Yes, but not directly.

If ASMR helps you to get more sleep then that could result in less toxic chemicals in your brain, in a way that I will explain shortly.

Was this research done with ASMR and humans?  Nope, it was just done with sleep-deprived non-human animals.

Which animals exactly?

Curiously, the news article that I linked to at the end of this post did not say what species.  Mice or rats are a good guess though.

Where was the research done?  At the Metropolitan Autonomous University.

“Autonomous” University?!  Say what-huh.

Am I messing with you?  Nope.  Click HERE to see.

OK, let’s put aside all these strange tidbitties and talk about the basics of the research.

The research is saying that getting less sleep could result in more toxic chemicals in your brain tissue.

How so?

Imagine that every time you eat something there is a very, very small amount of toxic compounds in your food.  These compounds could be human-introduced pollutants or pesticides, or they could be natural toxins that exist in many of the foods we eat.

Natural toxins?  Yes.  Plants don’t have legs to run away with or teeth to fight back with.  Instead, they have toxins.  Which is why it is never a good idea to graze in the forest like it is a salad bar at Ruby Tuesday.

The plants with the lowest levels of compounds that are toxic to humans are the ones we eat.  Note that I said “lowest levels”.

Anyway, these very small amounts of toxic compounds in your food, whether human-introduced or not, are absorbed from your intestines into your blood.

Don’t panic.  The blood then goes through your liver and removes many of these toxic compounds.

But not all?  But not all.

Some still sneak through the liver and are in the blood that is heading towards your brain.

[Trumpet in distance starts blowing Taps]  Put the trumpet away, totally unnecessary.

So what keeps that small amount of toxin from getting into your brain?  Good question and good concern, no one really wants any amount of toxins in their brain.

The answer is that the “Blood Brain Barrier” does the job.

Seriously?  That is the biological term for it?!  Yep.

Kinda sounds like those large concrete New Jersey barriers that keep cars from going into other lanes.

Which is actually a good comparison, but your blood brain barrier is so much more…biological.  Skip the details for now, just view that the blood vessels in your brain are like a strong garden hose without any leaks.

So when blood flows through the blood vessels in your brain those toxins inside should not leak out and get into your brain tissue.

Unless…you don’t get enough sleep.

Then those blood vessels inside your head start weakening which results in toxins sneaking out of the blood vessels into your brain.

Egad.  Who wants that.

So how might someone reduce the risk of blood toxins getting into their brain tissue?

Yep, get adequate sleep.

Easier said than done for many people that have trouble falling asleep but still need to wake up early to go to work or school.

And so the connection…ASMR “could” reduce the toxins in your brain ‘if” it helps you to get adequate sleep.

Someday some wonderful researchers will do experiments with ASMR and humans so we all can know for sure.

Someday.

Click HERE to read more about this research.

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