Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR)
 

Hello everyone,

I would really love to know if some of you are familiar with the phenomenon ASMR. Maybe somebody has even experienced it themselves. I've had it a number of times ever since I was a child, but only found out recently what it actually is. There appear to be people, however, who aren't prone to experiencing it at all, as is the case with some of my friends.

It's relatively difficult to explain, what ASMR actually is. Science only became aware of it a couple of years ago. The best and most common way to describe it, is that ASMR is basically a sort of tingling sensation in the head, that you have upon feeling very relaxed and when your senses, especially hearing, are stimulated in a specific way. It is similar to the phenomenon of chills running down your spine, but in a positive way and, like I said, in the head/brain. ASMR is a very pleasent sensation and it can help falling asleep quite well. Depending on the person, different sensory stimulation is required to experience it. You can read more on it on Wikipedia.

On Youtube there's a whole community by now, dedicated to creating videos, that are aimed at triggering ASMR, using different but very distinct methods. Whispering seems to be among the most helpful triggers. I would like to show you some examples of my favorite videos:

ASMR Laptop Typing
ASMR Crinkle Bags
Dermatologist Role Play

Do you even know what I'm talking about, or do I sound like a crazy person to you? Have some of you experienced ASMR as well?

Yup, I've had this sensation before, though never heard of it actually being described like this. I also have a very strange opposite sort of reaction to this (very displeasing and I tend to recoil in psuedo-agony) with certain types of fabric/materials, like running a marker over thick paper. :heh: Maybe, this too has some sort of related phenomenon behind it? Or maybe I'm just a weirdo.

I have, and you don't sound crazy. When my family was in Sri Lanka I was having a lot of trouble sleeping, as I was going through a period of depression & anxiety. I was a kid (am still a kid), so my parents didn't want me to take sleeping tablets, so instead I went and did a course in yoga & meditation. We used to do guided meditation, and I don't know, maybe it was the sounds, maybe it was the mental procedure, maybe it was the yoga & the breathing, maybe it was something of a placebo effect, but I'm somewhat familiar with that pleasant tingling in your head. I thought it was kind of similar to smoking just a little bit of some good dope :heh:

Besides, a lot of people I know, (and I'm sure people everyone knows), go to sleep easier if they leave something on at night before they sleep, for example, one of the guys I was living with used to leave Ricky Gervais podcasts on at night to help himself sleep, to my chagrin. Still, I read the wikipedia page and I have to wonder if the concept itself is an amalgam of different (perhaps) slightly related mental phenomenon that make people more comfortable. For example, maybe everyone experiences this, but the way we each experience it is different. Coupled with the fact that different people have different triggers, I can see why some of the medical community is a little skeptical.

Our family used to have an old, tiny 800cc suzuki car that used to whir and hum on the road, and the slight vibration and noise would always let me sleep really easily as a kid. OTOH in extremely smooth moving rides I found it a little more difficult to get comfortable and sleep. I wonder if that's a related phenomenon, or if I was just used to riding in that car.

I actually thought this is quite a common experience...

I used to get ASMR really powerfully from certain songs. For some reason it's kinda gone away, but I still get it occasionally from soft, lilting voices.

I get that from looking at cute lolis, like that one in my avatar.

I've experienced this before from certain things, and I know I've experienced it more than once from three anime OP songs (experienced it more than once per song). It was the full song for them on my iPod.

Another time this happened (one of the times I remember it happening) was back in 2002 or so. Back around then I was working as a cashier at the front counter of the lobby of a fast food restaurant. This bus came into the parking lot, and then all these teenage girls with British accents came pouring in (they were probably 16, 17, and 18). So I am taking their orders and there are many of them, and very soon into this, these young woman with their soft, pleasant voices and British accents, I mean, holy moly, I had ASMR the whole time this is going on and I'm punching in orders and I'm all warm and fuzzy and I have a slight dopey smile on my face and I was like "Wow, this is Zen-like!".

I've never experienced this. :T_T:

Who is the loli in your avatar? What anime is she from?

Great to hear that it works for some people.

I think this is more related to the goosebumps phenomenon. I even get it by merely touching certain surfaces. It could very well be the case that it's closely related to ASMR, though.

Lol yeah, I've heard that for some people it can even be trance-like, as if they were high on marihuana or something. For me personally it was never that strong, though. I think cases like these are exceptionally rare.

It's Kana from Haganai.

I have a feeling this has happened, but I'm having trouble "defining" it. All I think of is an "euphoric" mental feeling, mostly due to certain music. Any other examples or thorough explanations?

Defining it is exactly where the problem lies. Just imagine a tickle, but in the brain. Or maybe somebody gently stroking your scalp.

BTW, anyone here suffers from fear/stress induced exploding head syndrome?

Been having it for over two months now...

It was definitely the longest lasting instance of ASMR I ever had, by far.

:( I get the exact opposite. Sometime (usually in bed at night) I experience a very unpleasant BUZZ in my head. Almost like a bee has just buzzed in my brain. It is very strange and I do not like it at all!

Hey, just to maybe get this conversation rolling again with a couple of new people: I just recently found out, that the guys from Good Mythical Morning did an episode on ASMR about a year ago. If you are interested the phenomenon, I guess this is a good and entertaining way to learn something about it:

There's a lot of good ones. I like the talking ones best.

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