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ASMR for better sleep: the relaxation method with everyday sounds
ASMR
Ana Muñoz, the largest ASMR representative in our country, tells us which objects she uses the most in her YouTube sessions
Does the back of your neck tingle when you hear whispers? Does a tingling run down your back if you contemplate very slow movements? Then you are one of those people capable of noticing the effects of ASMR, a pleasant sensory response to certain stimuli that science is still investigating.
ASMR stands for ‘Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response’ or what is the same, Autonomous Meridian Sensory Response, and Ana Muñoz, creator of the YouTube channel Love ASMR and author of ‘The 7 habits to sleep better’, has about 1,5 million subscribers on YouTube who began to reach the same rate at which she was uploading content to this social network by making sounds with her fingers and
whispers with your mouth, often accompanied by endless objects that help you achieve the relaxation that your viewers and listeners need.
For those of you who still don’t know what it is, how would you define ASMR?
ASMR is the brain’s response to certain sounds, such as the voice, that produce a certain relaxation, even feeling the same sensation as if you were being massaged. I always say that the opposite of ASMR would be chalk squeaking on the blackboard. It serves to relax and I always look for that mindfulness that we need so much on many occasions, like thinking about the now. Although I whisper any subject, I get others to isolate themselves from their problems, forget the time. I try to get them into my world, my way of speaking and get rid of negative thoughts.
Although it serves to relax at any time of the day, would you say that those who turn to your videos do it mainly to sleep?
Yes, most people wear it at night. YouTube sends me an analysis that, as a guide, tells me that the time range in which my videos are most watched are from 9 at night to 12. In America they use it at nap time there, at 3 o’clock. the afternoon in Spanish time, more or less. Although I know that it is heard to sleep, there are many people who use it to study or work.
Do they tell you if they watch the full videos or achieve the goal of relaxing or sleeping much earlier?
YouTube, in its analysis, does not count the people who enter and then leave the video. My managers tell me that my average is very good because they spend about 7 or 8 minutes in the videos. I have feedback from people who see me and they tell me that it helps them a lot to sleep, they even send me photos of their sleeping cats. Maybe now you see ASMR and it is going very well and in a few months it will not work for you. It is somewhat variable.
And not everyone is relaxed by these sounds …
I believe that not everyone has the ability to get that massage sensation, but to find what relaxes you. For example, my partner relaxes watching cooking videos, others watching how paper is cut … What you have to do is find that person who can relax you.
Although your videos are visual, they can only be heard, right?
I try to make my videos visual and sound because if they were only sound I would go to Spotify. I try to cover a lot of people because there are people who tell me that the image does not matter to them because they turn their mobile upside down and others who are interested instead. It is not the same to have a massage with a given fluorescent and Camela sounding in the background than to be in a space with candles and a wall of a calming landscape.
Where do we notice that tingling so characteristic of ASMR?
On the nape mainly. Have you been hit with the rods they sell for your head and it gives you a chill all over your body? That is what a person with ASMR would feel. The most common sensation is to feel that we are being massaged in the head, but without actually giving it to us.
What are the instruments, to call it somehow, that you use the most in your videos?
The makeup brushes when they caress the micro is what they ask me the most because it is also visually very good. Slimes were very popular at the time, especially during confinement. I also take into account changing the microphones because they change the sensations. I have videos of books turning pages. I have about six or seven videos.
And what is the weirdest thing your subscribers have asked you to use?
The strangest things they have asked me are related to childhood, with sounds that were heard for the first time and made us feel good. Someone asked me to dry my hair because it reminded him of his mother or to whisper into the microphone playing a rosary because he saw his grandmother make it. Also turn the pages of a book …
Has the use of ASMR increased with the pandemic?
Many people have discovered ASMR thanks to this pandemic situation and have remained watching my videos because they feel the person in the video as their friend, in this case me, in addition to helping them disconnect. The social part is abandoned and this kind of video helps to have someone closer, someone who tells you things.
How often do you have to post content?
With the pandemic, I tried to upload one per day, but it was impossible because it depended a lot on the lives of my neighbors, who also had children at home there was a lot of noise. Right now I’m doing three videos a week because it’s something I can handle. Anyway, for those who join the ASMR now, there is plenty of material for everything that I have been publishing in recent years.
Do you use ASMR to relax?
Mine to relax, not because I do not concentrate and I am very aware of everything I do in the videos because I think I should improve this and that, so I prefer to see other creators. I do it often and it has become a habit today. In addition, I like to do it with headphones at a low volume because it isolates me from external sound that does not let me sleep. ASMR helps me sleep better too.
Will you advance in the world of YouTube with the ASMR?
I dream of having a house away from the world to avoid annoying sounds and having a basement where I can record at any time without worrying about noise. This will allow me to do, for example, two-hour videos and do everything more often, I will give more variety of content and I will also be able to have many more objects to produce ASMR. Right now for space it is impossible to have more.
About Ana Muñoz
Ana Muñoz is a violinist and is currently doing a doctorate on stage fright. Three years ago he started a YouTube channel on ASMR. Today it is the largest representative of this type of video in our country. In addition, he has about 170K followers on Instagram.