Benefits of ASMR: What the Research Says (and What It Doesn't)

ASMR may be good for you in a modest, short-term way: studies link it to feeling calmer, a lift in mood and a slightly slower heart rate while you watch. Most people who use it say it helps them sleep and deal with stress.

The catch is that the research is young. Most studies are small or based on surveys of fans, not everyone feels ASMR, and nothing so far shows lasting effects on mental health. Here is what the science actually supports, where it falls short, and how to get the most out of ASMR if it works for you.

What are the benefits of ASMR?

In short, here is where the evidence stands today:

The rest of this article goes through each one.

Does ASMR really relax you? Mood and calm

The best-known study comes from the University of Sheffield. Researchers ran a large online study of 1,002 people (813 of whom experience ASMR) and found that, after watching ASMR videos, people who feel ASMR reported more calm, less stress and less sadness than people who don't. Control videos made no difference between the groups (Poerio et al., 2018).

Spoken videos also raised feelings of social connection in ASMR viewers. Sound-only videos didn't.

Surveys point the same way. In the first peer-reviewed survey of ASMR, 80% of 475 people who experience it said it affects their mood, and mood ratings were highest while watching before fading over the following hours (Barratt & Davis, 2015). Half said their mood improved even in sessions where they felt no tingles.

A 2023 systematic review of 54 studies, led by researchers at Ruhr University Bochum, concluded that ASMR videos are linked to short-term mood benefits (Ruhr University Bochum, 2023). The key word is short-term.

Does ASMR lower your heart rate?

Yes, at least a little, while you watch. In the lab part of the Sheffield study (110 participants), people who experience ASMR saw their heart rate fall by an average of 3.41 beats per minute during ASMR videos, compared with a non-ASMR control video (Poerio et al., 2018). The authors noted this is in the same range as drops seen in music-based stress reduction trials, though they did not test that comparison directly.

There was a twist: skin conductance, a sign of arousal, went up slightly in the same people. The researchers read this as a sign that ASMR mixes relaxation with a pleasant, alert feeling, which fits the tingles themselves.

A 2022 study of 38 young adults found that heart rate dropped during an ASMR video for everyone, tingles or not. Only those who felt tingles had a drop in depressed feelings afterward. Based on brain and skin measurements, the authors suggest ASMR involves arousal and focused attention as well as relaxation (Engelbregt et al., 2022). The Bochum review also found reports of slower heartbeat and lower blood pressure across studies.

Can ASMR help you sleep or manage stress?

This is the main reason people watch. In the 2015 survey, 82% of respondents said they used ASMR to help them sleep and 70% used it to deal with stress (Barratt & Davis, 2015).

A small 2023 interview study of eight female students who use ASMR found the same pattern: seven of the eight named sleep as a reason they use ASMR, and they described it as a calming distraction and a reassuring presence (Woods & Turner-Cobb, 2023).

What's missing is a proper sleep trial. These are reports from people who already like ASMR, not measurements of how fast or how well they slept. If you want a practical routine, see how to use ASMR to fall asleep.

Does ASMR help with anxiety or depression?

The evidence here is thin and mixed.

A 2022 Northumbria University study of 64 people found that those who feel ASMR started out with higher anxiety and higher neuroticism (a tendency toward worry and negative emotion). After watching one ASMR video, their in-the-moment anxiety fell, while non-experiencers showed no change (Eid et al., 2022). The authors suggest ASMR videos could be a short-term aid for acute anxiety, and call for more research.

On the other hand, a 2021 study of 212 Malaysians with no history of anxiety disorders found no drop in anxiety in the ASMR group after an ASMR video, and the non-ASMR group felt more anxious afterward (Jairom, 2021).

For depression, the 2015 survey found that people with moderate to severe depression scores reported bigger short-term mood boosts, and 69% of them used ASMR to ease symptoms (Barratt & Davis, 2015). That is a self-report from fans, not evidence that ASMR treats depression. We cover this in more depth in ASMR for anxiety and stress.

What happens in the brain during ASMR?

Brain imaging studies are small, but they suggest the tingles go along with measurable changes in brain activity.

• In a pilot fMRI study of 10 people, moments of tingling lit up the nucleus accumbens, a reward area, plus the medial prefrontal cortex and insula. Those regions are also linked to social behavior and grooming (Lochte et al., 2018).
• A 2019 study comparing 17 people who feel ASMR with 17 who don't found activity in sensory, motor, emotional and attention-related areas that only appeared in the ASMR group. The authors concluded ASMR is "not simply" sensory or emotional, but both (Smith et al., 2019).

That second study did not reproduce the reward-area finding of the first, which shows how early this work still is.

Downsides and limits of ASMR

ASMR is low-risk for most people, but it is not for everyone.

Not everyone feels it

The Bochum researchers estimate that about 25 to 30% of viewers experience ASMR (Ruhr University Bochum, 2023). Many studies find the clearest benefits only in that group. Still, four of the eight students in the 2023 interview study did not report tingles, yet used ASMR regularly anyway (Woods & Turner-Cobb, 2023). If you are in that boat, read why you might not feel ASMR tingles.

"ASMR immunity"

Many viewers say their tingles fade when they watch the same videos too often, and call it "ASMR immunity." There is no solid research on it yet. The 2015 survey did note that some people were only triggered by new material (Barratt & Davis, 2015), so rotating triggers and creators is a reasonable thing to try.

It can be irritating, especially with misophonia

Misophonia is a strong negative reaction to specific sounds, often chewing, lip smacking, breathing, tapping, typing or rustling paper and plastic (Cleveland Clinic). Many of those are classic ASMR triggers.

People who experience ASMR actually scored higher on a misophonia questionnaire than people who don't (an average of 24.1 versus 16.8) in a 2018 study of 132 adults (Janik McErlean & Banissy, 2018). So the same sound can soothe one person and enrage another. If mouth sounds make you tense, skip them.

Screens at bedtime

Watching on a bright phone in bed is not ideal. The CDC advises turning off electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bedtime (CDC). Turning the screen off or face down and just listening is a simple compromise.

Headphone volume

ASMR is quiet by design, but long sessions in earbuds add up. The WHO advises keeping personal audio volume low and using well-fitting, ideally noise-cancelling, headphones, because prolonged or repeated loud listening can permanently damage hearing (WHO, 2022).

Relying on it

Some students in the 2023 interview study described growing dependent on ASMR to fall asleep (Woods & Turner-Cobb, 2023). That isn't harmful in itself, but it is worth noticing if you can't sleep without it.

What is not proven about ASMR

Be wary of claims that go beyond the data. As of now:

• No long-term effects shown. The Bochum review found no study demonstrating long-term effects on mental health (Ruhr University Bochum, 2023). A small one-week study comparing regular ASMR with mindfulness and a control group concluded ASMR was ineffective as a long-term mood intervention (Ditchburn & Bedwell, 2019).
• Not a treatment. ASMR has not been shown to treat insomnia, anxiety disorders, depression or chronic pain. Some survey respondents with chronic pain said it helped, but about as many said it had no effect (Barratt & Davis, 2015).
• Small, self-selected samples. Many studies recruit fans from ASMR communities online, which can inflate the benefits.

If you've had trouble sleeping for weeks, or worry and low mood are getting in the way of daily life, talk to a doctor. The CDC recommends seeing a healthcare provider if you regularly have trouble sleeping (CDC). ASMR can sit alongside real treatment, not replace it.

How to get the most out of ASMR

If you want to see whether ASMR works for you, a little structure helps.

1. Start with the common triggers. In the 2015 survey the top triggers were whispering (75%), personal attention (69%), crisp sounds (64%) and slow movements (53%) (Barratt & Davis, 2015). Our list of ASMR triggers walks through more.
2. Change one thing at a time. Try the same trigger with whispering, soft-spoken and no-talking voices, then try a slower or faster pace. On Tingly Room's video finder you can filter by trigger, voice, pace and length to do exactly this.
3. Pick your own videos. In the Sheffield lab study, heart rate fell with both a standard video and one each person chose themselves (Poerio et al., 2018). Videos you already like are a sensible place to start.
4. Set up a calm space. Dim the lights, get comfortable, and give one video time to work rather than skipping around.
5. Keep the volume low. Quiet is the point, and it protects your hearing.
6. Rotate when it fades. If a trigger stops working, switch to a new one or a new creator for a while.
7. Judge by how you feel, not by tingles. Calm, a better mood or drifting off count as wins even without tingles.

The bottom line

ASMR seems to offer real but modest short-term benefits: more calm, a better mood and a slightly slower heart rate while you watch, mostly for people who feel it. People widely use it for sleep and stress, though sleep has not been tested in proper trials yet.

It is free, low-risk and easy to try. Treat it as a relaxation tool, not a cure, and see a doctor if sleep or mood problems persist.

Sources

1. More than a feeling: Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is characterized by reliable changes in affect and physiology, PLOS ONE, 2018
2. Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR): a flow-like mental state, PeerJ, 2015
3. Psychology: What's the story behind ASMR clips?, Ruhr University Bochum, 2023 (on Lohaus et al., Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice)
4. The effects of autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) on mood, attention, heart rate, skin conductance and EEG in healthy young adults, Experimental Brain Research, 2022
5. 'It's like Taking a Sleeping Pill': Student Experience of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) to Promote Health and Mental Wellbeing, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2023
6. Untangling the tingle: Investigating the association between the Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR), neuroticism, and trait & state anxiety, PLOS ONE, 2022
7. The Effects of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) Videos and ASMR Group on State Anxiety, Jurnal Psikologi Malaysia, 2021
8. An fMRI investigation of the neural correlates underlying the autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR), BioImpacts, 2018
9. A functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation of the autonomous sensory meridian response, PeerJ, 2019
10. Misophonia, Cleveland Clinic
11. Increased misophonia in self-reported Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, PeerJ, 2018
12. About Sleep, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
13. WHO releases new standard to tackle rising threat of hearing loss, World Health Organization, 2022
14. Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response: An Ineffective Long-Term Therapeutic Intervention, PsyPAG Quarterly, 2019