The power of sound


Our lives keep getting busier and busier every year. We love to rush things, increase our standards and receive better results in a shorter period of time. Everyone must have heard by now about the “successful success” way of living. Maybe such a way of constructing one’s living is great in terms of productivity and simultaneously being useful for the world, but one of the main consequences which hits ardent fans of such a lifestyle earlier or sooner is the acquired inability to relax. The state of permanent working and staying effective 24/7 simply switches off the chill mode and then the exhausted body doesn’t know how to turn it on again. One more accompanying side effect is insomnia (Such a disgusting feeling to be completely honest. How could you want to sleep and not be able to actually fall asleep? Ridiculous!) Some people use medication, others rely on the healing powers of meditation and different breathing techniques while another group of people found solution to the problem in an interesting and relatively young Internet (YouTube) creation (Are you already intrigued? Have you tried it yourself?) Pronounce it slowly and memorize:  ASMR. Might just become your next Internet obsession!

ASMR stands for autonomous sensory meridian response. If we skip the complex name the phenomenon itself is quite simple as it is about the feeling of relaxation, the feeling of tingles around and in your head, neck and back area and the sensation of falling asleep through the use of different “triggers”. I might even call it a light combination of hypnosis, praying, meditation and playing with one’s brain.
The variety of triggers is amazing. You can find almost anything there though the most common ones are someone whispering or making a certain kind of noises or a combination of both.  Usually sounds are combined with hand movements while sounds vary from hair brushing, spraying, crinkling, to tapping, scraping, etc. (it is up to you as an ASMR-er to use any sound your soul desires). Muckbangs are extremely famous right now. They were initially meant for ASMR purposes but obtained more popularity later becoming a virus или они просто разошлись по интернету? Или реально стали вирусом? on the internet. The most fun part of this YouTube ASMR community is role-plays. Even if you don’t develop any ASMR effect, they are just so addictive to watch! Literally every type already exists. One can be a vampire, a part of one’s favourite movie or anime, on a spaceship, being kidnapped and more. Sometimes you are just stuck there watching these role plays because you are curious where the plot will take you and what it will bring you.
I also find it almost mesmerizing to watch ASMR for their aesthetic aspect as some ASMR artists love to crash their cosmetics, play with liquids or slimes. Their macro-frames always look so attractive and pleasing to the eye!
Some people find ASMR weird and can’t understand what the hype is about, but it must be those unfortunate individuals who just don’t get tingles or have misophonia (then it is a reasonable excuse). But don’t rely on their opinion! Watch for yourself especially if you are tired of tonnes of videos of cats, have never heard of ASMR before or maybe lack relaxation and attention at the same time. Make sure you check it out! Don’t wait!  
Just one more warning before you become nailed to the screen (like me): don’t use it as a sleeping tool but then end up staying up for hours, breaking the sleeping schedule and watching and listening to a video after a video. It happens so often, gosh, so be careful!
If you are already part of the gang then hello to you, the person, who also starts tapping on everything around after the videos. I’m with you!



Sources:
1. https://www.vox.com/2015/7/15/8965393/asmr-video-youtube-autonomous-sensory-meridian-response
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxjfyBEIl7Q