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Did you know that the term ASMR was coined in a Facebook post
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Hi, I'm Erin McCarthy, Editor-in-Chief of Mentalfloss.com. In 2010, computer scientist Jennifer Allen came up with the initialism ASMR
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for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. That's right, it doesn't have any official medical meaning
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Most of the words Allen came up with make sense for the tingle sensation people get
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when they hear satisfying sounds. But maybe you're confused by meridian. She used it to imply orgasm without actually saying it
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And that's just the first of many facts about ASMR in ASMR that I'm going to share with you today
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In addition to a body tingle, people who experience ASMR report that it elicits feelings of pleasure and relaxation
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The tingle primarily occurs in the head, but can venture lower in the body, too
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People have called the feeling brain tangles or brain orgasms, though some take issue with the latter
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It implies there's a sexual component to ASMR, but 84% of respondents to a 2015 study reported that there was not
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As for how to make the feeling happen, there are triggers. You're probably most familiar with ASMR YouTube videos created by ASMRtists
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A person on screen speaks or performs actions in an attempt to cause a reaction in the viewer
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There are a huge range of trigger sounds, including... There are also videos more focused on experiences, like sorting trading cards or roleplay
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in which the ASMRtist pretends to be your doctor, hairstylist, or any number of other people
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As for which of those triggers are most popular, In the survey of 475 ASMR experiencers I mentioned earlier, the researchers found the top four triggers in order were whispering, personal attention, crisp sounds, which they define as metallic foil, tapping fingernails, etc., and slow movements
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As for why people used ASMR media, 98% claimed it was for relaxation, 82% said it helped them fall asleep
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But even though we probably know it best from videos The sensation happens in real life too Some people feel the response while getting a manicure or a haircut How do you know if you have it You can try clicking around on YouTube Another option is an ASMR sound generator There one linked in the
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video description that lets you create a mixture of sounds with options like purring cats
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snowstorm, and bonfire. I prefer the purring cats. ASMR has only recently become a well-known
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phenomenon. Dr. Craig Richard, a professor of biopharmaceutical sciences at Shenandoah University
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is one of the few legitimate experts on the subject. He wrote the book Brain Tingles
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which provides a history of the ASMR community. According to Richard, it was a 2007 thread on
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the online forum SteadyHealth.com that triggered the conversation. After a user wrote
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weird sensation feels good, and described ASMR, loads of people commented about how they could
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relate. Richard's history of ASMR and brain tingles also covers the YouTube scene. The first video
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meant to intentionally trigger ASMR which featured a woman whispering and of course predates the term
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was uploaded to the channel Whispering Life in March 2009. Since then, more than 13
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million ASMR videos have been uploaded to YouTube. As of May 2019
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it was the fourth most popular YouTube search. And there are 7.5
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million posts under the ASMR tag on Instagram. So let's get into the science. There haven't really been any conclusive studies
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on ASMR. Only within the past couple years has anyone begun to study the phenomenon
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which is not enough time to create and replicate large research projects. A lot of the information
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we have about ASMR is self-reported by its community. We'll talk about a few of the studies
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that do exist, but just know that this is all pretty new and subject to change. One interesting
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ASMR study was published in 2018 in the journal PLOS-1. There were 110 participants, half who
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experienced ASMR and half who were controls. They watched videos, some ASMR, some not, and had their
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heart rates monitored. Participants prone to ASMR had a heart rate reduction of 3.41 beats per minute
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after watching ASMR videos. According to the paper, that makes it about as effective as, quote
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music-based stress reduction and more effective than, quote, a mindfulness intervention for anxiety People with ASMR have reported that they can become desensitized to triggers over time So even if they really enjoy a particular video they have to space out their viewings
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to ensure it still has an impact. In a survey conducted by Craig Richard with 19,000 respondents, 40% claimed that they had
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become desensitized to a trigger. Thanks to Agent IS for the tip
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People who experience ASMR are more susceptible to misophonia, where sounds trigger negative responses
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Misophonia often manifests as a hatred for sounds made by human mouths
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Scientists are looking into the connection between the two. One study suggested, quote, ASMR and misophonia represent two ends of the same sound sensitivity spectrum
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You can attend live ASMR experiences like Whisper Lodge, which has appeared in New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles
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For about $90, performers will spend 90 minutes trying to give you brain tangles
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There's one performer per guest And they whisper into your ear, touch you with a brush
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And create many of the noises you hear in the YouTube videos The very idea of this gives me shivers
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And not the good ASMR kind If this is all seeming pretty niche
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It's worth pointing out that ASMR has gone mainstream In 2019, a Michelob Ultra Super Bowl commercial
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Starring Zoe Gravitz had her whispering And acting out other ASMR triggers
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Like tapping a Michelob bottle The ad agency responsible for the spots
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Even consulted with Who else? Greg Richard. Other companies that have created ASMR SponCon include KFC, Ikea, Dove, and Ritz
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Crackers. And it's been used in popular music. One well-known ASMRtist is Maria of the YouTube
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channel Gentle Whispering. Ted Mouse used a clip of her saying, good morning to you, among other
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things, in his 2014 song, Terrors in My Head. Maria, who keeps her last name private, was a
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pioneer in the world of ASM artists. In July 2017, she became the first ASM artist to reach
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1 million YouTube subscribers. In a video, she described it as, quote, a huge milestone
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not just for my channel, but for our whole ASMR community. But it's not easy to just jump into
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this world. In interviews, she has described her process, which involves writing a script with the
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ideal sounding words, perfect microphone placement, and meticulous sound editing. Each video can take
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up to three days to create The website ASMR University has tips for aspiring artists like how to record a perfect soft sound when there background noise which could include noise from the recording equipment itself
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Unsurprisingly, this endeavor can cost money. They recommend having a pop filter or foam windscreen
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Still, it's possible to create ASMR without trying to elicit brain tingles at all
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Bob Ross did. It makes sense when you think about it. He talks straight to the viewer with a relaxing voice
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Plus, there are all those lovely soft painting sounds. Happy little brain tingles, everybody
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A major challenge for researchers who want to study the brains of people with ASMR is that MRI machines are loud, which hinders the ASMR experience
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In research published in 2017 in the journal Social Neuroscience, a group of Canadians studied brains at rest, 11 people with ASMR, and 11 controls
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Those with ASMR had less active connections between the brain's frontal lobe and sensory regions
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To the researchers, this meant that maybe, quote, ASMR reflects a reduced ability to inhibit sensory emotional experiences that are suppressed in most individuals
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One of those researchers, Associate Professor Stephen Smith, also worked on a study in which 290 people with ASMR and 290 controls were given personality tests
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The team looked for correlations between ASMR and the big five personality traits
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Openness to experience, neuroticism, conscientiousness, extroversion, and agreeableness. Well, people with ASMR had less of those last three
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Conscientiousness, extroversion, and agreeableness than a control group. But they tended to score higher in openness to experience and neuroticism
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Finally, ASMR isn't all innocent, towel-folding, and painting. There are some ASMR YouTube videos that I have to imagine appeal to a very small percentage of people
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Like ones in which the artists act out kidnapping or murdering the viewer
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The Mixed ASMR channel has a video that starts out like this
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Hello, nice to meet you If you haven't guessed so far, this is a robbery and I'd like all your money, thanks
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So we could do this the easy way Or I could stab you
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Which sounds super relaxing Our next episode is spooky It's about the origins of scary stories
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Just in time for Halloween Leave your favorite spooky story in the comments For a chance to be featured in that episode
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That will go up on October 16th Make sure to subscribe here
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So you don't miss it I'll see you then
