Now that summer is here, it’s safe to say that our sleeping patterns are officially screwed. I know mine is. If you’re someone who loves to stay up and sleep in, you may know what I’m talking about. You fall asleep late, you wake up late, and the connotation that comes with those versions of late is a ridiculous amount of late… I’m talking not being able to doze off until five in the morning and not being able to get out of bed until two in the afternoon. The kind of ridiculous that drives you to such depths of madness that, for a fleeting moment, you even almost miss being in school or working—almost. Luckily, I have come across a solution that has been around for ages but has sort of recently encountered something of a revival with just a new twist which I hope will be a snug fit for all your sweet dreams and blissful slumbers.

A couple of months ago, I discovered a pretty cool thing that someone suggested I try called ASMR. I decided I would give it a shot even without looking too much into it because I was told it would guarantee me a good night’s rest; it seemed adequate enough in the moment to peak my curiosity as I deemed it sufficient to help me fall asleep, so I didn’t dismiss the idea. Good thing I hadn’t. Within minutes, I found myself descending slowly but surely into a deep restful state with my headphones in my ears and the beautifully eerie and simultaneously soothing hushed whispers of a woman reverberating from them, which I could not believe had actually been effectual. But sometime after, the less trouble I had sleeping, the further and further it slipped from my memory.

Months later, I find myself still struggling to fall asleep – nothing new there. Trying to remember the name of the woman whose intoxicating voice and graceful traces sent me spiraling into a trance, once again I snuck back into the world of ASMR, only to discover I was an addict, more enthused and enthralled by it than ever before. This time I made it my mission to learn about the science behind it and what it actually does, and felt thrilled that I felt so many of the things I was supposed to. Each new video I watched, my mind and body entered another dimension stimulated by hypnotic sounds subjecting me to complete and utter serenity, something that is hard to get ahold of in this world. It worked even better than it did the first time. Her voice made me sleepy and submerged me in a sedating stupor, while all the time I had thought I was wide awake and wouldn’t be able to drift off for another hour!

I think I’ve always known I have kind of a heightened sense of hearing, as anyone who loves music as much as I do or has a deep appreciation or understanding for the acoustics of a room might, and the correlation between that and the goosebumps that form on my skin in those circumstances has always been palpable. For a long time, I’ve relied on RainyMood to assuage some of the worst bouts of disrupted sleep and sleep loss I have had because I’ve always loved falling asleep to the sound of rain or napping during a thunderstorm, but this was different. The way my entire body modifies itself and reacts to certain sounds it is sensitive to is something I have absolutely no control over and something I almost don’t want to have control over, which is almost chilling, literally. But the experience itself is inexplicable… tingly, warm, and fuzzy. The feelings surge through you so intensely and profoundly that it’s like you may implode from pure and unapologetic euphoria, and yet you feel so light that it’s almost as though you’re floating just right above your bed. Feelings that are like kissing someone for the first time, or hearing a baby laugh, or coming home to your favorite meal after a longwinded and difficult day.

So, what is ASMR? ASMR – a term coined by Jennifer Allen in 2010 – stands for autonomous sensory meridian response. According to ASMR University, “ASMR can be simply described simply as a variety of soothing SENSATIONS (eg, tingles, relaxation, calmness, sleepiness) due to a variety of gentle STIMULI (eg, whispering, soft talking, light touches, methodical sounds)”; the sensations are often broken down into sets of physical sensations as well as psychological sensations, as the stimuli or “triggers” are often broken down into sets of “internally initiated” or “Type A ASMR”—including imagination, meditation, or spontaneous occurrences—and “externally initiated” or “Type B ASMR”—including direct, live, or recorded transmission, whether it is auditory (heard), tactile (felt), or visual (seen).

I was both appalled and exhilarated that I was actually ASMR-sensitive and could experience this incredible phenomenon. Typically, I get chills running up and down my spine as well as along my sides. Sometimes they start upon the crown of my head and then travel to my arms. ASMR can be used as a form of sleep therapy and to destress as well as provide a feeling of comfort, which I know it does for me. We may not be able to fully understand the complexity of such phenomena, but whatever it is, it’s a delightful feeling.

There are several triggers and ways to tell which ones work best for you. I personally like whispering, hair brushing, tapping, crinkling, and mouth sounds. There are also means by which to increase your sensitivity to different sounds. When it comes to ASMR, the possibilities are truly endless.

Often done through “scenarios” or “roleplays,” ASMR tends to combine different triggers, and can include methodical task completion and focused activities but also more specifically based duties. It can be created both intentionally and unintentionally, as sometimes certain stimuli can be created “accidentally”. The late Bob Ross, who hosted the PBS instructional television show “The Joy of Painting” has often been referred to as an unintentional ASMR creator, due to his soft-spoken tone and “gentle disposition”. Mashable calls him the “godfather” of ASMR, explaining that the “The show had a peculiar audio setup. The sounds Ross makes with his painting — the scraping of palette knives and his signature brush cleanings — are picked up almost as well as his voice… The sounds and how they were recorded are crucial.”

Today, ASMR has become more accessible and abundant than ever before with the beauty of YouTube users being able to create content solely for this purpose and upload it.

The first whiff I ever got of ASMR on the Internet all those months ago was on YouTube by inarguably the queen of ASMR herself: GentleWhispering – who goes by the name Maria – and she stands as my favorite ASMRtist yet. Today she’s garnered extremely close to a million subscribers. Her channel has proven to be versatile, as it ranges from personal attention videos to roleplay videos in which she has taken on the character of a nurse, salesperson, physical therapist, hairstylist, librarian, masseuse, doll, makeup artist, and innumerable others.

CNBC reports that Maria refers to it as "a very pleasant, natural high state that you want more and more of". She tells The Independent she discovered this feeling in Russia when she and her friends would often tickle one another on the forearms, and then later from the sounds of page turning and whispered directions in school. The way she describes it, it’s “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.” That pretty much captures the essence of ASMR. "Little taps and crinkles, or the way certain thicker pages create the most amazing sound when they turn – many times we miss that. There are these beautiful little things that we don't pay attention to," she notes.

“Depending on the strength of the trigger, it might just go into the top of the spine of the shoulders, but sometimes it goes down to your arms and legs, and other parts. Mostly, if you get it in your leg, it's really exciting!" she told Vice. She added that it’s like “bubbles in your head” or “like a little explosion, and then just little sparkles and little stars going down [your back].” Her similes are on point!

In an interview with Cosmopolitan, she reveals that her divorce in 2009 was a rather depressing time for her but it gave way for her desire to find a healthy coping mechanism and a burst of newfound positive energy, which led her to a collection of meditation videos and eventually to one very similar to the work she does now. It is beautiful to see her growth and journey from someone who once sought services that were therapeutic for her to now creating them for everyone!

Like any art, there is a lot of time and effort that goes into delivering quantity content. Maria often spends several hours a day simply working on her videos and experimenting with different sounds and scenarios. In order to do this, she fashioned herself an insulated moveable soundproof wooden cube. She also has all the equipment necessary to make your experience as riveting as promised: binaural microphones, wooden hairbrushes, oil diffusers, even flawlessly manicured nails just for your personal tapping enjoyment. From brainstorming to setting up to actually filming, it requires a great deal of creativity and patience.

Thanks to her constantly budding fan base, she has been able to meet and befriend new people as well as her boyfriend. Maria emphasizes that she isn’t in competition with other creators, but rather she encourages people to try to explore their options and try other videos because it is possible to grow immune to a person when watching too much of them. (Too much of Maria? Pfft.) Of course, there are others, and I have tried to watch their channels and time after time I still feel that there’s no one whose material I would genuinely enjoy more.

She has also commented on what role her having an accent has had throughout her career, adding, “It definitely adds to it… I think the difference in speech patterns sometimes triggers ASMR as well because it’s not something that you’re used to hearing, and it creates like a little crispness in our sentences.” This rings true for me; for some reason, U.S. based ASMRtists just don’t seem to do it, perhaps because I am already used to hearing American accents and have developed immunity toward them. Maybe I’m a little biased, but I just couldn’t imagine ever getting enough of her videos.

Just last year the YouTube channel FBE uploaded an episode of YouTubers React titled “YOUTUBERS REACT TO ASMR”, in which many of the stars found it appealing agreed that they think it’s wonderful how there is a community for everyone on YouTube and that YouTube itself serves as a platform that allows groups of people from all walks of life to be brought together by the worlds of different things that they enjoy and coexist with each other.

Truthfully, it is about so much more than just sleep. ASMR artists have the ability to evoke certain emotions in us and make us feel more at ease by feeling close and connected.

ASMR triggers can also contribute to the bonding process affiliated with the forming of interpersonal relationships, but chiefly with the bonding triggers in that of parental behaviors and the parent-child relationship, and in this sense it has been compared to grooming in other species. Maria believes it all goes back to childhood, that of all the possible triggers, “the caring touch is the biggest…” Even something as simple as a caregiver brushing your hair when you were younger or giving you a scalp massage or caressing your back to help you fall asleep. Essentially all of who we are is embedded in how we were brought up.

Even in high school, my best friends and I would always just ever so lightly graze one another’s hands for long periods of time, a concept I would have to say they introduced me to but that I knew I, too, absolutely adored the feel of; they would say something like “tickle my hand” and then when their turn was over, it was my turn – it instantly because our favorite thing ever. But even long before then I always knew I loved those small but important instances of human contact, like having my hair played with or having someone hum the melody of a song close to my ear. ASMR is generally known to be a very intimate experience.

Being that oxytocin and serotonin are produced throughout this process, people often suspect or try to equate ASMR with something that possesses an erotic implication because of the same endorphins that are released during a sexual response or sexual pleasure. Allen has admitted that the “autonomous” bit pertains to “the individualistic nature of the triggers, and the capacity in many to facilitate or completely create the sensation at will,” but “meridian” is meant to be “a more polite term for orgasm,” which has led some to believe that ASMR is simply orgasms for the brain, but perhaps in a lewd manner. Nonetheless, as Maria has puts it, “I’m sure some people find it arousing. But sexual arousal is never an intent of the ASMR creators. At least not the majority of us.” So, while initially it may seem fetishlike, cultish, or kinky, the vast majority of the community does not strive to sexualize a craft that aims to provide individuals with a sense of nonsexual peace and wellbeing. And the same seems to be the case for ASMR consumers, as well. Based on what a PeerJ study found in 2015, only 5% of participants used it as a method of sexual stimulation or arousal.

There are countless studies and theories that have been based around ASMR, primarily having to do with its origins, physiology, and biology, but unfortunately not enough to be sure of just how effective it truly is, which is why the mission of the website at ASMR University is “to promote the awareness, understanding, and research or ASMR.” How come some people experience ASMR and others don’t? Some questions are ones only science can answer. ASMR does have great potential to treat and help those diagnosed with anxiety, depression, insomnia, and/or other panic/sleeping disorders overcome their symptoms, but it has not yet been scientifically proven. These are the answers that we need to be searching for. These are the results that we should be demanding. With the knowledge of ASMR spreading as fast as it is, hopefully that is soon.

The ASMR community is growing rapidly, and for good reason. What they are investing their time in is a true art and it is an art I hope continues to lure my sleep-deprived self to bed for a long time.