Why do so many people experience brain tingles when watching ASMR videos? Physiologist Craig Richard shares the science behind the "Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response," and how it calms the mind.

Transcript

MANOUSH ZOMORODI, HOST:

It's the TED Radio Hour from NPR. I'm Manoush Zomorodi. And today, the third and final episode in our special series Work, Play, Rest.

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ZOMORODI: We've been exploring the fundamental ways we spend our time and how they're changing, including ways for us to slow down.

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CRAIG RICHARD: I remember walking in the door, and they would walk me over to that chair where you lean back.

ZOMORODI: This is physiologist Craig Richard.

RICHARD: And they put your head, the back of your head, into the sink, and they turn on some warm water.

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ZOMORODI: Craig used to love going to the hairdresser.

RICHARD: And they start running that water through your hair.

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RICHARD: And then they start running their fingers through your hair. And that moment right there is just - I would want that to last a long time.

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RICHARD: They then walk me over to the chair, and they'd sit me down.

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RICHARD: But then they'd start teasing my hair a little bit and saying, well, what do you want to do? Do you want it shorter? Do you want it like this?

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RICHARD: And then they would start cutting it.

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RICHARD: I'd hear the snip, snip, snip of the scissors.

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RICHARD: And then all that would just put me in this deep state of relaxation. I would feel these brain tingles.

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RICHARD: And I have a confession because you're only hearing my voice right now; you're not seeing me. I am a bald man, but I don't miss my hair. What I miss is going to the hairdresser for that stimulation of ASMR that would happen.

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ZOMORODI: ASMR, you may have heard of it before - those videos on YouTube of people whispering or making crinkling noises that millions of people watch to relax. Craig spent the last several years researching why some people love these sounds.

RICHARD: ASMR stands for autonomous sensory meridian response, which is just a complicated word for a feeling that is deeply relaxing. But it also has these signature brain tingles, which feel light and sparkly. The triggers for this relaxing feeling can be a sound...

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RICHARD: ...Can be voices...

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RICHARD: ...Can be light touch, can be movements...

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RICHARD: But what's common to all these triggers of ASMR is that they must be gentle, low volume if they're sounds and non-abrupt. And it's usually a moment of positive personal attention, which means that you're interacting with someone who is kind and caring. This could be between a hairdresser and a client, a health professional and a patient, romantic partners or even best friends.

ZOMORODI: So tell me - how on Earth, Craig, did you discover this world of research, and when did you find out that these sensations were actually something neurological going on?

RICHARD: Yeah. I was listening to a podcast in my kitchen and the episode was about this term that I had never heard before - autonomous sensory meridian response. And I'm a physiologist, and this sounded like physiology, but I'd never heard of it, so I was very skeptical. And I was about to delete the episode until they gave the example of Bob Ross. They said people who experience ASMR tend to feel deeply relaxed and feel these brain tingles when they watch the TV show, Bob Ross' "Joy Of Painting" and my eyes lit up.

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BOB ROSS: Hello. I'm Bob Ross, and I'd like to welcome you to the 29th "Joy Of Painting" series.

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ZOMORODI: For those who aren't familiar, Bob Ross has become kind of a kitschy icon. But back in the '80s, he was this guy with big hair on public television who would paint a landscape in real time on camera. But there was something tantalizing about him.

RICHARD: He had a gentle voice, he had a kind disposition, and he had a skill that he was teaching you. It fits the perfect scenario of what we refer to as an ASMR scenario.

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ROSS: And we'll take this old brush and just making little X's, little crisscross strokes. We'll just very quickly drop in just a little warm part in the sky here.

RICHARD: It's a gentle person making gentle sounds, and somehow, that's helpful to you or you perceive that moment as caring. And Bob Ross had the most caring, loving, gentle personality.

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ROSS: What's so fantastic about this is that anybody can put a little masterpiece on canvas with just a little bit of practice, a vision in your mind, and off you go. All right.

RICHARD: And when I watched him as a kid, I would just put a pillow on the floor, and I would end up falling asleep as his...

ZOMORODI: (Laughter).

RICHARD: ...Voice and the sounds of his paintbrush on the canvas just washed over me.

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ZOMORODI: When we think about feeling rested, we often think of getting a good night's sleep or taking a nap. But there are so many different ways we can rest. So today on the show, ideas about slowing down and why rest is crucial to our survival. We'll explore tips to avoid burnout.

CELESTE HEADLEE: Our emotional health responds beautifully when we allow our bodies to rest.

ZOMORODI: How what we dream at night impacts us during the day.

DYLAN SELTERMAN: Yeah, we are definitely very active, at least mentally, when we sleep.

ZOMORODI: And why scientists are pursuing a radical new form of rest - human hibernation.

MATTEO CERRI: It's a suspension. You are retiring from the game of life for a little bit of time (laughter).

ZOMORODI: But first, let's get back to Craig Richard and how he learned about the now-popular relaxation technique ASMR. Here he is on the TED stage.

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RICHARD: Now, I'm a physiologist. I'm a researcher. I'm a data nerd. I was so excited to read about the science of ASMR (laughter). In 2013, there wasn't a single peer-reviewed research study. What I did find were plenty of forums discussing this blissful sensation. And they all reported the same response that I felt - they were deeply relaxed, they felt comforted, they felt calmed, and they had these light, sparkly brain tingles. And I also noticed that every scenario they described was always when they were receiving positive personal attention from a kind and caring individual.

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ZOMORODI: So, Craig, I mean, nowadays, these videos are all over YouTube. People are known as ASMR artists and they create these scenarios that might involve sounds or whispering, like a bookkeeper writing and moving around papers...

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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: ...Create a record for your business and...

ZOMORODI: ...Or an eye exam.

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GIBI ASMR: Hi, I'm Dr. Gibi. It's nice to see you.

ZOMORODI: So for people who experience ASMR and watch these videos, why is it so enjoyable for them? Is it just watching someone talking to you, calming you down? Is it the sounds? Is it a combination of those?

RICHARD: It's the combination. It's the context - to tell you this is a safe and helpful moment, so don't run away. And it creates this positive personal interaction between you and someone in a video, which of course, can't be a real interaction. But our brains still process it, at least perhaps subconsciously, as if that person is right there with us.

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RICHARD: I recently published a brain scan study with Bryson Lochte and other researchers from Dartmouth College. And we saw that the brain regions that are activated while people are watching ASMR videos like these are the same brain regions that are activated when people are receiving positive personal attention from a kind and caring person in the real world. Now, there's plenty of unanswered questions still, like what might be the brain chemicals that are causing this amazing sensation? One likely candidate is the neurohormone oxytocin, and you might have heard of this as the love hormone. It's already well known that your oxytocin levels in your brain increase when anyone gives you positive personal attention in a kind and caring way.

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ZOMORODI: For as many people who love ASMR, there are also some people who hate it, right? I mean, I have listened to some of them where I'm like, just speak up, stop with the whispering already. I can't hear you.

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ZOMORODI: And I'm guessing that there are some people listening to us and thinking, like, this is just plain weird. What on Earth are you both talking about? How do you explain it to people who are just thinking, this is bizarro niche internet silliness?

RICHARD: Hmm. Well, in a way, it is all that for some people.

ZOMORODI: (Laughter).

RICHARD: I mean, it is. But it's also very powerful, and it's effective for a lot of people who have ASMR responses. So usually, a lot of the skepticism comes from people who don't experience it. But we do have to be careful because that, in a way, was how people responded to migraines when migraines were first reported. Just because you can't see it and you don't experience that extreme pain in your head doesn't mean it's not real for someone else. So right now, yes, it's weird, but there's more and more science coming out, there's more and more studies that are confirming it is helping people to decrease their stress. It is helping people to fall asleep. And it may be helpful for people who have clinical disorders, such as anxiety and insomnia.

ZOMORODI: It's interesting to hear you say that. I mean, it's been a heck of a few years. There's been a lot to be stressed out about. People are looking for ways to put their minds and their bodies at rest, and they are struggling to find it. Does - has it always been thus? Or are we at a particularly tough moment where we need to use every single tool that's available to us, and if they sound a little weird - you know what? - that's OK?

RICHARD: I guess if we were to think of our bodies like a computer - if you're always running your computer with lots of programs and it's doing a lot of activities, it will overheat, and it will shut down. We do need to find things to help us lower our stress.

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RICHARD: And this is what is driving the popularity of ASMR. These aren't curious videos; they're effective videos for a lot of individuals. It's not going to work for everyone, but it's another tool in the toolbox. Whether it's ASMR videos, it's mindfulness, it's meditation, it's medication, it's good to have this large selection of things that can help calm our brains down.

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ZOMORODI: That's Craig Richard. He's a professor at Shenandoah University and hosts the podcast "Sleep Whispers". You can hear his full talk at ted.com.

Today on the show, Part 3 of our series - Work, Play, Rest. I'm Manoush Zomorodi, and you're listening to the TED Radio Hour from NPR. We'll be right back. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.