Sleeping With ASMR

Long term readers are now very familiar with the way this works. Each week I seek out a YouTube video that might have some ASMR “triggers”. Usually, I choose ASMR videos that were not designed for ASMR effects but that is in no sense a golden rule. So far, I have found that medical videos contain many of the desired elements; quiet, gentleness, paced, and methodical. I have found great voices from men and women. I have also found a many loud ones.

If I find a video that is suitable, I add it into the Procrastination Pen playlist and I look for further great ASMR videos on the same channel where the first one was located.

Some channels contain many videos in which case I select a single playlist from the channel, videos with the same participants, or some other characteristic to narrow the selection.

Where the set of videos has been consistently good, I may in the future return to the same channel looking for more.

The Procrastination Pen playlist unfiltered would grow like Topsy (and indeed it has grown). However, I continue to listen to that playlist – daily in fact – and if I find one of the videos is more irritating than was first hoped I dispatch it to the archive list.

In this way the Procrastination Pen playlist keeps being honed. The result should be a playlist of a consistent quality that any listener would like to hear whenever they are in need of relaxation and/or sleep (whether they enjoy ASMR effects or not).

This week’s video remains on the medical theme and from the title sounds a bit uncomfortable.

HEENT ear pain

This time the video has notes associated with it: “8 Nov 2018

Nicki FNP student health assessment HEENT Ear Pain”

But at least they are not the encyclopaedic notes we have seen associated with some professional videos.

Rather bravely comments are permitted but fortunately there are few of these – we have seen some nasty comments in the past.

We have defined HEENT before of course, but, just in case there was an international emergency that kept you from reading this vitally important blog on that day, here it is again:

HEENT a HEENT (head, eyes, ears, nose, and throat) exam.

Nicki is the medical professional, she does tell us her surname which sounds to me like Myer. That maybe incorrect and even if correct maybe misspelled. At the time of filming, she was a Nurse Practitioner Student.

It turns out that it is Meyer. Additionally, although Nicki is in fact Nicki, she is also Adrianne. It looks like Nicki may have been studying at the Research College of Nursing at the time this was videod. The Research College of Nursing is in Kansas City Missouri.

Of course, it has its own YouTube channel with fifty two videos and sixty nine subscribers, but these are not high numbers in terms of university YouTube channels we have previously seen.

As expected, this channel is more about promoting the college than any medical procedures which might be interesting for ASMR purposes.

Onto Nicki’s video which is under eleven and a half minutes. It’s not huge in terms of videos that we have previously seen (and reviewed).

Initially there is a spoken introduction which is not loud, there is no oppressive background noise and a complete absence of equipment noises. There is no funky start up music so all in all the kind of introduction we look for in a relaxing video.

The tone is low-key and quiet. The initial interview with the twenty-six-year-old “patient” continues at a relaxed pace and this has the feel of a very professional approach to a standard student assessment video.

Nicki (or Adrianne) has a good voice for our purposes with good intonation and a measured delivery.

There is the occasional clunk which distracts slightly.

Nicki appears to have become Simspon (I thought Simpson but that really is the spelling) and went on to work in St Louis.

From our purposes it is a shame that she did not produce a great many more videos. The channel is Adrianne Meyer and it has only four videos and eighty-three subscribers.

Given there are just four, I think we can go review them all.

The ear pain video has proven well worthy of inclusion in the Procrastination Pen playlist so I have high hopes for the remainder.

The next video is this one:

FNP Asmt Musculoskeletal Module 4 Nicki & Melissa

The video includes notes “28 Sept 2018

Nicki and Melissa Shoulder pain eval FNP” as before it also includes comments (although, thankfully, there are few of these).

It starts without music and has a nicely muted introduction. There is limited background noise. However, at intervals there seem to be noises which are either traffic or distant aircraft. It is slightly less than twelve minutes so not substantially longer than the first one in this article.

At intervals it could get a bit monotonous. I’m not going to dismiss it from the Procrastination Pen Playlist on this basis but it might be subject to subsequent review.

Definitions:

FNP Family Nurse Practitioner

ASMT American Society of Medical Technologists

Nicki Neuro Assessment Lab

Notes as before “18 Sept 2018

Neuro Assessment with differential diagnosis”

As before a spoken introduction which is similar. There is a twenty-five-year-old “patient” called Molly. This time there are ASMR comments including some less than helpful ones, which indicates, as expected, that ASMR fans are all over this channel.

It is lovely and calm and deliberate in approach, nothing is rushed or stressed about it.

At thirteen and a half minutes it is the longest so far. Despite this, I think it will be a good candidate for the Procrastination Pen playlist.

Nicki M. -Basic Head to Toe Proficiency

The last video of the set and the longest at just over eighteen and a quarter minutes. As before there are notes although, this time, they are a bit cryptic: “23 Aug 2018

Assmt. FNP Fall 2018”

There are no comments, although comments are permitted. Whether this is a good sign…

This time the background noise seems a bit more intrusive. The patient is Steven or possibly Stephen Simpson. There’s a strange coincidence there in that Adrianne or “Nicki” seems to have become Mrs Simpson some way further along the line. Of course, that could be an entirely different Mr Simpson. This is making the assumption the name change is due to marriage of course.

Again, the delivery is nicely level and not excessively loud. The attention is gentle. The approach is deliberate and methodical there is nothing rushed about this. There are occasional moments of hesitation but given this appears to be an assessment video that is expected (a lot is probably riding on it).

I see no reason not to put all four of the videos this week into the Procrastination Pen playlist. Of course, I review that list every day so the odd one may get weeded in the future if it turns out not to stand up to protracted review.

The Nicki Meyer playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:

The Procrastination Pen playlist (which is no-doubt what you have all been reading this in order to locate) is found here:

I have been listening to this playlist most nights and some of the videos that were members have now been removed. If any of your favourites are missing from that main playlist you can find them here in the archive list:

Quite often the videos getting removed have no faults other than occasional loud noises.

The playlist of items that are great for ASMR (but contain an age verification function), usually a great way to interrupt your listening in the middle of the night, is here:

I hope that you find the playlists restful and that you get a good night’s sleep.

Hope to see you again back here for the next blog article.

If you liked this blog item, why not subscribe to this blog.

Until next time.

Photo by Shona Macrae

Sleeping With ASMR

On The Procrastination Pen there is the occasional foray into sites purposefully created for ASMR videos, but it is not the main purpose of these blog posts (well not so far anyway).

Occasionally, it is so much easier to just review a video from one of these sites as they’ve been selected previously for ASMR. So I do not have to find one from amidst the many noisy and poorly recorded videos out there.

However ASMR symptoms seem to be stimulated by many different triggers, such that many of these sites cater to people who are looking for a very different kind of video to the ones I would find restful.

Today, I am once again on a channel whose purpose in life is stated right up front “ASMR Sandwich Breath” is the channel. We’ve covered “sandwich breath” before. The whole ASMR world is now like a giant clique with its own terms and ideas (only a very few of which I understand).

The channel has forty eight videos. Fortunately for us all on a medical theme which is an area this blog has largely been focused on (although I do occasionally stray). Unfortunately a number of them have been covered before as they are still available on the original sites.

For that reason I am a bit nervous about today’s video, as I guarantee in a short while I am going to find it wherever it originally came from and will then feature it again.

This is today’s video:

Health Assessment Unintentional ASMR

It seems to be one amongst the rich seam of student videos which has been mined for material on this blog of late.

This one does not have the greatest sound, which makes me wonder why a curated selection of this sort would have nominated it, as we know absolute gems like the Vicki Scott video are out there. However I have chosen to run with it as well, so there must be aspects to it worthy of listening to.

The sound is far too muted, but the approach is gentle and calm which makes a positive difference. I’d be interested in finding the original if it is still out there as I do like to feature original videos (where they still exist).

As usual, where comments are permitted, a smattering of unwarranted nasty comments. I am getting in favour of videos that don’t permit comments for this reason.

The patient “Bernie” (probably misspelled) and the medical professional “Caitlyn” (also likely misspelled), not quite enough for me to go searching independently for the video.

There are playlists on ASMR Sandwich Breath and I could use them to guide selection of videos for this blog article. However, we are in danger of covering videos already featured elsewhere in this blog.

I think I will go for the tested technique of selecting videos which feature the same “patient” or the same medical professional.

I have to make some guesses, but I am pretty certain the following have the same medical professional:

HEENT Exam Unintentional ASMR

As with the previous video the sound is still a bit muted. However the approach remains calm and gentle.

This also features Bernie and Caitlyn – the spellings are fixed now until someone corrects me…

Musculoskeletal Exam Unintentional ASMR

Bernie and Caitlyn again. I notice that they even share nail polish colour (which might be coincidental, but I would have thought indicates this is more likely two students involved in an assessment video).

One of the commentators refers to a participant as “Brittany” so possibly I may have misheard the name here.

Neuro Exam Unintentional ASMR

From the comments, others have been looking for the original videos for this set and not been successful in finding them. So I am a bit reassured in featuring videos from a site designed to curate ASMR videos – it’s doubtful we would find them elsewhere.

We’re now thoroughly used to the approach of this exam. Some people could probably repeat the steps themselves from the sheer number of times they’ve seen videos of this type.

I think these are consistent enough to be in The Procrastination Pen Playlist

In deference to the commentator, I’ve labelled the playlist on The Procrastination Pen “Brittany and Caitlyn” it is here:

The Procrastination Pen playlist (featuring all videos covered so far on this blog) is here:

A number of videos, that were once in that overall playlist, became tiresome to listen to over a period of time. This is usually due to excessive noise of one type or another. All such videos are in the Archive Playlist here:

I only keep this list at all in case I weed out a video that is somebody’s favourite.

I hope you find the videos restful and that they help you to grab what sleep you are able to.

If you liked this article why not subscribe to this blog.

Photo by Shona Macrae.

Sleeping With ASMR

For those of you who have been following the blog the subject matter will not come as any surprise or the purpose of this writing. For everyone else welcome to the blog. It exists purely to review unintentional ASMR videos, to locate the best ones and to create a playlist of those videos.

The aim is to find the most relaxing videos on YouTube (or occasionally from elsewhere) which can be used to help you drift off to sleep, get back to sleep when you wake up in the middle of the night, and to completely fail to disrupt your sleep due to loud music, loud equipment noises or strange contributions from the air conditioning.

This week, a video which seems to fit into the range of student assessment videos, of which, we have seen more than a few already.

The entire Channel contains fifteen videos which is way more than I usually review at one sitting. However, as you can see the longest of these is less than seven minutes, such that I may make an exception in this case.

The video is this one:

Head, Face, and Neck

It is barely longer than three minutes so it isn’t going to take long to listen to. The medical professional is Leah and it is safe to assume that it is she who owns the channel (as we shall see).

The volume track is muted and sounds distant as if being recorded under water. There is the ever-present sound of air conditioning (which we’ve heard often before).

The approach is gentle and methodical. However, there is the noise of people apparently talking in the background. This is heavily muted though and so in this specific case, is none too intrusive.

The video has no comments and it looks like it is unlikely that we will find out where it was filmed. Although posted in 2023, of course, it could have been filmed at any time.

The channel is Leah Barlow and has eighty five subscribers – which isn’t a huge number in comparison to some we have seen.

There are fifteen videos which is a large number for any single blog post. However, in overview it appears that Leah appears with a different “patient” in several of these videos. Therefore, if we stick with Leah and the patient featured in this video, we have a much more restrictive list (we can return to Leah in a future blog post).

Musculoskeletal Exam Practice

This is slightly longer at five- and three-quarter minutes but still not particularly taxing in terms of attention. It is almost identical in terms of sound with the last one. I think the patient states her name as Mackenzie and d.o.b. 2/15/01 which for those of us in the UK is 15/02/2001. However, I had a hard time making that out and the spelling is probably incorrect in any case.

Again, the presentation is muted in comparison to the background noise which includes a healthy amount of chatter coming through from adjacent rooms.

There are loud noises as footwear drops to the floor, which may cause this one to ultimately be dropped from the Procrastination Pen playlist. (Off-putting noises are the commonest reason for dropping videos into the archive list). It is not the first time I have wished that I could alter a video in order to eliminate such noises, given that a number of videos are excellent in part, and dire in another part.

At intervals there are raised (even excited) voices from an adjacent room and this proves to be quite distracting.

There are also noises from the equipment as the “patient” moves around.

Neuro Exam Practice

Just over six and a half minutes and if anything, the background noise is trying for a starring role. The video proceeds as for the two we have already reviewed. It is gentle, methodical and, background noise allowing, relatively quiet. If there was a God of air conditioning then a few sacrifices need to be made to appease him or her. There are loud equipment noises and some hilarity about the loud equipment noises. (This will probably see it dropped into the archive list). Mackenzie seems to have developed a cold as there is much snivelling and coughing.

This one is really too loud, including some quite energised chatter from an adjacent room.

There is also entertainment due to the fact that Mackenzie proves to be ticklish.

Cardiac Exam

A bit over four and a quarter minutes. There is loud knocking to start with. Mackenzie seems to say that her surname is Delavaso, but it probably isn’t that at all. The air conditioning has started playing drums for Motorhead but thankfully the background chatter has settled to the level of irritating that can be safely ignored (I think).

Thorax and Lungs Exam

Four minutes long. Loud knocking to start, as before. More loud equipment noises more air conditioning noises, but the conversationalists have decided all the loud discussions of previous videos were dreadfully rude and so a background murmur is all that can be heard.

It would be truly quite a good video if the clunks and clangs of the equipment didn’t attend every movement of Mackenzie. Not the first time equipment noises have proved to be a deal breaker for this blog though.

Cardiac Practice

A little under five minutes and the microphone is now officially inside the air conditioning outlet. The voices in this are heavily masked by the sound of forced air.

This really isn’t suitable for the Procrastination Pen playlist.

Ear exam

Less than two and a half minutes, in other respects similar to previous videos. Leah has a good voice but the extraneous noises are at intervals off-putting or irritating.

I’m inclined to include this one, if only because it is so short.

Nose, mouth, throat exam

A bit more than four and a quarter minutes. The knocking at the start seems a little more muted but the background conversation has reasserted itself, somewhat irritatingly.

Mackenzie has an identity badge which could have told us where this is being filmed but sadly it is out of focus so I can’t make it out.

Leah seems much more hesitant in this one than the others we have seen here. There seems to be much hilarity again, so presumably both participants are uncomfortable with the process.

That’s it for this item, but I think we will be revisiting Leah in the future.

The Leah Barlow playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:

The Procrastination Pen playlist (which is no-doubt what you have all been reading this in order to locate) is found here:

I have been working through that playlist repeatedly and some of the videos that were members have now fallen from favour. If any of your favourites are in there you can find them here in the archive list:

Quite often the videos getting removed have no faults other than excessive background noise.

The playlist of items that are great for ASMR (but contain an age verification function), usually a great way to interrupt your listening in the middle of the night, is here:

I hope that you find the playlists restful and that you get a good night’s sleep.

Hope to see you again back here for the next blog article.

If you liked this blog item why not subscribe to this blog.

Until next time.

Photo by Tatyana Eremina on Unsplash

Sleeping With ASMR

Recently, I am finding some variability around the efficacy of using just the ASMR videos to get some sleep. Some nights very effective, some nights a distraction, and some nights just not effective at all.

On such nights, I tend to lie on the sofa and tune into the dreariness that is late night television (dreariness is probably advisable as really compelling television is only going to keep you awake for longer).

However, there are other things to try, for example, there are free online meditation resources. Some people I am told find the discipline of meditation really diverting. I have until recently found focusing on meditation to be one more thing I do not want to do when I am tired and I want to sleep.

However, never say never, I recently have received a gift subscription to Calm and I am giving some of the meditations a try. So far without positive outcome, but you never know.

Meantime I am back to finding more ASMR videos. I am trying to stay ahead as I notice that some of my blog posts already have blank spaces where videos used to be. Videos are obviously being taken down.

Previously, we have dealt with the Sterling Freeman part of this partnership.

Now we have Olivia Rabone and, as we saw in that previous blog post, this looks like it is a video designed as part of an assessment.

Head-to-toe physical assessment-Olivia Rabone and Sterling Freeman

As we have heard before, the ever-present air conditioning to provide an audio background for us. In this, Sterling Freeman is the “patient”.

Sterling is currently a Registered Nurse at Martin County Hospital District Texas. She attended Howard College

Olivia Rabone attended Howard College Texas until 2022

Howard College has (as we’ve come to expect) has its own channel.

However, the badge on the shoulder of Sterling does not look anything like that on the Howard College Channel.

Sterling also studied at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.

This college also has a YouTube channel. However, the badge is not like that on the uniform.

Sterling early in the video confirms that they are both at Howard College, Big Spring Texas. (Perhaps the college has subsequently changed its branding).

We also get the confirmation that this is 2019, which was very likely Sterling’s final year there (although Olivia appears to have attended for longer than that).

I always find it amusing that in these videos the students provide privacy by drawing an invisible curtain. We have seen this before of course.

I’ve seen a few applications of a blood pressure cuff in these videos. Given how far Olivia has to wrap that cuff around Sterling’s arm I think it might be bit on the large side.

The assessment proceeds at the pace of an express train. This makes me wonder if trainee health professionals are under the cosh to get things accomplished in the smallest amount of time possible.

Olivia seems to be reciting from a mental script as the empathy quotient in this video is not obviously high.

Against that, the tone is really pleasant; it is not excessively loud. It makes a good Procrastination Pen playlist candidate.

The channel, unsurprisingly, is called Olivia Rabone. It has eight videos on it, which is a number I think I can cover here without over stretching your attention. (The Procrastination Pen playlist is at the end of this article if you want to skip to that point, simply scroll down to find it).

The remaining seven videos are:

Head-to-toe physical assessment- Sunny Kuykendall & Olivia Rabone

Although Olivia hosts this one on her channel the medical professional here is Sunny and the “patient” is Olivia.

Sunny has her own channel which might be worthy of a future review.

Judging by Sunny’s shoulder badge (which is the same as Sterling’s in the previous video) this is also filmed at Howard College.

We have the constant drone of force-driven air to keep the ears entertained. In this case the medical professional’s volume is not aligned with this background noise. It is quite difficult to hear what Sunny is actually saying. This might be ok if the air conditioning noise was more restful but I do not find that it is.

The camera appears to be a huge distance from the two participants. This is unusual for videos of this type. However, given we are mainly here for the listening experience I cannot judge this video solely on that basis.

Sunny at intervals seems to be distracted. Potentially she is trying to follow some standard assessment checklist.

This does make it a little difficult to relax into the experience (and fall asleep to it for example).

Overall, I think the sound quality discounts this video from the Procrastination Pen playlist.

Head-to-toe physical assessment- Olivia Rabone & Stacy Kuykendall

This continues in the vein of the last video, with a high background noise in relation to the main spoken audio track.

Stacy Kuykendall is a remarkably common name in Texas it turns out (including one woman whose children were killed). The upshot of which is that I have been unable to determine if Stacy has a YouTube channel.

To be honest given this is set up exactly like the last one it didn’t stand a chance from the outset so I will not be adding it to the Procrastination Pen playlist.

CNs, Musculoskeletal, & Neurovascular Assessments-Olivia Rabone

The background noise on this is really intrusive, including what sounds like a whole flock of rock doves trying to outcompete one another.

There are a number of non-medical and non-ASMR comments with this video. But none of these have any interest to us.

There is the noise of overflying planes. At one point Olivia starts laughing, which given the challenges involved in filming here, is probably unsurprising.

If you’re watching as well as listening, there are also some strange artefacts coming from sunlight across the lens.

As before, there are occasional gaps as Olivia consults a checklist so it is a little staccato in approach.

It just isn’t there in terms of ASMR, so it will not be into the Procrastination Pen playlist.

CN’s & Musculoskeletal-Olivia Rabone and Sterling Freeman

Here we are straight back to the partnership that we started this blog item with. Although the partnership is the same, it appears that someone stuck the microphone actually inside the air conditioning outlet.

The audio track is nearly completely occluded by the constant whirr that is going on.

It is a shame because in all other respects this is the equal of the video that we started with in this article, but I don’t think it can really go through to the Procrastination Pen playlist.

Respiratory & Cardiac assessment-Olivia Rabone and Sterling Freeman

Yet again the background noise is high. However, I think this is just acceptable. It is very calm and considerably more methodical than some others featured in this blog post. However, it may well suffer an early weeding if it proves to be distracting on subsequent review.

A louder vocal track would have compensated for the air conditioning. Perhaps YouTube videos of the future will incorporate an air conditioning filter designed to eliminate all that excess noise.

HEENT assessment-Olivia Rabone and Sterling Freeman

This seems to start a bit louder, but so does the air conditioning. I could probably provide a good service to listeners if I could somehow process all the sound tracks to eliminate background noise. Sadly, however I am no sound engineer.

There are relatively few comments but just shy of seven and a half thousand views, which sounds remarkable.

To be honest, I’m not certain it is a great Procrastination Pen playlist candidate.

NG tube/EN/PN discussion

This is so much quieter than the others which must be down to the change of venue. This is filmed inside someone’s house. The start of the video though is not restful. It is almost in the format of a lecture with the delivery a tad hesitant.

Someone off camera starts coughing and Olivia is merely reading from a script.

This one isn’t for the Procrastination Pen playlist either.

The Olivia Rabone playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:

The Procrastination Pen playlist (which is no-doubt what you have all been reading this in order to locate) is found here:

I have been listening to that playlist most nights and some of the videos that were members have now been removed. If any of your favourites are missing from that main playlist you can find them here in the archive list:

Quite often the videos getting removed have no faults other than occasional intrusive noises.

The playlist of items that are great for ASMR (but contain an age verification function), usually a great way to interrupt your listening in the middle of the night, is here:

I hope that you find the playlists restful and that you get a good night’s sleep.

Hope to see you again back here for the next blog article.

If you liked this blog item why not subscribe to this blog.

Until next time.

Photo by Shona Macrae

Sleeping With ASMR

Having a bad day at work? Just want it to be over? Despair that you’ll ever chill enough to actually get any real sleep tonight? Welcome to The Procrastination Pen. Here the finest in inadvertent ASMR material is reviewed at intervals. Even better there is an ever-growing playlist of curated items for your delectation. And if after all that you’re still plotting ways to murder the boss in an undetectable fashion, at least you’ll get to listen to a relaxing video whilst you are doing it.

Today we have a video from a channel dedicated to health. Nothing could be more medical than that I am thinking and therefore any ASMR effects must be purely down to chance. So far so much the aim of this sequence of blog posts.

The Lung and Thorax Exam

The notes are helpful, which we often do not find: “Jessica Nishikawa demonstrates some of the techniques of the Lung and Thorax assessment.”.

We know who the professional is before we start. Comments are turned off which is a breath of fresh air after some of the nasty stuff that you sometimes see.

We start with Jessica Nishikawa DNP, FNP-BC. DNP appears to be Doctor of Nursing Practice. FNP-BC is Family Nurse Practitioner – Board Certification

Unless you follow nursing, you, like I, may not have been aware these qualifications existed.

Suffice to say a highly qualified person then, but this is not why we are here.

The background hiss which we have heard often before is present here as well. Initially I thought I was going to exclude this video from the Procrastination Pen playlist, but it soon settles down to be less obtrusive than in some of the videos I have reviewed of late.

The “patient” is McConnaugh (probably nothing like the spelling). A quick search of YouTube determines that McConnaugh appears elsewhere such that he might crop up in a future blog post.

At intervals Jessica looks off video to her right. I’m not sure if there is a person there or if she has notes about what she wishes to cover. However, you’re likely to be listening rather than watching, so it is unlikely to affect you.

This is moderately good – no Hollie Berry but still worthy of a place in the playlist I think.

The channel BilderbackHealth surprisingly has only eight videos (including the above one), so we can comfortably cover this off in one blog post.

The majority of the videos feature Jessica – there’s a couple that look like they are not going to be on theme including one on Log Cabins so it might be that six is the total we’re going to be looking at today.

The HEENT Exam Video.mov

The “patient” is Miley (the spelling may well be incorrect).

HEENT head, eyes, ears, nose, and throat.

Sclera the white of the eye.

It is great to have a medical video from a medical facility (not someone’s front room) and for the noise of air conditioning to be absent. Having got used to background noises of late, it is fantastic what a difference silence makes. I may be weeding some of the more air condition-y (new technical term) videos from the playlist going forwards.

The presentation is lovely and quiet. Positively gentle at intervals.

Definitely a Procrastination Pen playlist member I think

The Cardio Vascular / Peripheral Vascular Exam Video.mov

McConnaugh is the “patient” again

JVP – Jugular venous pressure – used to diagnose types of heart and lung disease.

Thrill – a vibration felt whilst palpating a blood vessel.

This remains consistent with the first video we looked at.

The Abdominal Exam Video.mov

Miley returns as the “patient”.

I’m not sure if this is bias but the videos featuring Miley sound to me moderately more-gentle than those featuring McConnaugh. In any case this one is consistent with the HEENT video featured previously.

The Neurological Exam

Connie is the “patient” here – somebody new. Interesting that cranial nerve one is generally not tested and yet how many of these videos have we seen in which people test coffee or even alcohol to verify that this nerve is functional (its function is for smell perception).

This is a bit more of an instructive tone than the ones that have gone before. However, it is probably indicative of the consistency of this set of videos that I even bring this up. Usually in a group of videos that I review we are lucky to have one or possibly two videos included in the playlist. In this case we very likely will include the majority of them. We have not seen that since Dr James Gill.

The Musculo Skeletal Exam

Chris is the patient this time (I’m a bit more comfortable with that spelling)

The best demonstration of abduction and adduction I’ve seen so far.

I’ve watched a number of these and have just realised that Jessica does her nursing in a set of high-heeled shoes, I have pity for her poor feet and respect for her endurance standing on her feet all day in those shoes.

Anyway, this will probably be the last time I actually watch the video (listening being the more usual approach) so this will be of no concern to me (and likely to you either).

I love the pronunciation of buttocks probably the first time I have heard it pronounced that way.

Another video the equal of the ones we have seen in this post previously.

It’s worth noting that Jessica has her own channel, which given the nature of these videos is very likely going to be the subject of an upcoming blog post.

Hand Hygiene

The guitar music is good, but in other respects this is just not the quality of those that have gone before. This is not going to be in the Procrastination Pen playlist.

It also goes all funky subsequently which is just not conducive to great relaxation. (Entertaining though I’m sure it is).

Outside Log Cabins 1.16.21 with Jamie O’Brien and friends

Funky music from the outset, charming images but that isn’t why we are here. This is a poor fit for the Procrastination Pen playlist.

In general, an excellent set of videos and the largest consistent set of videos for the Procrastination Pen playlist we have seen in a while. This gives me more ammunition for ongoing weeding activity to perfect that playlist.

The Bilderback Health playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:

The Procrastination Pen playlist (which is no-doubt what you have all been reading this in order to locate) is found here:

I have been working through that playlist repeatedly and some of the videos that were members have now fallen from favour. If any of your favourites are in there you can find them here in the archive list:

Quite often the videos getting removed have no faults other than excessive background noise.

The playlist of items that are great for ASMR (but contain an age verification function), usually a great way to interrupt your listening in the middle of the night, is here:

I hope that you find the playlists restful and that you get a good night’s sleep.

Hope to see you again back here for the next blog article.

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Until next time.

Photo by Shona Macrae

Sleeping With ASMR

As I’m exploring the world of ASMR I keep stumbling upon areas that I did not know existed. This time I am exploring a new area for this sequence of blog articles.

It would appear that on some nursing courses (presumably as part of the assessment process) the students have to produce videos. I’m guessing that the course team then view these to determine how the education process has progressed. Sadly, these are not produced for ASMR purposes. However, on the upside, this does mean that there is a constant supply of them.

It merely leaves the process of trawling through them all to determine if any might make for gentle listening. Alternatively, you could leave that up to me (with your task merely being to browse a blog article once in a while).

If the browsing of a blog item is too much work, simply scroll to the end of any one of these articles to find the playlists, open one in YouTube, select shuffle, put on a set of sleep-safe headphones, lie back and let the unconsciousness take hold.

This one is from the nursing world – in fact the students featured here also feature in videos by other students. This is a rich field of material which I have no doubt will crop up numerous times in this blog.

Head-to-toe physical assessment – Sterling Freeman

Sterling Freeman here the “nurse” and Olivia Rabone the “patient”. Howard College 2019 apparently. Background air conditioning noise is something that regular readers will have come across before. It seems a hazard in a lot of medical examination videos.

I love that Sterling refers to providing “privacy” when no obvious measures were taken. This speaks of someone slavishly following some kind of checklist.

At five minutes fourteen seconds someone butts in on them – I have no idea what he says but it does interrupt the flow a bit. It’s brief though, so I’m disposed to ignore it.

This is a lovely calm medical exam, definitely Procrastination Pen playlist-eligible, I think.

The channel Sterling Luna has only six videos of which none are more recent than two years ago. There are no playlists. However with only six videos I suspect we can review them all and determine if they are playlist-worthy.

Four of the videos (including the one above) seem to feature Olivia so perhaps we will start with the remaining three of those four.

CN’s and musculoskeletal assessment – Sterling Freeman

If you’ve been reading these ASMR-based articles for a while then the process for a medical examination video is already familiar. (I wonder if ASMR fans would be able to perform one of these assessments based solely upon their viewing history).

This is equally good ASMR-wise as the last one and is going into that playlist.

Respiratory and Cardiac Assessment – Sterling Freeman

By this stage both participants seem a little tired of the steps they need to take. Olivia for example is bored with the date-of-birth question (assuming this video is in the correct order, in which case this is the third such video).

This has such a gentle approach to an exam, it is another for the Procrastination Pen playlist I think.

HEENT – Sterling Freeman

This one has the air conditioning that used to play base for Motörhead. My goodness, it is loud. However even though the video is brief you still get time to get used to the noise so I’m going to include this video in the Procrastination Pen playlist. Let me know if you disagree and I’ll remove it. It may well be subject to a future weeding process however.

NG tube insertion; enteral & parenteral complications

Olivia again. This time in somebody’s house which has the advantage that the air conditioning isn’t playing a lead role.

There isn’t much medical examination in this one. The dog decides to photo bomb at six minutes thirty nine seconds and continues to feature until six minutes fifty one seconds. I don’t see his name in the credits though which is rather unfair. Unfortunately, this one just isn’t there ASMR-wise so it will not be in the playlist.

Explaining GCS; CN, Neurovascular, and Musculoskeletal assessments

The medical exam does not kick off until four minutes thirty-one seconds the volume is all wrong – too loud. This is not a playlist candidate.

The playlist for Sterling Luna (on theprocrastinationpen channel) is here

The complete playlist of every item featured so far on this blog is here:

The archive list (containing videos which were in the main Procrastination Pen playlist but, after careful examination, were found to not be as great as when first reviewed) is here:

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Photo by Christopher Ryan on Unsplash

Sleeping With ASMR

Continuing the mission to identify videos with possible ASMR effects (or at the very least ones that can lull you off to sleep) I have come across today’s video.

This one is acronym city – I doubt you’ll need to understand much of them to enjoy the video. However, if, like me, you find it annoying that you do not understand what things mean, here are a few of those that came up:

OSPE – office of standardised patient education

UAB the University of Alabama at Birmingham

HEENT Head Eyes Ears Nose and Throat

(Knees and toes, knees and toes)

Ahem, so with the preliminaries out of the way, let’s progress to the video and what it does for ASMR.

This is todays’ video:

The HEENT Physical Examination

Mark has an excellent voice, if a little nervous in this one. In fact, at intervals, he seems to be looking to the student for reassurance.

The channel (unsurprisingly) is Mark Pepin, MD, PhD (The photo on the channel indicates that this video was recorded some time ago – he’s older on the photo than he is in the video). In fact, the video was posted in February 2018.

The channel has fifteen videos in total and only some of these are to do with medical exams. This is probably a number of videos that might prove tedious to read about in a single blog post (attention spans being what they are at the current time).

There are seven playlists and to be honest, different ones appear appealing from our perspective. (This is another channel to return to I suspect). However, the playlist Clinical Physical Examinations

includes the one selected. There are ten videos in this playlist which does not seem excessive to cover here. (If you’re bored already scroll to the end of this blog post where you will find the relevant playlists).

The Cardiovascular Examination

Mark with Erin again, this time Erin is a clinical skills trainer. Mark is still good in this video, whilst Erin again doesn’t get to say anything.

It is going in the Procrastination Pen playlist.

The Pulmonary Physical Examination

I notice that Erin has an escalating involvement in these films – now she is helping with filming and editing. Heather Hallman PA and Shawn Galin MD are presenting in this one.

If anything, Heather Hallman has a better voice than Mark Pepin. Slightly energetic in places perhaps (for the purpose of getting off to sleep) but excellent for relaxation. There appears to be a background click playing in the video which is initially a bit distracting but is significantly better than some of the air conditioning noises we’ve had previously. Shawn’s voice is not the greatest fit for ASMR but he doesn’t get to say a lot here (thankfully for us).

This one is going in the Procrastination Pen playlist.

The HEENT Physical Examination

This is where we came in of course. Made at the University of Alabama at Birmingham they have a channel with a very large number of videos, thirty-three playlists – at least one of which is seventy-four videos long. This may be worthy of exploration in a future article.

At intervals the video is really deeply restful. As before it is Procrastination Pen playlist bound.

The Neurologic Physical Examination

Dr. Victor Sung and Erin returns. Sadly, Dr Sung is not so great in ASMR terms. I’m sure it’s a very instructive video but that isn’t why we are here.

It is also the longest one we have encountered so far, in excess of fifty-nine minutes.

If you persist with it, Dr Sung has a much gentler voice at intervals. So, the default voice must be Dr Sung in instruction mode. I’m not sure how I would subdivide the video to isolate only those moments. What we’re looking for is an exam video for Dr Sung which would also be a lot shorter.

This video is not going to make the Procrastination Pen playlist.

The GI/Abdominal Physical Examination

Erin again but with M. Tosi Gilford this time.

M. Tosi Gilford is not as good as Heather Hallman in terms of voice. However, the video isn’t loud or shouty. It is definitely an instruction video rather than a true examination and that is probably why the tone is different.

Once the actual examination proper commences it is a lot better. On balance I’ll include this in the Procrastination Pen playlist – although it might suffer archiving in a future weeding process.

Gastrointestinal H&P (Part 1/3): Taking the History

This feels a bit odd here and in fact is from another playlist in the Mark Pepin Channel i.e. this one:

This is Mark Pepin with Corey Duke. It’s got some kind of overlay happening in that the side of Mark Pepin is cut off entirely by the scenery in places. However, hopefully you will have your head on the pillow and you will not notice this.

It is remarkably calm given the subject matter (Corey in particular has a very good voice). Unfortunately, Corey does not seem to have his own YouTube channel because that would be one worthy of further exploration.

It’s shorter than the ones so far at seven minutes fourteen seconds.

The concluding sounds though are not at all restful.

Gastrointestinal H&P (Part 2/3) – Physical Examination

Introductory noises are rather familiar from other medical videos we have so far seen. But thankfully that is soon over. Then it gets very gentle, which is pretty well ideal for us. At four minutes thirty-three seconds it is regrettably brief (not that atypical) but is a very good Procrastination Pen playlist candidate.

Again, it concludes with a loud noise which it would be great to do without.

Gastrointestinal H&P (Part 3/3) – Presenting the Patient

This is more of a presentation. It is not loud though and there are no objectional background noises.

Until the end – when it gets all funky. I’ll put it in the Procrastination Pen playlist for now, but it might become a fatality at a future playlist review.

The Musculoskeletal Physical Examination: Part 1 – Upper Extremity

Mark returns with Erin Dorman again. We are back on form as for the first video of this article.

It is eighteen minutes thirty-four seconds long and so it is a more thorough exam. The background noise (air conditioning again) is none too intrusive.

This is very calm; not loud, and seems a good fit for the Procrastination Pen playlist.

The Musculoskeletal MSK Physical Examination: Part 2 Lower Extremity

This is a follow on from the previous video but this time with Mark and Erin standing.

As in the previous video the tone is great in this one.

There’s rather a lot of information in these. Usually when I am awake enough to take in the video content I learn something. In this case I felt a bit swamped. If you’re like me and the purpose is to use it to get to sleep, the approach seems to let all the technical terms wash over you. However, perhaps after a number of plays you may even learn something.

At just over nine minutes police sirens start, that is a shame but I still think I’ll keep this in the Procrastination Pen playlist – at least for now.

I notice that the list is flagged as last being updated four years ago, this seems a shame for our purposes as more contributions from Mark would definitely be appreciated. The Mark Pepin Playlist is here:

The playlist of all videos reviewed on the blog so far is here:

The archive playlist (of videos previously in the above list but which eventually were found to be less great than hoped – retained in case you still find them useful) – is here:

I hope that you find the videos restful.

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Photo by Caleb Woods on Unsplash