Why do we experience ASMR?

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Hello!

Do you know why some people experience ASMR and why others don’t? Today I would like to share my theory about ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) with you. I’ve been thinking about doing this for months because I know a lot of people don’t want any research to be done or they simply don’t want to know the what and why about ASMR. They would like to keep the community small and cosy and it doesn’t matter how it’s possible that some of us are able to experience this relaxing tingling feeling. At first I felt the same way. I understood and still understand why people want to keep it that way but my feelings changed a little because many of my viewers and different Media asked me the same question for last 21 months.

Why do you think that some people can experience ASMR and why others can’t?

Honestly I had no idea. I wish I had some answers but how can I possibly know why some of us can’t and why others can? I don’t have a medical degree, never seen a brain test in my life and only heard about the name ASMR in 2011. The only thing that I had was a diploma in animal care and I was familiar with my viewers who watched different ASMR videos, other people’s experiences and stories, my own ASMR experiences and thoughts that started at the age of 6.

Then one evening I Had to think about this question again. ‘Why do you think that some people can experience ASMR and why others can’t?’ All of a sudden I had a clear mind and had to write everything down. There it was, my theory about ASMR! My theory contains my experience, thoughts, other people’s stories, research and some theories that I’ve heard of in the last 21 months. This Theory is not the truth (since this hasn’t been researched) and I’m not trying to make any statements with this either. I simply wanted to share my thought and conclusions with all of you and maybe after you’ve read the article you would like to share your thoughts in a down below.

This is the end result of everything that I’ve written down on the 17th of July 2013.


Theory about ASMR

I like to watch YouTube videos where people have a low frequency voice and ‘full hands’. What I mean by that is someone who doesn’t have slim hands and tall fingers and someone who speaks in the frequency that works for me, so something that I don’t consider high pitch. (Different for everyone) Keep reading, it doesn’t make any sense yet.

The fact that the hand is a little bit thicker/fuller gives ME a warm, trusty, cosy kind of feeling that I associate with the ‘ASMR Feeling’. This visual picture (the fuller hand) hits a certain frequency/emotion/memory in my brain that relaxes me in an extreme way and gives me an extreme save & trusty feeling which basically tells you that it’s okay and save to surrender yourself to this feeling.

So that’s what the body does.

It tunes into a different part of your brain which triggers a good memory  to that save feeling, physical and/or emotional/ reaction that we’re not familiar with yet. Because of the fact that we’re not familiar with it yet  we didn’t find a name or explanation for the ASMR feeling yet and is brain study necessary to get the answers since neurologists are able to measure brain activity. 

If the brain activity is the same as the earlier memory brain activities when you felt save, warm, trusty & cosy then all ASMR is, is a feeling/emotion that tells you that you’re safe and that you can relax completely.

You become vulnerable  and you can surrender yourself completely to this emotion/feeling which normally wouldn’t be accessible  in your brain. The reason why it might not be  accessible is because that part in the brain is not that well developed yet or the connection to that feeling is blocked in the brain.

The reason why it could be blocked is because you have a hard time trusting people or when you grew up you didn’t get familiar with a save feeling like you can surrender yourself and don’t have to worry about anything. So that emotion(part of the brain where that emotion get’s triggered)  is damaged and that’s why your brain doesn’t get the trigger that will give you an ASMR experience 

So in order to experience ASMR you have to learn how to let go of those old emotions which stop you from feeling it. You have to gain trust in others and life again or you might not be able to experience it because you haven’t developed that feeling yet. (It’s like a kid that still needs to learn what ‘hot’ means or ‘cold’)

Some of us got in touch with that part of the brain already earlier in their lives and they stayed connected with it, or it got damaged and because of that the connection between the outside trigger and the signal to the brain is disturbed. And the third option could be like I said above, maybe you didn’t develop that feeling yet.   

What are your thoughts and theories about ASMR? Feel free to share them.

 

Ilse Blansert
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