Can this cure woman insomnia just by crinkling paper?
Bizarre videos that claim to calm you in seconds are sweeping the internet. But...
From eye masks to ear plugs, lavender pillow spray, radio 4, herbal ‘Zen’ tablets and, in emergencies, sleeping pills, I’ve tried all manner of things to cure my chronic insomnia. But still I regularly wake at 5am feeling tired and wired. Now though, I find myself in a shed in South London, listening to a woman crinkling tissue paper — because, apparently, this might just be the answer to a good night’s sleep. There’s nothing extraordinary about the paper being crinkled. And the woman, Emma Smith, 37, a former marketing executive and mother-of-two, has no medical qualifications.
But hundreds of thousands of people across Britain regularly watch videos of her doing it. or something similar — such as turning the pages of a book, folding towels or brushing her hair. It’s called ASmr, Autonomous Sensory meridian response, a kind of self-help video that’s sweeping the country.
ASmr is said to create a tingly feeling in the scalp that travels down the body in response to visual or auditory triggers, producing a sense of wellbeing and relaxation.
The internet is full of ASmr artists — or sleep whisperers or tinglesmiths, as they’re also known. They’re usually pleasant-looking women with names such as heather Feather or The Waterwhispers — Emma’s name is Whispersred.
They talk quietly and slowly into microphones so sensitive it’s as though they are in the room with you, whispering in your ear.
maria, a pretty 20-something russian-American who goes under the name GentleWhispering, was one of the first ASmr artists. her video oh Such A Good 3D-Sound ASmr shows her gently turning an aromatherapy oil burner in her hands.
‘It’s made of real stone,’ she mouths, barely audibly. ‘It’s not very hot... but the top part is hot . . . because the candle is positioned right under... the top part.’
It’s as if I’ve inadvertently clicked on the QVC on Valium channel. But when she ‘blows’ the relaxing vapour first into my left ear and then my right, I almost get that fuzziness you have during a head massage.
Niche? Not a bit. The video has been viewed nearly 15.5 million times.
And thanks to the sheer number of anecdotal reports on ASmr sites about how it helps with sleep and problems including migraine, depression, anxiety and chronic pain condition fibromyalgia, the scientific community has pricked up its ears.
A research study of nearly 500 ASmr enthusiasts by Swansea University’s Psychology Department, the first such investigation, found ASmr can be induced in certain people by a consistent set of triggers.
The study found that 80 per cent of people felt their mood improve after watching the videos.
And last month, a study by the University of Winnipeg, Canada, published in the journal Social Neuroscience, used mrI scans to prove there’s a slight difference in brain activity of ASmr-sensitive individuals and those who are not sensitive.
The authors hypothesised that ASmr-sensitive people may have a ‘reduced ability to inhibit sensory-emotional experiences that are suppressed in most individuals’.
Dr Craig richard a professor at Shenandoah University, Virginia and author of the blog ASmr University, claims the research suggests ASmrsensitivy is not a disorder, ‘but rather a structural difference [in the brain] that grants a special window to experience relaxation’.
BUT you don’t have to look very far to find doubters. ‘It sounds like poppycock to me,’ says Dr max Pemberton, an NhS psychiatrist and Daily mail columnist. ‘There’s no sound science behind it. my concern is that people with serious conditions will seek this out and treat themselves rather than receiving proper treatment.
‘They need to be seen by a professional for a proper evidencebased plan, which might include some self-help.’
however, Emma has experienced its effects first-hand. She discovered ASmr after a car accident six years ago, which left her with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and temporarily confined to a wheelchair.
‘Falling asleep was difficult,’ she says. ‘I looked for relaxation videos, rainforest sounds, anything to have on in the background as a distraction and to soothe me to sleep.’
When she discovered ASmr, she found the effect was instant.
‘my mind would be clear because I would be focusing on a soft voice. There were no surprises with sounds or big bangs like you might get if you listen to the radio. It was nice and monotone.’
It gave her the tingles she had felt W as a child when having her hair cut or an eye test. hILE she admits it wasn’t a substitute for the therapy she was having for PTSD, she is convinced it accelerated her recovery. ‘I wouldn’t say it solved anything, but it helped me to sleep and to learn about myself by observing myself. When you have a panic attack or feel depressed it’s because there’s a disconnect.’
From Emma’s description of ASmr, it’s clear there are similarities with mindfulness and meditation. It seems it’s the sheer mundanity of the task and the inanity of the commentary that people love.
‘When you focus on something small such as nails tapping on a cup, you start to notice the smaller things in everyday life. You are more in the now, rather than in your head,’ she says.
There were times after her accident when she would zone out and not hear what her children had said. ‘That would break my heart. I’m now much more present for them. It’s made me a better mum.’
Jane Edwards, a psychotherapist who has carried out specialist research into internet addiction, agrees.
‘Life is challenging in the super-stressful world we’ve created,’ she says.
‘We all need time to slow down and get more in touch with our bodies and breathe, rather than reaching for a glass of wine after working too much.
‘mindfulness and meditation have become popular self-help techniques for insomnia, and it seems to me that ASmr is a version of this — though the tingly feeling in your head is not something people who practice mindfulness mention.’
She also believes ASmr keys into our early development, when our parents regulated our extreme emotions by cuddling, shushing, stroking and rocking us, creating a sense of containment and security.
‘Through this experience of having our emotions managed for us in infancy, we learn to do this for ourselves, or self-soothe, and hopefully grow up to become adults who can recover quickly when we feel emotionally imbalanced,’ she says.
Angela Shields, 47, a soft furnisher from Kent and a mother-of-two, says ASmr videos put a name to the tingly feeling she’d had in childhood, but had thought no one else felt.
She remembers being at school watching a friend colour in slowly and deliberately. ‘I was mesmerised and felt very sleepy and relaxed,’ she says. ‘I didn’t get much of my own work done that lesson. When I discovered ASmr on YouTube I was amazed the feeling had a name.’
It helped her through a stressful
time a couple of years ago when she was trying to find a college place for her autistic son. The videos would be a moment of calm in between stressful phone calls and emails.
‘It helps me with anxiety and relaxes me, particularly if I’ve had a stressful day. I know there will always be ASMR videos to help me relax and that in itself is reassuring,’ she says.
‘That calming yet tingly feeling is a lovely way to fall asleep. It’s almost like someone is stroking my head and back — it can sometimes give me goosebumps. I’ll be asleep in seconds.’
Can it have any negative side effects? Emma says the tingles disappear after a while and you need a break to become sensitive again, ‘which means you can’t become addicted’.
It’s hard to see any financial incentive. The videos are free to view and Emma is hardly coining it in. After three years she makes enough money to contribute to household bills from adverts on her channel, but it’s far from the thousands some bloggers make from product placement.
My only fear is for the safety of Emma and the other young, good-looking ASMR artists.
Some of their videos involve close personal attention — a pretend make-up session with brushes, an eye exam, even an ear-cleaning video using cotton buds (there are whole YouTube channels dedicated to this).
Watching attractive women carry out medical role-plays, sensuously stroking inanimate objects and promising to take away your cares seems highly suggestive. And the terms ‘head orgasm’ or ‘braingasm’ have been used to describe the tingling sensation.
Not surprisingly, the ASMR community is keen to distance itself from anything sexual. Emma is careful not to attract unwanted attention, believing her viewers would lose trust if they suspected she was being suggestive.
When I get home, I notice Emma has posted the tissue paper video, called Tissue For Your Sleep Issue and it’s had 33,000 views. I get ready for bed and click ‘play’.
I’m disappointed that I don’t get tingles, but amazingly I’m asleep in 15 minutes. For me, as long as I don’t watch anything too silly, ASMR is an easy-access slice of mindfulness. Just as I’d turn to the Shipping Forecast — a favourite with insomniacs for its euphonic, pleasantly meaningless sounds, such as ‘Fisher, Dogger, German Bight...’ — it has the power to drown out the day’s worries.
Whatever the sceptics may say, the world of ASMR does appear benign — the artists aren’t making any great health claims, they are not selling anything and most are reaping very little financial reward.
Perhaps we should be openminded for a change. Maybe, just maybe, what appears bonkers and a little bit suggestive could actually be the key to managing our stressful lives.