Relaxation is very important for the human body to allow a deep, meaningful sleep. Often times, the reason why people have a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep is due to the subconscious thinking about the stress of the day or the stress that the mind will have to go through the next day. This often occurs even if you are a person that says they don’t stress. Most people are almost always stressed, which can interfere with your sleeping ability, according to the American Psychological Association.

The psychological aspect of sleep being interrupted is during the REM stage, in which a person begins to dream. Sometimes, though, they are unable to reach this stage as the subconsciousness interrupts the sleep stage to remind the mind on what events the person is anticipating. With the interruption of the mind, the person then becomes unable to get a full night of sleep and will constantly wake up right before they hit the REM stage. When the person is unable to sleep peacefully and fully, they will experience irritability, lack of motivation, the feeling of being overwhelmed, and increased stress hormones in the body. This — of course — is not good, as stress of not being able to sleep is added on top of the stress from our waking life.

In recent studies performed by Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School, 61% of students who were highly stressed reported on not being able to sleep peacefully; in a similar CDC report from 2015, approximately 72% of teenagers in the U.S. were concluded to be sleep deprived, as teenagers need 8 hours of sleep.  Another report from Harvard, though, said that teens receive less hours of sleep than needed.

In recent years, many people have been focusing on ways to reduce stress and try to have better sleep. Two very popular methods of relaxation include meditation, in which a person takes a mental break from the noise that is happening all around to find inner peace and silence. Another method that has recently become popularized is ASMR. ASMR, also known as autonomous sensory meridian response, is when a tingling sensation occurs at the head and moves its way down the spine and throughout the body to allow a sense of comfort and relaxation. Although not every person can feel this sensation, many are able to receive a level of relaxation that can cause a person to fall asleep.

There are many AMSR videos that can be found on YouTube as well as on Spotify. One of the top ASMRists on YouTube is ASMR Darling and Jojo’s ASMR. Some artists can be found on Spotify, such as Tingting ASMR, who has both a YouTube account and Spotify. Each of these artists go in depth with ASMR in their own unique ways; ASMR Darling often does tapping on objects, and Jojo’s ASMR will do magic tricks and use different objects to stimulate calming sounds. Tingting ASMR often whispers and make brushing sounds, as well as some ‘role-playing’ to help listeners go into a calming trance.

ASMR is one of many methods to help lower stress and to get a good night sleep. Another method, which is very popular, is mediation before bed to help clear the mind. An app that has recently come out called, Head Space, guides people through meditation to help reduce stress in the waking life. While there are also other people on YouTube who can help guide through the meditation process, Head Space has been the leader in videos to provide meditation guidance.

Regardless of your methods, prioritizing sleep and relaxation should be among your utmost priorities.