Sleeping With ASMR

Recently I have noticed that the videos available in The Procrastination Pen playlist have started to reduce. I haven’t commenced any new weeding activity so the videos have not been jettisoned into the Procrastination Pen archive playlist. Nonetheless the number of videos is going down.

Looking at the Procrastination Pen playlist, I find that ten unavailable videos are hidden at the current moment. It is tempting to conclude that because an extra spotlight has been shone on them by The Procrastination Pen blog, people have rushed to hide them from view. More realistically, I think this is the natural process of attrition. Two of the videos are now showing as marked private and eight have been deleted.

It would appear there is a race on to getting the material listed on this blog before the featured video disappears.

It would be great to create an archive of ASMR videos so that they would be permanently available. However, I am no legal expert and I suspect that there maybe a whole argument about original ownership of videos, permissions, fees and so on. The upshot is that unless the blog keeps on rolling forwards, the playlist is going to continue to diminish in terms of the number of videos it contains.

It also means that you need to get listening to the featured videos soon after I publish the blog article, as videos are obviously being removed and you may be left with a small subset of those featured.

Another undesirable outcome is that some of the blog items are going to have blank spaces where videos used to be. I can’t see how to avoid that, other than to keep deleting old blog items. That may, ultimately, be the approach that I have to take.

I’ll keep rolling forwards with articles, unless it becomes obvious that simply by documenting videos in this blog causes the videos to be removed. In which case, the blog will have become a Jonah of ASMR and I will desist with it. (However, given the statistics on this blog I think that is unlikely and extremely unlucky if it turns out to be the case.)

And so, to today’s video:

The Full Neurological Examination

This begins with the kind of funky music that we have become used to. How much nicer it is when we find a video that does not employ music. This one is narrated and the narrator has a good voice. Immediately it seems that we are in safe hands.

Definition:

Romberg’s test – a test of balance involving a person standing with feet together and eyes closed.

The voice of the medical professional, which we hear briefly at intervals, is also a good voice and better still there is little background noise.

Just examining the comments, reveals that a number of other listeners have discovered its relaxing effects.

The channel is UCL Clinical Skills which as at today’s date includes thirty-nine videos. That is quite a few to document in one blog post (and I’m sure that you’re in a hurry to get to the Procrastination Pen playlist).

There are no playlists on this channel, so the habitual mechanism of thinning down the number of videos to a size that can be readily dealt with in one post by focusing on a playlist on the channel is not going to work.

The backup method is to look for videos where the same medical professional is involved or the same patient.

In this case, there is more than one video involving the same patient. I’ll focus on just those videos this time.

Abdominal examination (basic for Y1 & Y2 students).

There is more funky start up music (oh dear) and a different narrator. The sound quality is not so great but no less relaxing. There is now evidence of background noise on some of the narration tracks.

There is also a variability in volume which is undesirable when listening and trying to get to sleep.

However, it is still a good one to include in The Procrastination Pen playlist, I think.

Neurological sensory examination of the lower limb (basic for Y1 & 2 students).

Here we have the same narrator as in the last video and the same start up music. It would be great to edit that startup music out.

The volume of the narrator seems to be lower which will make inter-video volume an issue if you are listening to the playlist. The background noise in the examination parts of the video seems a bit higher. There are hardly any comments, so it is possible that this is not getting as much ASMR listening time as the previous videos (let’s hope The Procrastination Pen can change that).

Neurological motor examination of the lower limbs (basic for Year 1 & 2 students).

The self-same intro and narrator. The narrator used in the first video (who had a better voice) has obviously packed his bags and headed for the beach which is a shame for us but probably great for him.

Definition

Clonus a rhythmic stretch reflex.

An introduction to examining the cardiovascular system; Y1 & Y2

We’re now well used to the start-up music. The narration sound quality is not that amazing on this video. It sounds like the narrator is at some distance from the microphone (or the microphone hails from 1958).

Definition:

Peripheral cyanosis: extremities having a blue colour.

An Introduction to the Abdominal Examination – Y1 and Y2

We are ringing the changes with the narrator here although not with the introductory music. It would be delightful if that music would just go for a walk somewhere rather than play at the start of a relaxing video. The narrator’s voice is really too deep in this video to be properly relaxing and comes as a bit of a shock after what has gone before.

However, it is not sufficiently off-putting to deny it membership of the Procrastination Pen playlist. (Although it may be weeded out in the future).

Fortunately, the delivery is well paced and spaced. Which soon allows relaxation to return, although this isn’t a top ASMR candidate by any means.

Definition

Epigastrium upper area of the abdomen.

Cardiovascular Examination

We’re back to the peppy music. This time the narrator sets off as if she has to speak to an auditorium, loud and a bit clipped. Perhaps that auditorium is full of misbehaving children.

It is not a relaxing presentation.

Although we have the same patient it is not as chilled as previous videos in this set. I do not think that it can sneak into The Procrastination Pen playlist.

This set of videos must be excellent for instruction, I’ve seen a few medical examination videos now but I am still learning a great deal by watching. However, that is not the purpose of this set of blog posts.

Abdominal Examination

We’re back to the deep voice we heard in “An Introduction to the Abdominal Examination – Y1 and Y2” above. It isn’t marvellous ASMR-wise however not enough to discount it from the Procrastination Pen playlist. It might be dropped on future review though.

Definitions

Glossitis

Inflammation of the tongue

GALS Screen (Gait Arms Legs Spine) examination – real time

There is no narration on this one which is actually rather refreshing. The medical professional is relatively quiet. In fact, this is a great video for ASMR purposes. His tone is good and his approach methodical, everything that we have been looking for thus far.

Some of the videos do repeat some of the material from previous videos in the same series. I am assuming that this will not be too off-putting of you follow my advice to play the playlist on shuffle so that you do not just get them one after the other.

That’s it for now.

However, the channel has been good for us so I intend to return here to look at some of the other videos it contains.

The UCL Clinical Skills playlist on The Procrastination Pen is here:

The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:

The archive playlist of videos that were in the above playlist but found after repeated review not to make the grade, is here:

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 experience to log on, this interrupts the listening experience. You may not mind 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 Shona Macrae

Sleeping With ASMR

The first thing that strikes me about today’s video is the very quiet start. What a change to some of the canned music that usual precedes videos on YouTube. There is also the absence of oppressive air conditioning noises that plague so many of these.

The patient “Natalie” (possibly misspelled) announces that she was born 10/15/98 and the medical professional states “so you’re 20”. 10/15/98 is 15/10/1998 (UK Format i.e. October). We can assume that this is filmed 2018 which given it was posted four years ago seems to indicate that it was filmed and posted around the same time.

Head to Toe Health Assessment

The patient states that she attends Colby Sawyer college https://colby-sawyer.edu/ which is a school of nursing and so potentially where this video was filmed. Colby Sawyer, as expected, has its own YouTube channel with one hundred and thirty-eight videos, four hundred and one subscribers and three playlists. A brief check seems to indicate that sporting videos are quite important on this channel but, probably unsurprisingly, these turn out not to be videos suitable for a blog about ASMR.

For today’s video the channel is Marissa Nance and consists of this one video and no playlists.

I’ll make the assumption that this was for an assessment in that year and I’ll assume the medical professional here was Marissa.

It remains wonderfully calm and, judging by the comments, I am not the only one to think so. Many ASMR fans have checked this one out previously. Although sadly, the negative not to say nasty, comments are here as we have seen in the past.

This one is distinguished in that both Natalie and Marissa have calm voices, that is a rare (if not unique so far) find.

It seems over rather too soon, given there are no alarming noises throughout the entire video (something we have not always been able to say).

So that’s it, just the one for you today but I am certain more will be coming very soon. The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:

(and now it includes the Marissa video).

The archive playlist of videos that were in the above playlist but found after repeated review not to make the grade, is here:

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 experience to log on, this interrupts the listening 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 Shona Macrae

Sleeping With ASMR

Today we are very much more mainstream i.e. back to the core theme of this blog which has been to review medical videos on YouTube. Medical education establishment – tick. Medical examination the theme – tick. Person with quiet voice – tick.

This will perhaps compensate for some of the forays off into other areas that I have committed recently.

Shoulder Examination – KCL KUMEC

As we’ve seen with previous professional videos in the past this one has an associated set of notes which fills in some of the gaps in our knowledge.

In this case:

“Shoulder examination video produced by King’s College London – King’s Undergraduate Medical Education in the Community Physiotherapist: Laura Smith Patient: Donald Sze Filmed at The Royal College of General Practitioners.”

This is great. The first time in a while we have a video with no extraneous background noise. The only irritation (presumably because the video is for instructional purposes) is that the audio and video track has cuts in it as it dashes between the tests that are being performed. Instead of evolving slowly as a conversation, it cuts off abruptly once a specific test has been performed.

However, this video is good enough for the Procrastination Pen playlist I am thinking.

The channel is KCL Kumec. It has twenty-nine videos, 9.48K subscribers and just one playlist. A brief look at the playlist indicates it is not really suitable in terms of ASMR.

Here it is if you want to take a look:

(It does not have a title).

Habitually, I thin down the videos under review by checking an already-supplied playlist. A quick overview of the twenty-nine videos shows that the same “patient” is in a number of them.

However, only a subset of these videos feature the same physiotherapist. I think that a way to attempt to thin these down a bit is to choose only those in which Laura Smith appears.

It appears that a return here in the future might well be in order, to cover some more videos from this channel.

Knee Examination – KUMEC

The notes with the video are: “Knee Examination produced by King’s College London – King’s Undergraduate Medical Education in the Community. Physiotherapist: Laura Smith Patient: Donald Sze Filmed at The Royal College of General Practitioners.”

Laura is excellent in this, not quite Hollie Berry but still nicely relaxing to listen to.

As before, the video chops between steps of the examination and so there is no evolving conversation as such. For some reason this seems less forced in this one – i.e. the transitions do not appear to be as abrupt.

Elbow Examination – KUMEC

The notes state “Elbow examination video produced by King’s College London – King’s Undergraduate Medical Education in the Community. Physiotherapist: Laura Smith Patient: Donald Sze Filmed at The Royal College of General Practitioners.”

The more I listen, the more relaxing it feels. This seems to be quite an ASMR discovery and puts some others into the shade. If the remaining videos sustain this kind of consistency, I may have to look at the existing Procrastination Pen playlist to weed out those that are not this quality.

Hand Examination – KUMEC

The notes state “Hand examination produced by King’s College London – King’s Undergraduate Medical Education in the Community. Physiotherapist: Laura Smith Patient: Donald Sze Filmed at The Royal College of General Practitioners.”

The comments indicate that other ASMR fans have got here long before I did. Laura might even stand up to Vicki Scott in ASMR terms which is really saying something. Her manner seems caring, thoughtful, methodical. If only the video was allowed to run the course of the entire examination, rather than chopping between important elements.

However, the consistency of these in terms of relaxing effects has been marvellous (better even than we have been used to of late).

And that is it, just the four videos featuring both Laura and Donald, I hope you agree this was a great set in terms of ASMR

The KCL Kumec playlist on the Procrastination Pen 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 experience to log on, this interrupts the listening 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 Shona Macrae

Sleeping With ASMR

Following on from the previous blog items featuring an osteopath here is a new one. To me the voice is not a natural ASMR one however the examination is quite relaxing and missing the clunks, clicks, and exclamations that we have seen before.

Pelvis & Sacrum Palpatory Landmarks for Physical Examination and Osteopathic Structural Exam

Fortunately, this is lacking obtrusive background noise. There is also a helpful set of notes (which we can probably now take to be a sign of a professionally released video). This tells us that it was all filmed at the North Texas Health Science Center Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine (UNTHSC – TCOM) Medical Education Training (MET) facilities.

It is also lacks the borderline nasty comments which we have occasionally seen before.

All of these are good signs. However, the voice is no Shane Brun – but hey this is not what the video was produced for.

The channel is Osteopathic Clinical Skills there are extensive notes on the channel but none of these details who is doing the presenting. There are ninety-seven videos as at today’s date. As usual I will select a relevant playlist to slim this down to something more manageable for a blogpost. There are ten playlists and as luck would have it our first selected video is a member of this one:

Landmark Palpation

Six videos including the one that we have already covered above.

The videos are:

Common Palpatory Landmarks for Physical Examination and Osteopathic Structural Examination

Again it is calm, no Dr James Gill but far better than some of the student videos we have seen in the past.

The background noise (air conditioning again) is not excessive here unlike some that have been reviewed of late.

Standing Postural Examination – Osteopathic Structural Exam (OSE) Screening

The length of the videos starts to slope off a bit with this one, just in excess of six and a half minutes. The quality though still remains consistent. It is more relaxing than true ASMR. As such, I still think that these are going to make it to the Procrastination Pen playlist, although I reserve the right to archive any that don’t stand up to continued review.

Upper Extremity Palpatory Landmarks for Physical Examination and Osteopathic Structural Examination

The video we started with in this blog post occurs after this one in the playlist. There is very little variance in terms of presentation with the videos we have already seen in this post. Assuming no terrible surprises, I think all of these will be in the Procrastination Pen playlist (at least for a while). I use the playlist myself so it gets continuous evaluation for effectiveness. So far, my favourite remains Hollie Berry, but it is always possible something even more marvellous will make itself known soon.

Somatic Dysfunction: Tissue Texture Assessment (TART) – Thoracic, Lumbar

Interesting how much a person has to be informed of, so that they are able to consent to the procedure. This seems a fairly recent development or maybe it is a regional one. This video remains consistent with the others. This has been a good set with no outlandish noises or strange behaviours. Not true ASMR but relaxing enough to be in the Procrastination Pen playlist I contend (subject to future review).

The Osteopathic Clinical Skills playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:

The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:

The archive playlist of videos that were in the above playlist but found after repeated review not to make the grade, is here:

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 log on. This interrupts the listening 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 Chris Wong on Unsplash

Sleeping With ASMR

Given the furore in the media one would imagine that I’ve abandoned writing altogether and that this is now being written by some variant of AI. There is almost a fevered excitement about these engines of productivity, even amongst those who, from an objective viewpoint, will ultimately be replaced by them.

After all, if an AI ever gets to the stage of producing reliable, readable copy, then what would be the need for bloggers, writers, journalists and so on.

Anyway, I write this blog because I want to write. I did not write the blog to ask something else to do the writing for me. So sadly, you are unlikely to see much in the way of AI-derived content here (although I’m told one should never say never).

This far, the blog is not a business and so the mechanisms involved in writing this are part of the process, not an obstacle on the way to deriving higher amounts of income. Should that change (I’m sure there is an ASMR millionaire out there who wants to pay me huge amounts to write for them) then perhaps ChatGPT (alternative AIs exist) will form a major part of the process and I’ll be on a Seychelles beach. In the more prosaic world, I’ll keep on pressing one key, and then another one to see what emerges and post it up onto the blog in the hope someone would like to read it.

Today’s is another diversion from the norm. I contend it is still ASMR, but it isn’t a video. In fact it is a podcast and it isn’t on YouTube, it is on Greater Good Magazine. A site which the sleepless may wish to attend at intervals as there are occasionally features on managing stress and anxiety. Although, quite often, it focuses on how to be reasonable to one another, which cannot hurt.

Therefore, rather than an embedded video we have a URL: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/podcasts/item/how_to_keep_love_alive

But I think that you may find the voice to be worth it.

Ayesha Mattu has a voice like cotton wool and chocolate in a warm room. A really calming quiet backdrop for relaxation. I hope that they do not take this audio down.

It is just over twenty-one minutes. Sadly I can’t add this into any playlist without uploading to YouTube and I do not own the audio.

However, I hope you agree that it is worth just kicking back and listening for a few minutes to Ayesha who is a proper audio find.

You can catch Ayesha on Amazon (she is an author).

Given how great her voice is and that she is in the public eye I thought it worthwhile to search for material (videos) featuring Ayesha on YouTube.

I found this one:

The voice is not quite so amazing as on the above podcast but still good enough for a playlist, I think. Part of the problem is the consistent background music which detracts from the experience for me. It is way off message for this blog, of course, because it does not feature any kind of medical examination.

I think following up with other blog items on Ayesha will be a definite future for this blog. I hope that you enjoy this one.

The Procrastination Pen playlist (which remains the same as last week) is found here:

I listen to that playlist most nights and I have removed some videos that no longer seem as excellent as when first reviewed. 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 the occasional loud clang from medical equipment.

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.

I 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

Habitually I am reviewing inadvertent ASMR videos i.e. those videos made for one purpose (usually medical examinations) but which are relaxing enough to produce ASMR effects in those lucky enough to have them.

Recently though I seem to have meandered more into the world of ASMR YouTube channels. It will not be a permanent move however. My intention is to get right back to genuine medical videos.

Today’s channel is “ASMR Sandwich Breath”, as mentioned before “sandwich breath” is a bit of an insider ASMR joke. People either know of the sandwich breath video or they do not. Afficionados of ASMR videos are expected to understand the inside jokes. (I only get a few of them as there are a great many such videos).

Today’s blog article is about this video:

Physical Medical Exam Unintentional ASMR

The video starts with the title “PE for TOPE Student Demonstration”.

Ross, here the “patient”, Jessica the medical professional. She states this is the University of Washington and that she is a registered nurse. The comments state that the original of this video has now been deleted. Assuming that we can trust those comments, this is possibly the only place we will encounter this video.

The University of Washington has its own channel of course.

There are seven hundred and fifty-seven videos on that channel and twelve playlists. The upshot of which is that some of those playlists are composed of over one hundred videos.

Jessica’s video does not seem to be there.

UDUB is apparently a shortening for the University of Washington to those in the know.

Ross does not seem the happiest patient or, taking a more positive view, he could be half asleep.

Jessica enunciates the medical terms here in such a clear way, possibly the best I have heard so far.

I also notice a great deal of time taken to explain what is coming next. Perhaps this thoroughness explains why the video is in excess of thirty-four minutes.

This is very quiet. Jessica at intervals is on a par with Vicky Scott which is quite a statement. The result is a video which is a good Procrastination Pen playlist candidate.

The video concludes with a healthy amount of information Jessica Burke-Lazarus BSN, RN Midwifery-DNP student was the medical professional Jessica it turns out graduated in 2013 and now works in Seattle.

The “patient” was Rosson Wiebe PMHNP-DNP Student Ross also graduated in 2013 and went on to work in Florida.

It also tells us that it was filmed December 9 2011 in the Center for Excellence I Nursing Education at the University of Washington.

ASMR Sandwich Breath has forty-eight videos as at today’s date. That is a fair-few videos to attempt to motor through. A quick scan of them reveals some old favourites which we have covered before.

The usual approach is to reduce the number to be covered by selecting a suitable playlist from the channel.

There are five playlists on here but some of them are a little on the long side.

A nice short playlist is this one:

which is titled:

Medical ASMR – Male Nurse/Doctor with Male Patient

Ostensibly consisting of four videos but one of these is listed as hidden. We have seen this before but I am no closer to explaining it.

So that leaves us with three videos to look at (the first video with Jessica in it is not part of this playlist).

Fit and Evaluation of GP Contact Lens Unintentional ASMR

Dr David Meyer and we are back at the Moran Eye Centre. We covered a subset of the Moran Eye Centre videos previously.

However not this one or the one after this. However, I think a return to Moran is indicated when we can cover these videos in their natural home.

Which for this one is here:

Prescription & Fit a Contact Lens Unintentional ASMR

This is also on Moran CORE it is here:

As with the above video, I will cover this one in a future review of the video in its proper home.

Gastrointestinal Exam Unintentional ASMR

We’ve covered Mark Pepin and Corey Duke before so I won’t repeat it here.

Only one video made it to the Procrastination Playlist this time so there will be no Jessica Burke-Lazarus playlist on the Procrastination Pen. (Great though this video proved to be).

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

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

According to a guide I was reading recently, in order to be successful in the cut and thrust world of blog posts this really should be entitled “Ten ways to the sleep you’re hoping for” or similar. Apparently, I should have researched my audience so that I know I’m targeting a fifty-year-old non-smoker living in West Wales with her five cats and a small moped called Nigel.

As you can tell, I have not done that.

So if by some miraculous twist of fate you have happened across this blog post, welcome. I hope that you enjoy and if you feel so disposed tell all of your ASMR-loving friends. If you are living with multiple cats and a moped, or if you are not.

Today we are looking at a video from an establishment that even I have heard of. I am hopeful that it’s expertise also churns out medical professionals with a gentle deliberate manner and calm attentive voices.

Percussion of the Chest (Stanford Medicine 25)

It begins with a funky tune which, sadly has become the norm for such videos. However, the medical professional’s voice is actually quite good. This is quite obviously an instruction video but lacks the elevated volume and strident delivery of many such videos.

The “patient” is Geoff (or possibly Jeff). As usual for such videos some of the comments are not particularly relevant or even complimentary. I am beginning to prefer the videos where commentary is denied altogether.

A search around the Internet reveals that this is Dr. Abraham Verghese who even has his own Wikipedia entry and website.

(I wonder if it is feasible to create a Wikipedia entry for yourself, that could be quite fun).

This is not as great as Dr James Gill but is a worthy addition to the playlist, I think. The video is part of a playlist

In which there are only two videos. The second of which is

Stigmata of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (Stanford Medicine 25)

(The same patient, the same medical professional, the same institution).

Again, with the funky music, which, thankfully is soon over. This is equally as good as the last one.

Sadly, it is also quite brief.

So, a brief playlist today but it would seem that we need to follow up with Dr Verghese in the future as he may be a great source of future ASMR videos. Look out for future posts of this type. The Stanford Medicine playlist is here:

The Procrastination Pen overall playlist is here:

I continue to harry this list with demands for ASMR perfection and so at intervals one or more videos drop from this list to the “playlist of Hades” (I mean the Procrastination Pen Archive list):

I keep them here in case I have demoted one of your favourites and you make a reasoned argument why I should restore it to Heaven’s glory (I mean the overall playlist.)

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 have a restful sleep listening to the playlist. If you do why not subscribe to the blog (even I don’t know what is coming up next and it would be a shame to miss it wouldn’t it).

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

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.

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

Until next time.

Photo by Shona Macrae

Sleeping With ASMR

If you’ve wandered into the blog via a search engine then you may not have read any other articles in this series. A brief background to explain what this blog is about. The plan is to review videos for their potential for ASMR or at the very least the ability to soothe you off to sleep.

The main output is an ever-growing playlist and my unwritten contract is that this will always appear at the end of each article. The assumption is that if you just want to hear the playlist you can scroll completely through the article and take up the link at the end.

Today’s video comes from a channel that we have seen before.

The channel is MDforAll, it contains no playlists. I use playlists habitually for filtering down content (i.e., limiting the number of videos covered in any one blog post). The channel also has a large number of videos, at today’s date sixty-seven videos in fact.

In the previous blog article I decided to adopt the mechanism of featuring only those videos which all contained the same medical professional and patient together in each one. On that occasion it resulted in nine videos which was a more workable number for you to read about in that one post.

This is therefore a sensible mechanism for arriving at a sensible length blog post on this occasion as well.

A scan through the videos on this channel indicates that a number of them are way too loud for our purposes. They are designed as instruction videos and the participating medical professionals are obviously trying to project themselves. Fair enough, the videos were not designed for the purpose to which we are putting them.

Eye, Ear, Nose, & Throat Examination

In contrast this video is a nice fit. The person presenting (unnamed) is quiet throughout. The patient has little to say. The video quality isn’t exactly HD but, given we’re using it to sleep, then it is probably of little consequence. The sound is pretty good but of course accompanied by air conditioning noise. This is something we expect by now.

The video has notes but they do not tell us very much we don’t already know: “Physical Examination of The Eyes, Ears, Nose, And Throat.”

The comments reveal that other people have happened across this video for ASMR purposes, so we are certainly not the first here.

Having selected this medical professional, the number of videos featuring this person (on this channel) is now limited, to just three videos in fact.

Neck & Cardiac Examination

This continues in the same vein as the previous video. It is equally quiet and the background noise (which we are probably getting used to by now) is limited to air conditioning noises.

One of the comments indicates that this is from MSU CHM. Assuming this is accurate, this refers to Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. This has a channel on YouTube with forty-five videos in it. This channel might be worthy of future review.

At least the medical professional asks the “patient” to hold his breath rather than “stop breathing” which we have seen before this. As I commented previously slavish obedience to this instruction (if it were possible) could have very final consequences.

The heart sounds at one point in the video might prove to be a little distracting. Not least, that I think my heart beats a bit faster than this guy and yours might as well.

On balance though, I think this video is worthy of inclusion in The Procrastination Pen playlist.

Lymph Nodes & Thyroid Examination

This video is slightly louder at the start but that still does not exclude it from the Procrastination Pen playlist. The notes tell us nothing we didn’t know: “Examination of the lymph nodes”. But at least there are notes. The video fades out even as the medical professional is talking. This makes me think there was/is a longer version of this video out there somewhere.

Again, there is no identity for the medical professional listed so there is no way to check where this originated. For all we know there could be more of these. Unless a random YouTube search turns them up though, I’m afraid that this is it.

These videos have been consistent. They all belong in The Procrastination Pen playlist.

These are the only ones on the channel that feature this medical professional and this patient. From the review, I think this channel might be getting mined-out for ASMR related content but I may review it one more time to be certain.

The playlist for MDForAll (On The Procrastination Pen channel) is here:

The playlist which contains every video reviewed so far on the blog is here: (less any that have subsequently been weeded)

The playlist of videos that initially made the above playlist but after much review it was determined they didn’t really make the grade is here:

(I’ve kept them in that list in case you still find them helpful)

The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:

I can’t be bothered to stop listening to log on, this interrupts the flow. You may not find this to be the case 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.

Any feedback is welcome.

Until next time.

Photo by Shona Macrae