Ted Audio Collective

This is the Ted Health Podcast.

I'm Dr. Shoshana Ungerliter.

Why are whispers, taps, crinkles, and clicks so relaxing for some people?

Crane Richard is a physiologist, and today he's guiding us through autonomous sensory

meridian response, or ASMR.

He'll explain the light sparkly brain tingles he and many others experience while listening

to ASMR, like painter Bob Ross's soothing calming voice, then a hard pivot, the noise pollution,

which doesn't give us sparkly tingles, but could give us high blood pressure.

I'm a bald man, but I don't miss my hair.

What I do miss is going to the hairdresser.

I found it to be such an enjoyable and relaxing experience.

I loved it when they would rub their fingers through my hair, while they washed my hair

in the sink.

I enjoyed it when they walked me over to the chair, and they would play with my hair some

more and talk to me about different hair styles and haircuts I could get.

And I even enjoyed the gentle sound of the scissors.

Snip, snip, snip, right next to my ears.

I enjoyed it so much, and I was so deeply relaxed.

I remember many times I would just sit there, and I'd think, I'd pay you even if you

just pretended to cut my hair.

There's another moment also that often stimulates this deep relaxation for me.

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