{"id":14210,"date":"2016-12-14T23:23:31","date_gmt":"2016-12-14T23:23:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/?p=14210"},"modified":"2016-12-14T23:23:31","modified_gmt":"2016-12-14T23:23:31","slug":"the-ultimate-braingasm-with-tingling-sensation-asmr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/the-ultimate-braingasm-with-tingling-sensation-asmr\/","title":{"rendered":"The ultimate braingasm with tingling sensation: ASMR"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Thanks to the Internet, now there is an easy, mentally healthy way to relax that fits people of all ages. Introducing, the tingling sensation on your head called Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response or ASMR.<\/h3>\n<h4>Reporter: Abigail Megan Widya<\/h4>\n<p>Towards the end of term and year, students and workers alike are on their busiest period. If you\u2019re struggling to find a way to relax, trying out your Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response might be the way to go.<\/p>\n<p>Though the name sounds very scientific and somewhat complicated, there are not many pieces of research or scientific explaining behind this brain and bodily sensation. Ever heard certain noises and feel tingles down your spine? You might have experienced ASMR. Try this one.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"ASMR 10 Triggers to Help You Sleep \u2665\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_RjhsY06mOI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Some people really like it, others hate it with passion, but most of the watchers agreed: the experience can be a bit weird, especially if you do not know anyone else who experienced the same thing.<\/p>\n<p>The founder of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/asmruniversity.com\">ASMR University<\/a>, Dr. Craig Richard experienced this too:<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;My mother would often put me to sleep by gently touching the inside of my arm. \u00a0It was so relaxing that I would fall right to sleep, my mother also remembers this and jokes about it. Throughout my life I then also experienced ASMR while getting haircuts, hearing people whisper or talk softly, watching someone paint or demonstrate something (Bob Ross), getting examined by a clinician, hearing light crinkling or tapping sounds, watching unboxing videos &#8211; never knowing what is this sensation.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I first learned about the term ASMR in 2013 while listening to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.stuffmomnevertoldyou.com\/podcasts\">podcast Stuff Mom Never Told You<\/a>. \u00a0As they described ASMR, I had that exclamation many others have had, \u201cWait! \u00a0I\u2019ve experienced that!\u201d&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The Voice of London has had the opportunity to interview one of the researchers behind <a href=\"https:\/\/peerj.com\/articles\/851\/\">the first peer-reviewed research study about ASMR<\/a>, Emma Barratt.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018ASMR can be thought of like a relaxed state, accompanied by tingling sensations that typically travel from the back of the head down the length of the spine, and across the shoulders. This can be brought about by experiencing specific triggers \u2013 most commonly whispering, someone paying you close personal attention, or \u201ccrisp\u201d sounds (e. g. tapping, moving tin foil). It\u2019s still a bit of a mystery, but could be related to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nhs.uk\/Conditions\/synaesthesia\/Pages\/Introduction.aspx\">synesthesia<\/a>\u00a0(a condition where a sensation in one of the senses triggers a sensation in another) and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.misophonia-uk.org\">misophonia<\/a>\u00a0(hatred of sound).\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Differs between people, there is quite a variety of ASMR videos on the Internet. On Youtube, few of most well known British ASMR-channels are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UC2nyigZS5YNDrCu_pih809w\">WhispersRed ASMR<\/a> with 249,285 subscribers, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/ASMRrequests\">ASMRrequests<\/a> \u2013 a verified channel with more than 400,000 subscribers, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/GentleWhispering\">GentleWhispering<\/a> with 819,764 subscribers. So not only the &#8220;discovery&#8221; of ASMR helped people to feel less stressed out and cure their insomnia, but it has also opened up a\u00a0new job market.<\/p>\n<p>Emma, the person behind the <a href=\"http:\/\/whispersredasmr.com\">WhispersRed ASMR channel and website<\/a>\u00a0told the Voice of London:<\/p>\n<p>\u2018When you first start making (videos) and you don\u2019t have many followers, it takes a long time to start earning anything. But once you\u2019ve got into it, been at it for a few years and gained followers, then you start to make enough that you can pay household bills with the money, and pay for food, and that kind of things. I\u2019ve been slowly able to bring my part-time job down, reducing the hours because the income has been increasing from my channel.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>It even goes as far as moving the online experience of ASMR into reality. In the west side of London, there is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASMR-Face-Massage-London-1669188596654477\/\">a massage place that provides facial massages service along with ASMR and Reiki techniques<\/a>. Run by a woman named Krisztina, this little place have been standing for almost a year now, with a number of regular customers.<\/p>\n<p>With \u00a350 an hour, you&#8217;ll get a first-hand experience on waking up your senses, relaxing your brain and having a de-stress like you&#8217;ve never before.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>ASMR has not been widely reported to be addictive, rather the opposite has been reported. \u00a0Many individuals report that they lose the ASMR sensation with repeated and chronic stimulation. \u00a0Explained by Dr. Craig Richard: &#8220;Although it is often incorrectly referred to as \u201cASMR immunity\u201d by others, it is actually \u201cASMR tolerance\u201d because the sensation often returns after a respite.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.surveymonkey.com\/s\/ASMRsurvey\">A research survey results<\/a>\u00a0from ASMR University support this because around 40% of those who experience ASMR report having it decrease or disappear at some point, but then they also report that it often returns after taking a break from it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thanks to the Internet, now there is an easy, mentally healthy way to relax that fits people of all ages. Introducing, the tingling sensation on your head called Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response or ASMR. Reporter:&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":476,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,134,145],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-uknews","category-worldnews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/476"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14210\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}