There’s no reason to believe ASMR causes nightmares. Plenty of people watch ASMR videos to fall asleep, some of them even keep them on throughout the night – with no issues whatsoever. No scientific research shows a link between ASMR and nightmares – but there are cases of it happening.
A quick google search will show a couple of threads on Reddit and posts on other websites asking whether ASMR causes nightmares and some people telling their own ASMR-fueled nightmare experience. This is in no shape or form evidence to prove ASMR causes bad dreams – there are a lot of issues that might lead a person to suffer from bad experiences when they fall asleep. ASMR might be the scapegoat in most cases.
There have been no scientific studies of ASMR and dreams. It has been proved that ASMR helps you sleep and perhaps sleep better than before – but nothing on dream quality. The little (almost non-existent) anecdotal evidence should be no proof regarding ASMR and nightmares.
Regardless of that, if you are experiencing nightmares after listening to ASMR, you should stop watching ASMR videos before asleep and see what happens.
Does ASMR affect your dreams?
ASMR does not necessarily impact your dreams. If you listen to ASMR before you fall asleep, you might experience better sleep quality – but there’s no evidence that ASMR can alter your dream quality. Listening to ASMR when you have fallen asleep might be a problem.
Your dreams can be affected by external circumstances, ASMR videos included. Maybe listening to ASMR while you are sleeping is affecting your dreams. Or worse, once the ASMR video is over, an autoplay function can start a non-ASMR video – and that’s what altering your dream journey.
Are you listening to ASMR throughout the night with no issues whatsoever? Great! Keep at it! Are you having bad dreams when you do so? Maybe you need to stop the video before you fall asleep or stop watching for a while, just to see what happens.
Is it bad to fall asleep to ASMR?
Not necessarily. You probably won’t have any problems if you fall asleep while you listen or watch an ASMR video. All in all, your worst possible issue would be flipping to the side half asleep and feeling pain around your ear because of your earbuds.
Even though there are no major physical problems when it comes to falling asleep listening to ASMR, you shouldn’t rely on it to fall asleep. Here’s the thing: your mind might get used to ASMR as the trigger before you go to sleep. And in doing so, you will create some sort of dependency on ASMR to fall asleep – you don’t want to be dependent on anything to get a good night’s sleep.
If you enjoy ASMR, use it every now and then! Don’t make it a habit out of listening to ASMR every night. If you have trouble falling asleep or if you are dealing with anxiety at night, grab your headphones and tingle away – but try to find some way to fix your issues in a non-ASMR-related way. It’s always good to talk to a specialist if you are having trouble at bedtime.