Have you heard of the word ‘ASMR’? If you have surfed through the internet, you must have encountered this term at least once. ASMR stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. This phenomenon causes you to feel a tingling sensation crawl down your spine and neck. This feeling only happens when you hear specific sounds such as whispering or paper crinkling.
Nowadays, if we browse through YouTube, there is a high possibility of finding videos of people whispering, tapping, or gently handling objects, and doing various seemingly weird stuff to create sounds. When we watch those videos, a soothing sensation flows from our head to our shoulders and we feel a deep feeling of wellbeing.
Even though this trend is relatively new, there have been ongoing several types of research on ASMR. Dr. Craig Richard is a professor of biopharmaceutical sciences at Shenandoah University in Virginia and an ASMR expert. Richard first experienced what he describes as a ‘wonderful brain fuzziness and relaxation’ while watching a TV show (Bob Ross—The Joy of Painting) as a child. He was so fascinated by the phenomenon that he created an online resource, ASMR University, and wrote a book on the subject, which he named Brain Tingles. “ASMR is a deeply relaxing feeling often accompanied by light and pleasurable brain tingles. It’s often stimulated during moments of positive, personal attention from a kind or caring person whispering, speaking, acting, and moving in a gentle way,” he says. “It may be likely that about 10-20% of the global population can experience ASMR.”
Richard and his colleagues a brain scan study was conducted by Richard and his colleagues, to find out what was happening on a physiological level when ASMR is triggered. “It showed that specific areas of the brain are active when someone is experiencing ASMR. Some of these regions highlight the likely involvement of dopamine and oxytocin,” he says.
“Oxytocin, also known as the ‘love hormone’ may be central to ASMR because the behaviors that trigger oxytocin release are similar to the behaviors that trigger ASMR. Additionally, oxytocin is known to stimulate feelings of relaxation and comfort, which are similar to the feelings described when experiencing ASMR.”
Benefits:
Aside from simple relaxation, benefits of ASMR include a reduction in anxiety and insomnia, along with, ‘perceived’ benefits for people suffering from chronic pain and depression.
But when it comes to the clinical setting of the benefits of ASMR, there is work to be done. “There have only been a handful of studies examining the neurological and physiological basis of ASMR. We’re still at a very early stage in the research field but interest and acceptance is starting to pick up,” says Giulia Poerio, a psychology lecturer at England’s University of Essex, and an advocate for ASMR research. “Practical challenges include the ability to elicit ASMR under laboratory conditions, and often people report experiencing ASMR less intensely in the lab than in their everyday lives. Other challenges include recruiting people who don’t experience ASMR [as controls], and identifying ‘true’ ASMR responders.”
By this Poerio means “those that get the head orientated tingling”—and therefore have a physiological and neurological response to the trigger. What exactly is going on within a responder is a matter of debate, but early findings are intriguing. “In the Functional MRI (fMRI) study 10 ASMR-sensitive participants watched ASMR videos in the scanner. Periods of tingling were associated with increased activity in several brain regions associated with self-relevant thought, reward activation, emotional arousal, and somatosensory processing [the ability of the body to interpret a bodily sensation],” says Poerio.
“Although these results are preliminary and based on a small sample size they suggest that ASMR is a complex state associated with increased activation in neural regions associated with emotion, empathy, and affiliative behaviors.”
The Future of ASMR:
New research opportunities have opened up in line with the growth of ASMR. Moreover, Anxiety, insomnia, and even chronic pain management are areas that scientists now think as potential benefits of ASMR. In addition, the developers of ASMR are also coming up with new triggers as well as exploring the use of virtual reality for a more immersive experience.
Whether you’re an experienced ASMR lover or someone who just wants to understand it better, one cannot ignore this interesting response. Therefore, next time you feel overwhelmed or need some moments to relax consider listening to some ASMR and test if tingles will do the magic. Who knows; maybe you will find out a different way to let go and explore the intriguing world of sensory faculties.
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Writer
Abdul Ahad Bin Feroz
Intern, Content Writing Department,
YSSE