ASMR is an emerging YouTube trend that you may or may not have heard of. It is a relaxing and tranquil experience that helps many people with anxiety and stress, and can work as a sleep aid for insomnia. It’s the reason we love watching Bob Ross paint or having our nails done.

ASMR, or autonomous sensory meridian response, is a euphoric experience characterized by a static-like or tingling sensation on the skin that typically begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine, resulting in relaxation. Not everyone experiences ASMR, but many do. It is most commonly triggered by specific acoustic and visual stimuli, including the content of some YouTube videos.

The term "autonomous sensory meridian response" was coined in 2010 by Jennifer Allen, a cybersecurity professional from New York in the introduction to a Facebook Group she founded entitled the "ASMR Group." Allen chose the words for the following specific meanings:

Autonomous – spontaneous, self-governing, within or without control

Sensory – pertaining to the senses or sensation

Meridian – signifying a peak

Response – referring to an experience triggered by something external or internal

Allen chose the word "meridian" to indicate a non-sexual experience.

ASMR is usually caused by stimuli referred to as triggers. These triggers can include listening to a softly spoken or whispering voice, listening to quiet, repetitive sounds resulting from someone engaging in a mundane task such as turning the pages of a book or tapping their nails on a table, watching somebody attentively execute a mundane task such as preparing food, or receiving altruistic, tender personal attention. Psychologists Nick Davis and Emma Barrat discovered that whispering was an effective trigger for 75% of the 475 subjects who took part in an experiment to investigate the nature of ASMR. Many of those who experience ASMR report that some specific non-vocal ambient noises are also effective triggers of ASMR, including fingers scratching or tapping a surface or the crinkling and crumpling of paper.

In addition to the effectiveness of specific acoustic stimuli, many subjects report that ASMR is triggered by the receipt of tender personal attention, often comprising combined physical touch and vocal expression, such as when having their hair cut, nails painted, or back massaged, while the service provider speaks quietly to the recipient. Nick Davis and Emma Barrat discovered that personal attention was an effective trigger for 69% of the subjects who participated in their study, second in popularity only to whispering.

I love watching ASMR videos when I’m feeling anxious or depressed or when I can’t fall asleep. My favorite ASMR content creator is Maria, or GentleWhispering on Youtube. Maria is a Russian woman from Maryland who has over 690,000 subscribers. She is one of YouTube’s most popular “ASMRtists.” Maria’s videos instill a certain tranquility and give me tingles in the back of my neck. She made her first ASMR video in February 2011, filming herself as she leafed through a journal and played with seashells.

In an interview, Maria describes ASMR as “like showers of sparkles… It’s like warm sand being poured all over you, trickling over your head and down into your shoulders. It’s like goosebumps on your brain.” Videos by other “ASMRtists” once helped her through a period of depression, and now she wants to pay it forward. “Little taps and crinkles, or the way certain thicker pages create the most amazing sound when they turn — many times we miss that,” Maria says. “There are these beautiful little things that we don’t pay attention to.”

In 2009, three years after moving to the United States, Maria struggled with depression as she and her husband went through a divorce. While searching for relaxation videos to help her sleep one night, she clicked a suggested link, titled simply "Whisper." “And as soon as I heard the lady’s voice, I just got showered with tingles,” Maria says. “It was so great.”

While ASMR might seem like a strange way to spend time online at first, it has become one of my hobbies and an essential tool in my self-care for my mental health.