Research

ASMR and the importance of sleep

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Helping people to fall asleep is one of the most widely reported uses for ASMR videos and ASMR triggers.

This is bad news because it highlights the fact that many people are having difficulty getting the right quantity and/or quality of sleep.

And yet, it is also good news because sleep is so important and ASMR could someday be widely supported by clinicians as a sleep aid.

This post will cover several recent research studies about the recommendations, challenges, and problems related to getting a proper quantity and quality of sleep.

And it will conclude with an example of how someone might construct a research study to demonstrate if ASMR can help improve sleep quality.

Lets begin with this question: Do you know how much sleep you should be getting each night?

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Research group at The University of Sheffield investigating the characteristics of ASMR

/ Dr. Richard / 2 Comments

Giulia Poerio, Theresa Veltri, Emma Blakey, and Tom Hostler are graduate students in the Department of Psychology at The University of Sheffield in the U.K.

They have combined their expertise in psychology, physiology, and emotion to investigate the idiosyncratic characteristics of ASMR.

The research group shares their motivations and several unanticipated challenges and reactions that have occurred thus far with their project.

Below are my questions in bold, followed by their replies in italics.

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Wooster College student researching the effects of ASMR on social cognition

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Amy Huffenberger is an undergraduate student in the Neuroscience department at Wooster College in Wooster, Ohio.

She is doing her senior thesis project on ASMR, under the guidance of Professor Grit Herzmann Ph.D.

Amy shares her motivations, research objectives and challenges, and also offers insightful suggestions to future ASMR researchers.

Below are my questions in bold, followed by her replies in italics.

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ASMR research and music therapy research

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Relaxing music and ASMR triggers have their similarities and their differences.

Similarities include: both can induce relaxation, both have strong auditory component, and both can induce a type of chills or tingles.

Differences include: music is almost all auditory (vibrations can be another sensory input method), the type of chills induced are slightly different, and music may have a stronger emotional component.

And then there is the biggest difference of them all.

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Update: Can the light from an ASMR video interfere with sleep?

/ Dr. Richard / 1 Comment

Update:

A research study came out this week that is relevant to one of my prior posts (pasted in below).

This research supports the concern that the light from an electronic device can interfere with sleep.

The study is published in PNAS, a well respected journal.

The authors showed that reading from an iPad (compared to a printed book) increased the time it took to fall asleep, reduced melatonin secretion, and reduced morning alertness.

Click HERE to access the research abstract.

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The science of ASMR from a BBC article

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An article about ASMR was posted yesterday at BBC.com.

The article focuses mostly on ASMR artists (Emma whispersredasmr, Maria gentlewhispering, & Laura Stone) and the art of ASMR, with some minor mentions related to the science of ASMR.

A neuroscience professor provided his thoughts about the mechanism of ASMR.  Quote from the article:

“Frances McGlone, professor of neuroscience at Liverpool John Moores University. I contacted him because I hoped he might be able to explain the mechanism which produces such a distinctive physical reaction from such a diverse range of stimuli. He couldn’t, because no-one has researched the question. “In a quick look on the more respected search engines for published scientific research I couldn’t find anything that supported a neurobiological basis for why these sensory experiences should be provoked by observing these ASMR videos,” he tells me.

McGlone further expressed concern about home-brewed alternative therapies in general and a potential erotic element of ASMR.  Quote from the article:

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ASMR data from website polls

/ Dr. Richard / 3 Comments

My co-investigators and I are still collecting data for our on-going ASMR research survey (information about that research survey HERE).

But I do have some data to share from my website polls.

Below are responses from visitors to this site who answered the polls on the “First Time Visitor?” page.  There were 130-161 respondents for each question.

The majority of poll takers:

  • experience ASMR
  • report that ASMR helps them to feel less stressed or helps them to fall asleep
  • have watched over 100 ASMR videos
  • have not created an ASMR video
  • are between 20-39 years old
  • experienced ASMR before the age of 13
  • first learned about the term ASMR in 2013 or 2014
  • did not know other terms for the experience prior to learning the term “ASMR”
  • think ASMR is a real biological response
  • would like to  see more research done about ASMR

If you would like to see the full data from the polls, including which responses were least selected, then keep reading.

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The ASMR Survey has launched

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Interested in participating in some ASMR research?

I am collaborating with members of asmr-research.org on an on-line survey that may be the first published, global, demographic study about ASMR.

The survey is not only for those who experience ASMR, but it also for those who don’t experience ASMR or may not even know if they do experience ASMR. Comparing these different groups of people will help us to understand ASMR even better.

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