whether or not there's anything in this for you is going to depend on whether or not you're susceptible to ASMR, whether or not you can find anything that triggers your ASMR, and how intense the ASMR experience is for you. Of course, you might also happen to be one of those people who goes to sleep the moment your head hits the pillow at night—in which case, you needn't bother with any of this crap, you lucky, lucky bitch.

Also, despite what I said earlier about ASMR being non-sexual, there is at least one parallel you can draw. If you're distracted, or you're not in the right frame of mind, or the type of stimulation's not quite right—not only is it a lost cause, but the experience can actually be downright irritating.

Lastly, I have no idea how sustainable this is as a long term sleep-aid. I have read that some people do get desensitised over time. I suppose I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. In the meantime, anything that keeps me from crying and scratching myself raw is a big win in my book.