In recent years, a lot of videos have appeared on YouTube in which people smack their lips, knead jelly-like substances with their hands, and rustle plastic bags. These videos are always labeled as ASMR in their titles. To many this seems like some kind of eccentricity, but for those who are susceptible to such irritants, this is an easy and affordable way to please yourself. Listening to these sounds, they plunge into real bliss, briefly forgetting about everything.
It is not easy to understand what ASMR is if you have not experienced this unusual sensation created by certain sounds or images. For some, it causes a pleasant tingling sensation in the head and helps to relax deeply or even fall asleep. Others, on the other hand, are just annoying.
Many big brands have already adopted this technique, using it in youth-targeted ads. For example, in an ad for Michelob Ultra beer, actress Zoë Kravitz talks about the benefits of the drink in a soft whisper while lightly tapping the bottle with her fingernails. IKEA made a 25-minute promotional film about dorm furniture using ASMR techniques.
Scientists are trying to figure out how and why these pleasurable sensations occur, and whether ASMR can provide health benefits. So far, science is far behind the latest Internet fashion trends. So far, no evidence has been obtained that this technique, as some of its connoisseurs claim, helps with anxiety, depression, chronic pain or insomnia. But if you just want to relax and de-stress, there’s nothing wrong with watching a few ASMR videos.
What is it all about?
The term “autonomous sensory meridional response” was coined in 2010. Many describe a feeling of deep relaxation and tingling in the back of the head that occurs when exposed to certain stimuli, most often “soft” sounds. Some say they feel waves moving down the spine to the extremities. Sometimes these “electrical” sensations are referred to as brain orgasms, although they are not necessarily sexual in nature.
A tingling sensation in the head can also occur from certain touches – for example, when we wash our hair with shampoo. For many, watching videos with certain sounds and images can cause such a reaction.
What is ASMR video?
A huge amount of ASMR content on social networks has generated interest in this phenomenon. The videos are designed for a wide audience, they use a variety of audiovisual stimuli – something suits everyone, and what causes a state of bliss in one person may leave another indifferent.
Most often, the reaction is caused by a whisper. Some react to crunching or rustling, soft slow movements, or role-playing games in which the author of the video, for example, pretends to give the viewer a head massage.
Craig Richard, professor of biopharmaceuticals at the University of Shenandoah, USA, wrote the book “The Tingling Feeling in the Head”, which has become a kind of guide to ASMR.
Can imitation of care or medical care bring real health benefits?
The professor recalls that he himself first experienced these sensations as a child, watching the TV show “The Joy of Painting” with Bob Ross. “When I listened to the host, my brain seemed to fog up – it was a very pleasant feeling of relaxation,” recalls Richard. Many ASMR connoisseurs say that Ross’s soft voice and the sound of the artist’s brush moving across the canvas caused them similar sensations.
Nitin Ahuja, a gastroenterologist and assistant professor of clinical medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, is exploring a new subgenre of ASMR—videos in which creators “play doctor” with viewers. They depict a variety of examinations, from eye examinations by an optometrist to non-traditional therapies like Reiki. “A reasonable question arises – can imitation of care or medical care bring real health benefits?” Ahuja asks.
ASMR: fact or fiction?
It is still unknown what percentage of the population is susceptible to ASMR, because large studies of this phenomenon have not yet been conducted. Scientists were unable to create a “portrait” of the average connoisseur of ASMR. “The study of it as a phenomenon is still in its infancy, with only 10 studies published,” explains Craig Richard.
The first professional study on the effects of ASMR on mind and mood was published in 2018. The researchers found that watching such videos did indeed evoke a pleasant sensation in the subjects, but only in those who themselves declared their susceptibility to such stimuli. In this group, watching the respective videos reduced the heart rate by an average of three beats per minute, but no such effect was found in the control group.
Craig Richard and colleagues conducted another experiment: they scanned the brains of subjects while watching a video. It turned out that when we experience a sensation of tingling in the head, the same areas of the brain are activated that are “turned on” when we are taken care of or we communicate with a loved one.
What causes ASMR sensations?
Why do these unusual and pleasant sensations arise, and why are only some of us receptive to them? Perhaps the brain produces “hormones of joy”? Or are some ancient pleasure reactions “hardwired” into our nervous system being activated?
“Research has not yet provided any physiological explanation for ASMR. But many people do experience pleasant sensations, which means there is something in it. At worst, it’s just a placebo effect. Why not try watching some videos and see how you react?” suggests Nitin Ahuja.