Why pregnant women turn to ASMR videos for stress relief and emotional support

In the final weeks of pregnancy, when sleep and serenity are often so elusive, there are certain tried-and-true tips to help an expectant mother relax and rest: do gentle yoga stretches. Tuck a body pillow between your knees. Sip a cup of warm chamomile tea.

And maybe watch a YouTube video featuring a young woman speaking in a breathy whisper as she pretends to give you an ear massage.

“When I found those videos, oh, they were a godsend,” says Melissa Shaw, 34, a retail manager from the American state of Oregon who gave birth to her daughter in November. “I was at that point in my pregnancy where I couldn’t take anything to sleep and I was so physically uncomfortable. I was up all night, super jittery and agitated, and all of a sudden, finally, I’d found something that could soothe me to sleep and it wasn’t medical and had no side effects.”

Shaw was in her third trimester when a friend first pointed her to the videos on YouTube, and she learned the name for the physical reaction they induced: ASMR, or autonomous sensory meridian response, which is often described as a cascade of pleasant tingles that begins in the crown of the head and ripples throughout the body, instilling a sense of deep relaxation. (If you’re someone who gets goose bumps when someone whispers into your ear or plays with your hair, that is ASMR.)

The niche phenomenon has increasingly crept into mainstream culture, most recently making its Super Bowl debut in a Michelob Ultra beer commercial starring actress Zoe Kravitz, who whispered into a microphone and tapped her nails against a beer bottle. On YouTube, a vast trove of tranquillity-triggering videos posted by “ASMRtists” have amassed tens of millions of views.

But ASMR might have a particularly potent effect for pregnant women, as the hormone most closely linked to the phenomenon – oxytocin – is often elevated during pregnancy, and also plays a critical role during labour and breast-feeding.