icon-account icon-glass

Popular Searches

Popular Products

The Lean Protein
Whey protein powder for weight-loss.

CATEGORIES

ASMR Can Help Soothe Your Stress And Anxiety

8th November 2022

Health Life

8th November 2022

By Robyn Schaffer

Whispering into a microphone, crinkling plastic, tapping on wood, brushing hair. What do all these things have in common? Believe it or not, they can relieve you of stress, soothe your anxieties, and even send you to sleep. No, really. We mean it.

All of these things are common features of a trend better known as ASMR. ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) is the name for a tingling sensation that usually starts on the scalp and slowly moves down the back of the neck, down the upper spine and throughout the body. These ‘tingles’ are normally triggered by specific sounds and noises (‘triggers’), and are said to feel like mild electrical currents or bubbles in a glass of champagne. While not everyone experiences ASMR tingles, for those who do, the result is often a positive, euphoric feeling that leads to a sense of calmness and relaxation.

What is ASMR?

So we know it sounds weird, but ASMR has become an enormous trend in recent years. There are now over 13 million ASMR videos on YouTube, and people of all ages and demographics worldwide love them for their soothing, calming (albeit often slightly strange) qualities. 

ASMR as we know it today most frequently takes the form of either videos (on YouTube) or audio clips (on hosting services like Spotify and iTunes). The most popular types of ASMR videos usually feature somebody making 'trigger' noises close up in front of a microphone. These might be nails scratching or tapping on different materials or gentle whispering sounds and noises. However, another popular type of ASMR is role-play, where the person in the video will simulate a scene from everyday life and speak in a whispered voice to the camera, as if talking directly to the viewer. These are sometimes known as ‘personal attention’ videos.

Where before ASMR was a little known, hidden subculture on the outskirts of the internet, it’s now a global phenomenon thanks to its reported psychological and physiological benefits. Almost overnight, it seemed like everyone everywhere was either talking about ASMR or trying it out for themselves (one of our personal faves is this clip of Cardi B giving ASMR a go).


With the anxiety and sleep issues steadily on the rise, more and more are finding solace in ASMR. During hectic weeks, the internet can become a place of safety and comfort (yes, it's possible!) as millions of us tune into ASMR videos to help us relax, de-stress and switch off from the day. Some even compare the sensation and effect of ASMR tingles to that of mindfulness or meditation.

So what are the benefits of ASMR?

But despite its mainstream popularity today, relatively little scientific experimentation has been carried out on ASMR. And the information that is available rarely goes back further than a few years, when the trend really began to take off. However, in 2018, the results of an ASMR study carried out by the University of Sheffield were released, which had huge implications for the positive benefits of ASMR.

The study split a group of people into two categories: those who were shown ASMR videos and those who were shown non-ASMR videos. For those in the ASMR group, those who experienced the highest levels of ASMR sensations reported feeling the highest levels of happiness and calmness. They also reported feeling the lowest levels of sadness and stress, compared with those feeling less ASMR sensations and those in the non-ASMR group.

ASMR for physical and mental relief

But aside from bringing about general feelings of happiness and calmness, ASMR can also help aid physical pain. “I discovered ASMR several years ago, when I was looking for ways to distract myself from the pain and discomfort of suffering from fibromyalgia,” Sarah Nicholson, of the YouTube channel Evoke ASMR, tells Innermost. Fibromyalgia is a condition that causes chronic pain throughout the body, and it often comes with other side effects such as fatigue and trouble sleeping.


Sarah was amazed at just how much ASMR helped relax her and distract her from her pain. And after seeing how much it could help people with a range of different mental and physical health problems, she started her own YouTube channel in 2018. Her channel now has almost 5,000 subscribers and the majority of her videos are medical ‘role-play’ videos, one of the most popular types of ASMR video.

Chloe*, of the YouTube channel Miss Chloe ASMR, was introduced to ASMR by a friend when she was struggling to sleep. "I've experienced tingles all my life," she says. "So I began watching more ASMR videos to discover new triggers to help me to sleep. They really helped me, so I thought I might give it a go to give back to the community. I published my first video in 2014 and I've been doing it ever since." Chloe's channel now has over 53,000 subscribers and she produces a range of videos, varying from sound triggers, to role-play, to personal attention.

For many, it’s the “personal attention” aspect of role-play videos that is “reassuring and comforting”, according to Sarah. “I get so many comments saying how my voice is calming and reassuring, and that my medical role-plays help calm their anxieties about visiting the doctor or the dentist,” she says. “I’ve also had comments from younger viewers who tell me that my videos have helped them calm down and sleep through periods of anxiety with studying and exams. Some viewers tell me they never even get to the end of my videos because they fall asleep, which is wonderful.”

As for lockdown, it was being confronted with change that led to increased anxiety in many of us. "Many of us don’t react well to change,” Sarah continues. “The whole idea of a different way of living, fear of illness, being separated from loved ones, and concerns over jobs and income brought about so much anxiety and stress for many. But again, I’ve received such positive feedback about how ASMR has helped my viewers in these unprecedented times.”

For Chloe, ASMR has provided "a little escape to help people feel less alone". She says: "The comments are particularly important too. So many others are in a similar mindset right now, and I’ve noticed lots of comment threads under my videos supporting and motivating each other, which is so lovely to see."


Quite simply, the reason why ASMR works so well is because the audio and visuals feature calming and gentle sounds, noises and actions, while the presenter takes on the role of a parent, friend or carer. Our brains recognise these sounds, sights and noises and associates them with recalled memories of safety and relaxation, helping us to feel these things more strongly in the present moment.

Top ASMR accounts to follow 

If we’ve convinced you that ASMR could be the key to helping you relax and unwind for whatever reason you need to, be sure to check out some of these ASMR accounts we’ve been loving recently.

So if you haven't given ASMR a go yet - why not try it out this evening. Pair with two of The Relax Capsules to help you soothe your mind and drift off into peaceful sleep.

*Chloe has requested to keep her full name hidden out of respect for her privacy.

< Older post Newer post >

Need Expert Advice?

Take the quiz

Take the quiz

If you're not sure where to start, take our 5 minute health consultation to get product recommendations tailored to your goals.
Read more

Other Insights

What Happened To My Training Over Summer (Honestly)

What Happened To My Training Over Summer (Honestly)

I did not train well this summer. A holiday to spend time with my family, a run of work trips, a couple of injuries I was trying to cope with (left shoulder and right forearm for those who are interested). If you'd asked me in June how consistent I'd be over the summer, I'd have said very. I was wrong. Most people quietly assume the founder of a wellness brand has this figured out. The truth is I run a brand, I try to have a life outside it, and summer is the season where routine goes to die for almost everyone I know. I don't think that's a personal failing. I think it's just what a normal year looks like. What I want to talk about is what actually happens to your body when this happens, because the research here is more reassuring than you might expect. What detraining research actually shows There's a real body of science on this. Strength and cardiovascular fitness don't decline at the same rate, and they don't decline anywhere near as fast as people fear. Cardiovascular fitness is the first thing to soften. Your VO2 max starts drifting down within a couple of weeks of stopping structured training, because your heart and blood vessels adapt to demand quickly in both directions. Strength is a different story. Studies that track people through a few weeks off training consistently find that measurable strength loss is small, often barely noticeable, for the first three to four weeks. The muscle itself takes even longer to shrink in any meaningful way. Several studies looking specifically at detraining periods found that visible loss of muscle protein and structure often doesn't show up until somewhere between five and eight months without any training at all. A summer of patchy sessions is nowhere near that. The reassuring partThe part I find genuinely reassuring is what's called muscle memory, and it's not just a phrase people use to feel better about a break. When you train, your muscle cells add nuclei, essentially more control centres for building protein. Research shows those nuclei stick around for months after you stop training, well past the point where the muscle itself has started to shrink. When you come back, you're not starting from zero. You're reactivating machinery that never actually left. That's a large part of why people who return to training after a long break tend to regain lost strength and size far faster than it took to build in the first place, often within four to eight weeks depending on how long the layoff was. Some of you might remember this happening post-Covid. So if you had a summer like mine, the honest scientific answer is that you probably lost less than it feels like, and you'll get it back faster than you think. What I'm actually doing this month Nothing dramatic. I'm not doing a reset week or a punishing comeback programme. I'm just going back to five structured sessions a week, prioritising the compound lifts I know well, and being honest that the first couple of sessions will feel harder than they did in June.  Don’t forget your proteinThe other thing I'm paying more attention to is protein, simply because it's the one lever that makes the rebuilding phase more efficient. Adequate protein intake supports the muscle protein synthesis that's doing the actual work of restoring what softened over summer. I've been leaning on The Health Protein for this. It's plant-based, built around pea and brown rice protein for a full amino acid profile, with glutamine in there to support recovery. If you'd rather stick with a whey based option, that's a completely reasonable choice too, and The Strong Protein remains built for exactly that. If you had a messy summer, you're not behind. You're just at the start of a normal, unremarkable return to routine, and the research says that's a far shorter road back than most people assume. Forward this to anyonre you know who is dreading their first session back. I'd genuinely like to know what generally works for you post-summer. Structured plan, just showing up once, anything. Reply and tell me. Even if it’s a one-liner, I’d love to hear from you.
Read more
The Glow Blend: A Confession

The Glow Blend: A Confession

I need to tell you something I've never said publicly, and it's not flattering. When our product team first brought me a plan for a collagen supplement, my honest reaction was no. Not "let me think about it." A flat no. And if I'm being fully honest about why, it wasn't the science. It was that collagen felt, in my head, like a beauty category. Something for someone else's brand. Not ours. I built Innermost around performance and evidence. Protein, creatine, mushrooms, electrolytes. Things I could point to a study for and feel comfortable talking about at a dinner table full of people who workout regularly. Collagen sat in a different mental folder. Skincare aisle. Jars with gold lids and brand sponsorship by one of the Kardashians. I'd absorbed a version of what "beauty" meant without ever examining it. The argument in the room So we had the argument internally. A proper one. A few people on the team pushed back hard, and rightly so. One of them put it to me plainly: we started Innermost to follow the evidence wherever it goes, not to follow it everywhere except the places that feel awkward. That line stuck with me. Here's what changed my mind, and it wasn't a feeling. It was the research. What the evidence actually says Collagen is the most abundant protein in your body. It's structural, it's in your skin, your joints, your gut lining, and production declines steadily from your mid-twenties onward. That's not a marketing claim, that's basic physiology. The question was never whether collagen matters. It was whether supplementing it actually does anything, and that's where most of the category falls apart. Most collagen products on the market use whole collagen molecules, which are too large to be absorbed effectively when you drink them. The ones that do use hydrolysed peptides, which are broken down into smaller chains your body can actually take up, still run into a second problem: dose. A lot of labels list collagen content that sits well below the 2 to 10 grams used in the trials that show measurable effects on skin elasticity and hydration. You're paying for a placebo with good branding. The ingredient most brands leave out The third problem is the one that convinced me completely. Vitamin C isn't a nice-to-have alongside collagen. It's a required co-factor for your body to actually synthesise collagen at the cellular level. Without adequate vitamin C, the enzymes responsible for stabilising collagen structure don't function properly. You can take a perfectly dosed hydrolysed peptide and still get a fraction of the benefit if the product doesn't include enough vitamin C alongside it. Most don't. They sell you the raw material and leave out the one thing your body needs to use it. Once I saw the category clearly, laid out like that, the decision stopped being about how I felt and started being about what the evidence supported. That's the whole operating principle of Innermost. I couldn't defend saying no to a legitimate, well-evidenced product category. What we built So we built The Glow Blend properly. Hydrolysed collagen peptides at a dose that reflects the research, alongside vitamin C, hyaluronic acid for hydration, biotin and folic acid for hair and nail health. Nothing in it that doesn't earn its place. What surprised me after launch The part I didn't expect was the response once we launched it. A good number of the messages came from women, as you'd expect, and they were generous and specific about what they'd noticed. But a surprising number came from men. Customers writing in to say they'd felt exactly what I'd felt, that awkward little flinch at "collagen," and had quietly bought it anyway because the ingredient breakdown made sense to them. That response told me more about why this category needed an honest voice in it than any research paper did. I'm not going to pretend I have this fully figured out. I still catch myself, occasionally, hesitating slightly before I mention it in a room. Old habits sit deeper than good evidence sometimes. But I take it, and increasingly a lot of men I respect take it too, quietly, without needing to make a thing of it. If this sounds familiar If any part of this resonated, and you've felt that same small resistance to a category you assumed wasn't for you, hit reply and tell me. I'd genuinely like to know I'm not the only one who had to get over it. And if you know someone, a friend, a partner, who could use this exact reasoning rather than a tesimonial, forward it on. It might do more good coming from someone else's honesty.
Read more