Wednesday, July 8, 2020

Whisper, Tingle, Put Me to Sleep

"Are you kidding? You've never heard ASMR videos?" 
My 15 year old was shocked but quickly preceded to educate his outdated mom. 


Coined in 2010, ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) is a relaxing, often sedative sensation that begins on the scalp and moves down the body. Also known as "brain massage," it's triggered by placid sights and sounds such as whispers, accents, and crackles.

My young'un showed me a variety of videos. My response was a simple, "What the...? Why?" 
He then explained not all are "dumb" and turned me in the direction of ones I might relate to. He knows I enjoy comforting sounds and look for interesting techniques to improve sleep.


There is an entire "whisper community" and "tingleheads" or ASMR Artists who produce videos to induce calm, comfort and sleep. Some are videos of well groomed hands scratching and rubbing various surfaces to create calming sounds.

Other videos are more direct with a woman whispering to you while she gives you a facial or brushes a friend's hair. All the while, the focus is on hand movements and sounds.  These stimulations trigger sensations usually a tingling feeling starting with your scalp and travel downward. Everyone has different triggers such as whispers, accents, crinkling paper, marbles on velvet or spa-role playing.


After viewing several different AMSR videos...

If I closed my eyes, I found the sound videos calming and could relax with the spa-role playing. However, if I watched the role playing videos I was somewhat sheepish then giggled at the the woman as she leaned into the camera and whispered what she was going to do to me. (She was going to use a large makeup brush on my face.) Her facial expressions were a cross between comical and perverse. I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but crack up with the whispering. (I guess my immaturity is returning.)

I guess I'm really out of the loop of things, here's an article written by German Lopez in 2018 that explains the popularity of AMSR videos.

Personally, I didn't relax enough to fall asleep but it's worth a try for anyone who has sleep issues. Keep in mind science has yet to find a biological explanation for the sedative sensation triggered by sounds. I think I'll leave the videos for others. I prefer my honey's sexy whispers giving me tingles then falls asleep to night beach sounds.





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