Welcome back to Reading the Research, where I trawl
the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects,
then discuss it in brief with bits from my own life, research, and
observations.
Today's article talks about Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, or ASMR. When I was looking into various ways to relax and calm down, I ran across this brain-oddity. While it's not specifically an autistic feature, it definitely falls under the neurodiversity heading. ASMR is the name given to the physical relaxation response to specific things, like whispering, slow hand movements, slowly moving lights, tapping, the crackling of eggshells, or even the sounds of chewing. People with ASMR experience pleasant "brain tingles" which can spread down their body, when exposed to a trigger. It's an involuntary reaction, but a good one. (Also, it is not a sexual reaction, I should point out.)
You can listen to a sampler of ASMR triggers here. This type of video is fairly common, as are single trigger-focused videos. If you know anything about microphones, you can tell this particular performer (ASMRtist) has a good bit of money, likely from her work making videos of ASMR triggers. They are very popular, as you can tell by the 20 million views on the video I linked. As I did my research, I found that I do not seem to experience ASMR (or at least, not with any of the triggers I've tried so far), but it wouldn't really surprise me if a number of autistic people do. Overall, my research into the subject made it sound an awful lot like a form of passive stimming.
The effects seem to match those of stimming, too. Stimming in autistic people is done to calm the person, and watching ASMR videos does that for people who experience it. Watching those videos slowed the heartrates of the viewers who experienced ASMR, as well as increasing positive emotions and feelings of social connection. It had no effect on non-ASMR viewers, though, so don't expect to find videos of crinkling paper or tapping making their way into your next company team-building meeting. I guess it wouldn't exactly hurt anyone it wasn't helping, since the triggers tend to be quiet sounds that aren't sharp or painful. But we don't have a good idea of the incidence rate of ASMR, simply that it exists and there is a measurable presence of it on YouTube (over 13 million videos uploaded, in fact).
As for me, I'll just have to keep looking. There are probably more ways to relax and fight anxiety out there, and even if this one doesn't work for me, that doesn't mean there aren't any out there for me to find.
Today's article talks about Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, or ASMR. When I was looking into various ways to relax and calm down, I ran across this brain-oddity. While it's not specifically an autistic feature, it definitely falls under the neurodiversity heading. ASMR is the name given to the physical relaxation response to specific things, like whispering, slow hand movements, slowly moving lights, tapping, the crackling of eggshells, or even the sounds of chewing. People with ASMR experience pleasant "brain tingles" which can spread down their body, when exposed to a trigger. It's an involuntary reaction, but a good one. (Also, it is not a sexual reaction, I should point out.)
You can listen to a sampler of ASMR triggers here. This type of video is fairly common, as are single trigger-focused videos. If you know anything about microphones, you can tell this particular performer (ASMRtist) has a good bit of money, likely from her work making videos of ASMR triggers. They are very popular, as you can tell by the 20 million views on the video I linked. As I did my research, I found that I do not seem to experience ASMR (or at least, not with any of the triggers I've tried so far), but it wouldn't really surprise me if a number of autistic people do. Overall, my research into the subject made it sound an awful lot like a form of passive stimming.
The effects seem to match those of stimming, too. Stimming in autistic people is done to calm the person, and watching ASMR videos does that for people who experience it. Watching those videos slowed the heartrates of the viewers who experienced ASMR, as well as increasing positive emotions and feelings of social connection. It had no effect on non-ASMR viewers, though, so don't expect to find videos of crinkling paper or tapping making their way into your next company team-building meeting. I guess it wouldn't exactly hurt anyone it wasn't helping, since the triggers tend to be quiet sounds that aren't sharp or painful. But we don't have a good idea of the incidence rate of ASMR, simply that it exists and there is a measurable presence of it on YouTube (over 13 million videos uploaded, in fact).
As for me, I'll just have to keep looking. There are probably more ways to relax and fight anxiety out there, and even if this one doesn't work for me, that doesn't mean there aren't any out there for me to find.
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