ASMR holds for not-so-clinical term, Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. there are many debates which are going on for this term. Some believe that its a clinical term but me and alike crowd. Ongoing researches by neurologists at different universities say that it usually induces sleep. Hence, it might be a boon for the insomniacs. In order to get into a little depth for the further article, ASMR can be “triggered” by literally anything. It can be sounds of just ocean waves, rains, sand slipping from hand, playing with detergent and sponge and anything that can be relaxing. Basically, it just helps relaxing your stressed nerves and one will eventually feel sleepy (after all, the nerves are relaxed.) This suddenly makes me question — Are drug addicts and ASMR addicts similar? Both feel relaxed in one or the other way. I am an “addict” of sand videos myself and I can say that it’s really soothing. While people around me are just confused with what I see, I find myself triggered and wanting to see it more often. For instance, I find sand eating videos not-so-fascinating but I always want to play with sand and see similar types of content.
I searched on it over the internet and read some research papers written on the mentioned topic. As such it is not discovered what triggers it. Reading the captions on social media, it was found that “ASMR-tists” can’t get rid of this addiction very easily. Also, for this very discussion a neurologist from Yale quoted that it is just like any other liking; a seizure. “We have a range of likes and dislikes, and there are individuals and even subcultures that seem to have a different pattern of pleasure stimulation than what is typical.” Hence, this poses as a void left in science. Perhaps, I might be contradicting my own statement, ASMR works as one of the best medicines to insomnia.
Social medias have dedicated pages or ids or channels for relaxing videos. The followers, subscriber or likes on those videos can be interpreted in to the conclusion that many people use this trick or cure for their insomnia. In an experiment conducted by Beverly Katherine Fredborg and Jennifer Kornelsen they took 11 subjects who were experiencing ASMR. The age groups were between 18–37. When they were asked about the feeling while experiencing ASMR, it got confirmed to strengthen the term that they experienced being relaxed. The same can conclusion can be drawn when the survey is conducted from You Tube comment section (of the videos) too. It was also found from that experiment that most of the triggering methods include girl’s voice, tapping with nails and scratching. The other conclusion derived from the report also included — More tingly feeling when the viewer is addressed directly, nearly 82% of the people gets triggered by tapping and scratching. The result of ASMR is 8/10 where 10 being the most extreme sensory event.
It is also observed that the smaller the video, more is the effect of ASMR. This tends to increase the need of watching those videos. Although, it is not a long time till this feeling persists. On an average it stays for nearly 60 seconds. After that, one might enjoy medium level of relaxation. There are some parameters which can be used to study this phenomenon. One of it is fMRI scanning parameters. It is done using 3T Siemens scanner where T stands for Tesla. It is an unit to measure the magnetic strength which is being used in MRI. This strength of magnetic field shows the image of the brain which was the need of this experiment. The strength used here is more. Hence, it will enable good quality of images. The experiment was conducted in Winnipeg Regional Health Authority MRI clinic. “Participants were asked to close their eyes but remain awake (i.e., to rest) for the duration of the scan. No stimuli were presented during this time.”
The discussion on this topic can be as follows. ASMR may be due to lack of inhibiting emotional or sensory experiences which are usually pressed in almost all the people. It is also due to loosely connected thalamus which is responsible for multi-modal experiences in ASMR. Thalamus is a part of brain over the brain stem having connections to cerebral cortex and mid-brain. It’s main function include relay the motor and sending sensory signals corresponding to cerebral cortex. There can be possibly even more facts corresponding to ASMR. One such fact is that ASMR is not psychopathology. The statistical analysis whatsoever mentioned in this article may change depending upon the subject.
From all he experiments and observations acknowledged above, it can be said that just like any other relaxation technique, ASMR is also one of them. There are many people who listen to the sounds of rain before going to sleep. Although, it is believed that many teenagers who are more into “slime” in the name of ASMR is not appropriate. It mostly unlikely to get triggered by slime. Hence, slime is usually seen as a distraction to the teenagers and a way of wasting money. However, other techniques seen above are also quite expensive. Some video makers use Gym chalk crushing as one of their contents. The average price of the same is $11. The other financially convenient way of making these videos can be proficient way of using sand or cement. There are many ways people cater this art in order to soothe themselves. It was also observed that ASMR-tists on You Tube has subscribers in the range of 100–50k or even more. This can be interpreted as the increasing risk of insomnia among the people with each passing day. This can be due to increasing stress and busier days which will be even more hectic in the future. The research in this field is still going on and many factual data are also empowering this term and adding to its characteristics. Concludingly, people need to take care of themselves from health point-of-view with the coming days and increasing health risks in order to deal with insomnia and other (perhaps) stress-stimulated diseases.
