The Physiological Effects of ASMR on Anxiety
-
Sahar Seifzadeh
,
Vahid Asayesh
,
Majid Torabi Nikjeh
,
Mahdi Dehghani
,
Elham Rabbani Parsa
,
Fatemeh Asgharianasl
Abstract
Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response is a novel phenomenon that is very popular these days on Youtube and Reddit to its anti-anxiety effects. As the name suggests, ASMR is a relaxing warm sensation that begins on the scalp and spreads throughout the body. This technique is also known as "brain massage," and it relies on soothing sights and sounds, like whispers and slow movements.One of the most substantial reasons for investigating these videos is to find out their scientific roots, which can be from different approaches. In this paper, we intended to examine the physiological changes such as Heart Rate (HR) as well as Galvanic Skin Conductance (GSC) levels before and after watching a single session ASMR video. The dependent t-test statistical analysis by SPSS results with P-value <=0.01 indicated that after a single session of ASMR watching, the heart rate decreased significantly comparing the baseline data. In addition, the skin conductance was slightly reduced as well, but not significantly. These physiological findings prove that ASMR could be an affordable, portable, and immediate anxiety relief for those struggling with anxiety-based disorders, especially for patients who do not respond well to medication or seek alternatives to anti-anxiety medications due to the wide range of side effects or would like to try it for better results along with the prescribed drugs.
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30- Giulia Lara Poerio, Emma Blakey, Thomas J Hostler, and Theresa Veltri, "More than a feeling: Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is characterized by reliable changes in affect and physiology." PloS one, Vol. 13 (No. 6), p. e0196645, (2018).
31- Oliver Grewe, Reinhard Kopiez, and Eckart Altenmüller, "The chill parameter: Goose bumps and shivers as promising measures in emotion research." Music Perception, Vol. 27 (No. 1), pp. 61-74, (2009).
32- Mathias Benedek and Christian Kaernbach, "Physiological correlates and emotional specificity of human piloerection." Biological psychology, Vol. 86 (No. 3), pp. 320-29, (2011).
33- Anne J Blood and Robert J Zatorre, "Intensely pleasurable responses to music correlate with activity in brain regions implicated in reward and emotion." Proceedings of the national academy of sciences, Vol. 98 (No. 20), pp. 11818-23, (2001).
34- Joke Bradt, Cheryl Dileo, and Noah Potvin, "Music for stress and anxiety reduction in coronary heart disease patients." Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (No. 12), (2013).
2- David H Barlow, Anxiety and its disorders: The nature and treatment of anxiety and panic. Guilford press, (2004).
3- Glenn V Ostir and James S Goodwin, "High anxiety is associated with an increased risk of death in an older tri-ethnic population." Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, Vol. 59 (No. 5), pp. 534-40, (2006).
4- Daniel A Geller and John March, "Practice parameter for the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder." Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Vol. 51 (No. 1), pp. 98-113, (2012).
5- Antona J Wagstaff, Susan M Cheer, Anna J Matheson, Douglas Ormrod, and Karen L Goa, "Spotlight on paroxetine in psychiatric disorders in adults." CNS drugs, Vol. 16 (No. 6), pp. 425-34, (2002).
6- Daniel Beracochea, "Anterograde and retrograde effects of benzodiazepines on memory." TheScientificWorldJOURNAL, Vol. 6pp. 1460-65, (2006).
7- Sophie Billioti De Gage et al., "Benzodiazepine use and risk of Alzheimer’s disease: case-control study." Bmj, Vol. 349p. g5205, (2014).
8- Cecile Denis, Melina Fatseas, Estelle Lavie, and Marc Auriacombe, "Pharmacological interventions for benzodiazepine mono‐dependence management in outpatient settings." Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (No. 3), (2006).
9- Charles P O’Brien, "Benzodiazepine use, abuse, and dependence." J Clin Psychiatry, Vol. 66 (No. Suppl 2), pp. 28-33, (2005).
10- Antoine Pariente, Jean-Francois Dartigues, Jacques Benichou, Luc Letenneur, Nicholas Moore, and Annie Fourrier-Réglat, "Benzodiazepines and injurious falls in community dwelling elders." Drugs & aging, Vol. 25 (No. 1), pp. 61-70, (2008).
11- Judson A Brewer, Alexandra Roy, Alana Deluty, Tao Liu, and Elizabeth A Hoge, "Can mindfulness mechanistically target worry to improve sleep disturbances? Theory and study protocol for app-based anxiety program." Health Psychology, Vol. 39 (No. 9), p. 776, (2020).
12- Álvaro Orosa-Duarte et al., "Mindfulness-based mobile app reduces anxiety and increases self-compassion in healthcare students: a randomised controlled trial." Medical teacher, Vol. 43 (No. 6), pp. 686-93, (2021).
13- Sapna Oberoi et al., "Association of mindfulness-based interventions with anxiety severity in adults with cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis." JAMA network open, Vol. 3 (No. 8), pp. e2012598-e98, (2020).
14- Xiang Zhou et al., "Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on anxiety symptoms in young people: A systematic review and meta-analysis." Psychiatry Research, Vol. 289p. 113002, (2020).
15- Sebastian B Gaigg et al., "Self-guided mindfulness and cognitive behavioural practices reduce anxiety in autistic adults: A pilot 8-month waitlist-controlled trial of widely available online tools." Autism, Vol. 24 (No. 4), pp. 867-83, (2020).
16- Kevin Nolet, Giulia Corno, and Stéphane Bouchard, "The adoption of new treatment modalities by health professionals and the relative weight of empirical evidence in favor of virtual reality exposure versus mindfulness in the treatment of anxiety disorders." Frontiers in human neuroscience, Vol. 14p. 86, (2020).
17- Feng‐Ying Huang, Ai‐Ling Hsu, Yi‐Ping Chao, Chloe Mu‐Hsuan Shang, Jaw‐Shiun Tsai, and Changwei W Wu, "Mindfulness‐based cognitive therapy on bereavement grief: Alterations of resting‐state network connectivity associate with changes of anxiety and mindfulness." Human brain mapping, Vol. 42 (No. 2), pp. 510-20, (2021).
18- Sarah Strohmaier, Fergal W Jones, and James E Cane, "Effects of length of mindfulness practice on mindfulness, depression, anxiety, and stress: A randomized controlled experiment." Mindfulness, Vol. 12 (No. 1), pp. 198-214, (2021).
19- Sukanya Phongsuphap, Yongyuth Pongsupap, Pakorn Chandanamattha, and Chidchanok Lursinsap, "Changes in heart rate variability during concentration meditation." International journal of cardiology, Vol. 130 (No. 3), pp. 481-84, (2008).
20- Vernon A Barnes, Harry C Davis, James B Murzynowski, and Frank A Treiber, "Impact of meditation on resting and ambulatory blood pressure and heart rate in youth." Psychosomatic medicine, Vol. 66 (No. 6), pp. 909-14, (2004).
21- Emma L Barratt, Charles Spence, and Nick J Davis, "Sensory determinants of the autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR): understanding the triggers." PeerJ, Vol. 5p. e3846, (2017).
22- Emma L Barratt and Nick J Davis, "Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR): a flow-like mental state." PeerJ, Vol. 3p. e851, (2015).
23- Aaron T Beck, Norman Epstein, Gary Brown, and Robert A Steer, "An inventory for measuring clinical anxiety: psychometric properties." Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, Vol. 56 (No. 6), p. 893, (1988).
24- Miao Wang and Bo Li, "Research on the Application of ASMR in the Development and Design of Sleeping Products." in E3S Web of Conferences, (2020), Vol. 179: E3S Web of Conferences, p. 02061.
25- Giulia L Poerio, Safiyya Mank, and Thomas J Hostler, "The awesome as well as the awful: Heightened sensory sensitivity predicts the presence and intensity of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR)." Journal of Research in Personality, Vol. 97p. 104183, (2022).
26- Sahar Seifzadeh, Sarani Ebrahim Moghimi, Fatemeh Torkamani, and Negar Ahsant, "Cortical activation changes associated with autonomous sensory meridian response (asmr): Initial case report." (2021).
27- Beverley Katherine Fredborg, Kevin Champagne-Jorgensen, Amy S Desroches, and Stephen D Smith, "An electroencephalographic examination of the autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR)." Consciousness and Cognition, Vol. 87p. 103053, (2021).
28- Niilo V Valtakari, Ignace TC Hooge, Jeroen S Benjamins, and Anouk Keizer, "An eye-tracking approach to Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR): The physiology and nature of tingles in relation to the pupil." PloS one, Vol. 14 (No. 12), p. e0226692, (2019).
29- Charlotte M Eid, Colin Hamilton, and Joanna MH Greer, "Untangling the tingle: Investigating the association between the Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR), neuroticism, and trait & state anxiety." PloS one, Vol. 17 (No. 2), p. e0262668, (2022).
30- Giulia Lara Poerio, Emma Blakey, Thomas J Hostler, and Theresa Veltri, "More than a feeling: Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is characterized by reliable changes in affect and physiology." PloS one, Vol. 13 (No. 6), p. e0196645, (2018).
31- Oliver Grewe, Reinhard Kopiez, and Eckart Altenmüller, "The chill parameter: Goose bumps and shivers as promising measures in emotion research." Music Perception, Vol. 27 (No. 1), pp. 61-74, (2009).
32- Mathias Benedek and Christian Kaernbach, "Physiological correlates and emotional specificity of human piloerection." Biological psychology, Vol. 86 (No. 3), pp. 320-29, (2011).
33- Anne J Blood and Robert J Zatorre, "Intensely pleasurable responses to music correlate with activity in brain regions implicated in reward and emotion." Proceedings of the national academy of sciences, Vol. 98 (No. 20), pp. 11818-23, (2001).
34- Joke Bradt, Cheryl Dileo, and Noah Potvin, "Music for stress and anxiety reduction in coronary heart disease patients." Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (No. 12), (2013).
| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 10 No 4 (2023) | |
| Section | Original Article(s) | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.18502/fbt.v10i4.13728 | |
| Keywords | ||
| Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response Anxiety-Based Disorders Heart Rate Skin Conductance Physiology Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response Triggers | ||
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How to Cite
1.
Seifzadeh S, Asayesh V, Torabi Nikjeh M, Dehghani M, Rabbani Parsa E, Asgharianasl F. The Physiological Effects of ASMR on Anxiety. Frontiers Biomed Technol. 2023;10(4):459-464.
