You’ve probably experienced it and had no idea what it was.
That tingly sensation in your head and down your back that you may find incredibly relaxing,
brought on by seemingly random triggers like whispering, tapping, or even getting a haircut.
That tingly sensation, sometimes referred to as a ‘brain orgasm’, is an autonomous
sensory meridian response, or ASMR.
But it’s only recently captured the attention of scientists…
Psychologist Giulia Poerio has spent the last few years researching ASMR and its effects.
We know a few things about ASMR now, there have been a few studies.
We know, for example, what the most common triggers are.
For example, we know that common triggers include whispering soft speaking and tapping.
We also know that people typically develop ASMR in childhood so around the age of sort
of 15 and younger.
Dr. Poerio and her team at the University of Sheffield have carried out the first study
of its kind into the physiological effects of ASMR
What we found was that participants who experience ASMR not only do they report feeling more
calm and relaxed when they watch these videos but they also show significant reductions
in their heart rate so their physiology, as well as their self-reported emotions, are
telling us that they're feeling more relaxed when they're watching these videos.
We have the Internet to thank for bringing global attention to ASMR.
People began to talk on forums about the tingles and the relaxing sensation they got from certain
triggers, then in 2009 a video was posted to YouTube of someone whispering and a community
was born…
"Hello.
I thought that I would make some videos of me whispering because I absolutely love listening
to people whisper which is really, really weird."
The experience of ASMR is pleasant and very relaxing and it's something that people have
experienced in their everyday lives but now they can log onto YouTube and get a simulation
of encounters that would induce ASMR in everyday life sort of on demand, so they're using it
for their own therapeutic benefits.
There's millions of ASMR artists and people watching ASMR is just growing and growing
and growing, but I think the really important thing to point out is that ASMR existed before
YouTube and before it was even named ASMR, you still find people today who don't know
about the community on YouTube but experienced ASMR and I get people contacting me saying
I didn't know that this was something other people experienced, for example they're not
aware of it as ASMR but they are aware of what they're feeling is.
The popularity of ASMR videos on platforms like YouTube suggests there are many benefits
to viewers, and there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that these videos alleviate
insomnia, stress, anxiety, depression, and even loneliness.
The science is yet to back this up though, and right now we only have the findings of
Dr Poerio’s research to show there is any physiological response at all.
So what next?
What we really need is evidence to show what is going on neurologically when people are
watching ASMR videos so when they're experiencing ASMR and I think that's kind of the next step.
There's lots of different interesting research questions, things like well, what is it about
those sounds that are triggering this response, why do some people get this feeling when other
people don't.
I mean there's so many different interesting exciting research questions that we can hope
to try and start to unpick if we work together.