I blame it on my obsession (read: addiction) with my cellular device that I often find myself scrolling aimlessly at odd hours throughout the day. I am on my phone during meetings, I am on my phone when I am on the potty, I am on my phone even amongst people, and I am on my phone wide awake post midnight. I don’t have the privilege of staying up late nights whiling away the hours on my phone because of my hectic work schedule.
Who came up with the concept that millennials can thrive on little or no relaxation time?
I work the normal 9-5 life, not those exact hours, but you get the drift. I always have work piled up to take care of and I am on most working days exhausted to the point where I feel burnt out. I accepted this feeling as part of being a millennial adult. They hustle, they rave, they need little recharge and they are good to go. But such wasn’t the case. I started getting annoyed with myself post 12 am. I would beg my mind to go to sleep and throw the phone away, but my FOMO of being out of touch with people, trends and world was getting the better of me.
This is when my aimless scrolling landed me on ASMR videos. Now for someone who is up to date with all trends, I obviously knew what ASMR was. What I didn’t know was the effects of well made ASMR videos.
What is ASMR and how it paved its way into my life
ASMR for the uninitiated is the abbreviation for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, also popularly called auto sensory meridian response. It is a name for an experience altogether. ASMR uses vocal triggers, voice modulation, and sound techniques to bring about 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. It relaxes and excites you at the same time.
After hours of listening to multiple ASMR artists, I was quite done with the trend. Either someone breathed too much for me to concentrate on their triggers or made some other distracting noise which hindered my experience altogether. All until I landed on a truly gifted ASMR artist. It all started with a video on ASMR spa experience. I watched the 45-minute long video with my headphones plugged in and instantly calmed down. I was in love with the artist and left several comments on her YouTube page telling her that I had found my “one”.
This YouTube artist had my utmost respect for the positive affects her videos had on me
It was only after two-three nights that I felt the need for another ASMR session and went searching for her on YouTube again. Her page wasn’t hard to find because she ranked best–Sophie Michelle ASMR. Each of her videos had raked in over 2 million views and I was impressed. I plugged into another one of her videos this time a role play on backstage makeup ASMR. I instantly fell asleep in the middle of the one-hour long video.
Each night I started to go to bed by 11:30 pm hoping to doze off by 12 am after watching one of her videos. I would ensure nobody disturbed me put my phone on airplane mode after loading the video, made my room completely dark, wore headphones to watch the video (essential!) and boom! I was asleep soon after. She seemed to have cured my self-diagnosed sleep deprivation/insomnia. I was in love with her. Once I looked her up on the internet and found out that she truly is a sensation. At a young age of 21 (back in 2018) she was earning upto Rs 56.2 lakh each year while being in college.
She was looking for peace herself when she had discovered ASMR
She has several videos with her patiently whispered tone trying to soothe and calm people through various role plays and scripted techniques. In an interview to a leading daily last year, the ASMR artist said she got into this after her brother was diagnosed with a brain tumour, from which he has now recovered. She would be anxious and sad most of the times and had been looking for things online to calm herself when she herself discovered ASMR. She took it up herself to be the relief she once found online.
Few of my favourite videos from her channel:
Few other stories on ASMR and sleeping better:
The Best ASMR Accounts On YouTube To Help You Doze Off.
5 Things You Can Do On Your Phone To Help You Sleep Better.
I Finally Got The 8 Hours Of Sleep Experts Recommend & It Truly Changed My Life
