ASMR Basics: How to use YouTube videos to fall asleep

Health The List

By: Donna Ruko | Cassarah Coffey Posted: 4:02 PM, Mar 14, 2017

For too many people, a good night's sleep is just a dream. Sleeplessness is a crisis in America — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has even classified it as a public health problem. Sleep has become a $66 billion global industry. Now, insomniacs are logging onto a new weapon: YouTube. These videos and podcasts have a name: ASMR which stands for autonomous sensory meridian response. Donna Ruko has the basics for better understanding this trendy sleep method.

1. What is ASMR

The best way to describe ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) to someone who has never heard of or experienced it is it’s similar to the feeling you might get when you get an amazing massage. Your brain gets really fuzzy and relaxed and your muscles feel relaxed — you just want to stay in that state for as long as you can. There’s usually a physical sensation as well.

2. How Does ASMR Work

What is usually involved in creating an ASMR video is whispering, soft speaking, tapping on objects, scratching objects, personal attention. Anything that can help trigger the ASMR feeling.

3. Benefits of ASMR

These ASMR videos can help you fall asleep, control anxiety and depression and even PTSD. Our brains are hard wired to be soothed by people talking to us in a comforting way. Which sounds very circular in logic, but the visual here is a new born child. While more research is needed, hundreds of millions of views on YouTube is its own endorsement.

Big thanks to:

Dr. Craig Richard

Ph.D. in Physiology and Cell Biology

Professor, Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences,

School of Pharmacy, Shenandoah University,

Winchester, Virginia, USA

Founder: The ASMR University website

http://asmruniversity.com/

Researcher: The ASMR Research project

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ASMRsurvey

Host: The ASMR University podcast

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/asmr-university-podcast/id1036066965