ASMR stands for autonomous sensory meridian response. It   41   reactions you have to soft voices or soothingsounds such as whispering, tapping, scratching etc.   42   , if a person starts feeling relaxed at the sound of pages in abook turning, they are experiencing ASMR. The feeling starts in the back of your head, and travels down through yourspine into your limbs. 

        43   there isn’t any relevant scientific data about ASMR to support medical claims, it is currently being used by manypeople to battle anxiety and sleeping disorders. It is also believed that listening to ASMR videos has a positive   44   onstudying. More relaxed and focused, listeners are able to perform much better in various creative tasks. ASMR experience is   45   to each person. Different people may prefer different sounds to trigger the feelingand relax. From the sound of tapping to the sound of cutting hair, there are thousands of possible triggers to choose from.

      Even if you have not been diagnosed with a mental illness, day-to-day stresses can easily drain your life of fulfillment and contentment. Fortunately, the scientific field of so-called “positive psychology” has provided countless techniques to boost your mood. 

      But how do we find the time to apply them to our daily lives? Sandi Mann, a clinical psychologist at the Universityof Central Lancashire, offers one solution. As she outlines in her book, Ten Minutes to Happiness, her program takes the form of a daily journal, to be completed in five parts: what experiences, however mundane, gave you pleasure, what praise and feedback did you receive, what were your achievements, what made you feel grateful, and how did you express kindness. 

      The program builds on a vast amount of scientific research showing that taking a little time to reap praise your day in these ways can slowly shift your mind set so that you eventually find more happiness in your life. When we feel low,it can be easy to overlook the things that are going right, and keeping this journal brings them to the forefront of your attention. 

      Mann stresses that the benefits do not just come from the immediate lift as you write the entries; re-reading your previous entries can help you cope with difficult situations in the future too. Due to our “associative” memory, a darkmood – caused by one bad event – may lead you to remember other sources of stress and unhappiness. Whenever that happens, leafing through the pages of your journal may help you to break out of that   ruminative   spiral. 

      The last point builds on recent research into the power of kindness. Various studies have found that selfless acts not only increase the well-being of those around you, they consistently boost your own mood too. Spending a bit of money to help a stranger, for instance, makes you far happier than using the same cash to treat yourself. 

      A 10-minute review of your day can’t work miracles, of course, and Mann stresses that anyone who suspects theymay suffer from depression should still see doctors for professional medical care. But for those who generally feel low and stressed, without severe clinical symptoms, this might just help put you back on the right path.