In the drive to understand how my own thinking affects my ability to sleep, I often find myself exploring inspirational outlets on the Internet.
This week came across the following quote which may help to reset the expectations that bedevil the waking hours:
“How can they say my life is not a success? Have I not for more than sixty years got enough to eat and escaped being eaten?”
It is credited to Logan Pearsall Smith but one has to take credits with a pinch of salt. Take, for example, the large number of sayings credited to the Buddha (a number of which are far more recent).
One of these days I would not be surprised at a quote relating to iPhone use being credited to Jesus Christ. The Internet is that flaky.
In any event, if one is able to lessen the expectations down to the level that you survived this long and that has to be a great measure of success then perhaps some of the overthinking that dogs the interval between awake and fast-asleep can be lessened. Perhaps it might ease the slide from one (alert) state to a more restful one.
In case such thinking is not natural for you, I will persist in trying to find restful things to distract the mind whilst giving you time to doze.
Following a rash promise made weeks ago now involving finding material that does not need advertising support, I thought I’d try to remember people I have found with a great voice who have content that does not appear on YouTube. (The aim being to avoid as many unnecessary adverts as it is possible to achieve).
This week I was remembering content by Mark Bertin that I downloaded during lockdown. Is it possible that any of that content is available outside of YouTube and, if so, is it possible to get access to download it? I found that he has a website and that there are resources available.
A number of these do point to YouTube, admittedly. Some of them do not. There seems enough here for you to get an appreciation of the voice without having to endure adverts:
Switching across to the Calm app; as regular readers will know, I have a subscription to Calm.
Other resources exist and I only mention Calm at all as I have access to it. No doubt in the future I will subscribe to something else that provides meditation and relaxation resources. For the moment though, it is Calm, and today’s choice, yet again, is drawn from the Calm dailies:
https://www.calm.com/app/player/HxslQ-MFnA
Daily Trip
Simple Good Things
NARRATOR
Jeff Warren
AUTHOR
Jeff Warren
What simple good thing is here for you right now.
I have been a bit samey of late in that I keep recommending Calm dailies involving Jeff Warren. I do like his voice, but mostly I like what he has to say. No doubt it will not be long before I go back to Tamara Levitt however, as I rate her voice a bit above Jeff’s.
I notice that researchers have used sound to change the content of dreams. On the face of it, not a million miles from using sound to get some sleep in the first place. Perhaps though, the ability to change people’s dreams has some greater potential for negative uses than the occasional duff sound in a video which you’re using to help you doze off.
I will try to stick to sound-related recommendations that are not linked to some corporate’s designs to market their latest piece of nonsense at you.
On which note, it is time we listened to a professional ASMR artist and see what we think. Taking into account that I have not been that impressed in general with this area of ASMR-i-ness.
This week the video is this one:
ASMR PRE-MED STUDENT DOES A CRANIAL NERVE EXAM ON YOU! 💓
It is not huge at just a little less than sixteen minutes. It is from Livs ASMR 💕. This channel has 1.55k subscribers, and only six videos – an achievement which seems properly fantastic. At the moment this would seem to be the only medical-themed video on the channel so there is no chance I’ll be returning (unless that situation should change).
Alternatively, I could change the approach of the blog and start covering wood-carving videos or something.
The notes on the channel are interesting:
“Livs ASMR 💕
Description
ASMR videos 💕
More info
http://www.youtube.com/@asmr.byolivia
Joined 12 Jan 2026
1.55k subscribers
6 videos
66,116 views”
So, this channel has only been in existence for a few months and yet all of those willing fans have flocked to it. This has to bode extremely well for the quality of this video.
Today’s video has minimal notes: ” 56,531 views 29 Jan 2026
tastes: 2:05
smell: 3:50
hearing 6:28
sight: 9:21
touch 12:55″
Short notes – that is refreshing in itself.
The video permits comments. There are a fair number, some are whacky, some are odd, some are sycophantic. All represent the style of comment we have come to expect.
The video starts at the whisper, which is something we get from a number of professional ASMR artists. However, the delivery is at the hurry-up. It was therefore not as restful a video as I had hoped. In addition this is one video where turning up the volume is likely to be more effective.
There are, of course, distracting noises, scribbling noises, gloves-related noises, that strange mouth clucking noise so beloved of ASMR artists, clicking noises, finger tapping noises, the odd clunk. This is obviously a potpourri of ASMR triggers assembled into one whole.
I’d prefer focus on just the one trigger. I would love a video that consisted solely of a calm, empathetic voice but I am probably asking too much.
It would be great if the presentation was at a slower pace, I think it would be much improved. Inevitably, it was interspersed by the odd loud advert when I was listening to it.
The setting strikes me as domestic; it could even be filmed under some kind of bunk bed (perhaps not but that is what it looks like). There is the odd cut, in which the artist appears to move an inconceivable amount but as you will be listening and not watching I do not think that matters.
I liked the voice. I would watch the video again, but, as I have mentioned before, I do not find the professional ASMR artist, in general, is producing content which is markedly preferable to the inadvertent ASMR videos which I have been following.
Recently the pace that videos are being taken down means that the pressure is on to get more videos reviewed – or the playlist is going to be a sad and wilted thing. There has obviously been a change whereby some channels will only allow access to persons from a specific country (United States). I’m not certain what the change has been but I saw that twenty videos disappeared from the playlist recently – so no doubt there are a number of blog items with blank spaces where the videos used to be. This is not the first time this has happened but I will keep the efforts going to maintain a playlist of a reasonable size.
The news regarding the miracle pillow is that initial tests reveal it is helping with snoring, however, my neck feels that I may have the wrong size. Not the fault of the supplier, but mine. I will not reveal further details (and review it), therefore, until I have sorted that problem out.
I was interested to read recently that writing is likely to remain a hobby for a great many people (rather than a professional pursuit). I have reflected before that there is a great deal more attention given to media (music, video and similar) today than there is to reading.
This in a sense is liberating. I am freed from the need to make huge pots of cash from writing and hence whether I persist, or not, is likely to come down to whether it feels a worthwhile thing to do.
For the moment my interest is in trying to find more ASMR material and conveying what I have found. It is great when new people subscribe because that tells me it is a worthwhile activity for others. In between times, people will meander onto the site via search engines to pick and choose items that they find of interest to them.
Today’s video is taken from a channel that regular readers will recognise.
Visual Fields
There is of course background (most likely air conditioning) noise. But no funky intro music – tick; medical professional has a great voice – tick; comments are disallowed so there are no deleterious comments – tick.
However, of course, the absence of comments means we cannot tell if the video is already on the list of those known to ASMR fans – very probably so – Hercule Poirot’s famous brain cells is not their equal when it comes to locating new ASMR material.
This is brief at just over half a minute so not about to set any blog item on fire.
The site is MDforAll and whilst it is replete with medical-orientated videos a lot of them have medical professionals in them who major on the loud side of presentation.
It is probable that as an ASMR resource most of its useful material has been yielded up by the time we had previously visited.
Therefore, I am going to use this article to mop up videos on this channel by going through all the remainder and pointing out those which are of interest for our purposes.
Temporal Artery Examination
A different medical professional but an equally good voice, I think. Again, just half a minute. I’m glad these short ones are in a playlist or they would not be worthwhile at all.
Comments are permitted and there are no obvious ASMR fans so perhaps a new one for them too.
Sinus Percussion
The same medical professional – the same “patient”. This time it is just quarter of a minute so there is not even time to take much in, such as who the participants might be, for example.
Frontal Sinus Transillumination
This is another half minute one with the same participants.
It is a shame that these are not a bit longer. No doubt an ASMR channel somewhere has already taken them and combined them into one longer video.
The remaining one I will include for completeness but it will not be in the Procrastination Pen playlist for the reason that it requires age verification (and that should be obvious from the title).
Breast Examination
Just a little less than two and a half minutes long. It has a gentle approach to it. If it were not for the content, it would be likely to be included in the playlist. I’ll add it to the age verification playlist for people who can be bothered jumping through that hoop.
That’s it on this occasion, more next time.
The playlist for MDForAll (On The Procrastination Pen channel) is here:
The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:
I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article, why not follow this blog.
Until next time.
Photo by DeepAI
The Procrastination Pen 