Having trouble falling asleep is a pretty common problem. In fact 1 in 10 Americans suffer from insomnia, according to Yahoo news. In recent months, numerous articles and YouTube videos have appeared featuring a young woman named Ilse Blansert, aka the Sleep Whisperer.
Ilse Blansert discovered while growing up that certain sounds would make her feel very relaxed, peaceful and give her a feeling she describes as “tingly”. She did some research and in 2011 discovered the ASMR/whisper community. Ilse then realized that she was not the only one who could find calmness from listening to certain sounds.
ASMR or autonomous sensory meridian response is “characterized as a pleasurable tingling sensation in the scalp in response to visual, auditory, or cognitive stimuli that often helps people feel more relaxed and thereby, able to fall asleep,” stated Yahoo news.
According to the New York Times, there are nearly 2.6 million videos that use a variety of methods to evoke that tingly sensation.
Turning of pages of a book, whispering, tapping lightly on a table, folding towels and pouring water, are a few of the monotonous sounds and activities that those who need help relaxing can chose from. And here is where Ilse comes in.
Ilse’s website The Water Whisperer links to one of her YouTube channels called TheWaterwhispers.
There you can find an assortment of videos that help you feel the tingle sensation she describes and you can see if they help you relax and sleep. She also has two other channels full of ASMR videos.
And Ilse isn’t alone. The New York Times listed two other popular sleep whisperers, Maria of GentleWhispering, who whispers in Russian in some of her videos and Heather Feather, who makes two new ASMR videos each week. Each of these sleep whisperers have a strong following for their videos.
So is there any science behind all this whispering?
Dr. Carl W. Bazil, a sleep disorders specialist at Columbia University, told the New York Times that “A.S.M.R. videos may provide novel ways to switch off our brains.” He described that they act similarly to other methods of guided imagery or meditation and are a way to trick yourself into doing what you want.
“A.S.M.R. videos seem to be a variation on finding ways to shut your brain down,” he said.
At the same time, the author of the New York Times article found most scientists shied away from commenting on ASMR, calling it “pseudoscience with a lack of published studies”.
Not everyone feels a relaxing response from watching or listening to these videos. You will have to check out a few to see what you think.
However, science or no science, if listening to these videos helps you go to sleep then that is all the proof you need.
Sources:
Rustle, Tingle, Relax: The Compelling World of A.S.M.R. New York Times. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/28/rustle-tingle-relax-the-compell...
'Sleep Whisperer' Battles Insomnia One Video at a Time. Yahoo News.com. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/beyond-the-headline/sleep-whisperer-battles-...
The Waterwhisper. Aboutme. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
http://www.thewaterwhispers.com/index.php/about
Michele is an R.N. freelance writer with a special interest in woman’s healthcare and quality of care issues. Other articles by Michele are at http://contributor.yahoo.com/user/499625/michele_blacksberg.html
Edited by Jody Smith