Looking for some special YouTube videos to relax before you go to sleep may sound a bit creepy, as your first thought would be something related to sexual content. However, welcome to a world where technology and (sort of) real human interaction shook hands over a new video genre you may already know as ASMR. What is the acronym standing for and what exactly are these videos? Well, let’s take one step at a time.

ASMR is short for autonomous sensory meridian response – defined by specialists as a perceptual phenomenon characterized as a distinct, pleasurable tingling sensation in the head, scalp, back, or peripheral regions of the body in response to visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and/or cognitive stimuli.

Are you confused? Let’s clear the waters then: ASMR Videos are the new sleeping pill: they can be found on YouTube and have the fine skill of providing you with enough pleasurable sensations to relax you, make you feel all pampered and cared for and, eventually, sleepy. Still no sexual content, mind you, but all sorts of interesting and highly specialized content, such as videos where skilled ASMRtrists (people making these videos, mostly women) are whispering in your ear, are giving you a makeover, are telling you a story or are painting or drawing in such a way, you can easily start to feel all warm and fuzzy inside and start napping. Back in the day we were watching the Tour de France competition, but hey, technology evolved enough to bring us alternatives to our childhood lullaby. Now the ASMR videos are the new modern sleeping pill, with health benefits too.

There is quite a large database of ASMR videos on YouTube if you want to give them a try and also an impressive ASMR sub-reddit with more than 68,000 members. The ones who are creating the videos are concerned with peoples’ comfort and provide us with a unique way of “feeling” warm human interaction through technological means.