Of late I have been finding that just shutting out all noise using the Bose QuietComfort headphones has been enough to allow me to sleep. However, this has been right on the tail end of a period where I was using the Procrastination Pen playlist extensively.
For each of you I imagine that sleep varies, and it is doing what you can on the day to get the maximum rest.
I have been recommending the odd track on Calm based on the fact that I found it helpful. I recently tried “The Hidden Life of Mushrooms” read by “Alan Sklar” https://www.calm.com/app/player/iM8hEBPaao. As expected, Alan has a restful voice and so it makes some good bedtime listening. However, Calm is not free and I am not encouraging you to pay for it.
I am actually finding that for me one of the Calm Dailies is often more listenable than the dedicated sleep presentations. If you do find that the track isn’t for you, the other advantage of the dailies is that they tend to be ten minutes or less.
Recently, of course, I have decided to inject a little variety into the blog by reviewing one video by a professional ASMR artist. The outcomes have been a somewhat variable even amongst those that I have reviewed. Even more so in those that were rejected.
It’s interesting to find that the very criticisms I level at inadvertent ASMR videos are often found with professional ASMR videos as well. This leads me to suspect that I maybe looking for something esoteric in such videos, which others care less about.
However, given the main characteristics for me are a quiet, calm voice with little extraneous noise, I find that a bit surprising.
Today’s video starts with music, and I am not keen on startup music as you know.
ASMR Clinical Trial Medical Assessment for Headache Pain | Trigger Test Assortment on Real Person
The musical start is being used to advertise a Patreon page and as you also know, I’m not rabidly keen on advertising either. However, it could be worse. No one stops the video to declare that their sponsor is “Tod’s burgers”, or similar.
The channel is: Siesta with Sarah ASMR the channel has four hundred and sixty-nine videos and 44k subscribers so I think we can say that Siesta with Sarah is a hard-working ASMR artist. However, at least at the present time, I was unable to find the channel on the ASMR Index.
The video is just over forty-three minutes long, so a substantial one. The voices as you would expect are excellent and the tone great. It is, again, too focused on whispering. I say again in that other ASMR professional videos have also focused on whispering. I would not expect an actual medical professional and patient to be whispering together, unless they were sharing something clandestine.
There is a background noise which is probably air conditioning. I do find it odd that ASMR artists decide to include this as it is one of the factors that tends to mar genuine medical videos.
Wherever the video was recorded there is a reasonable amount of traffic noise, presumably from a nearby road just outside of the building.
There are many rustle noises from clothing, which some people probably find restful.
The concluding music is thankfully brief. Of course, I do not really have a playlist for these videos as the intent of the blog (to date anyway) has been to review inadvertent ASMR videos. However, I will put this one in the sweetie jar playlist in case it is of interest.
But enough of these distractions. The business of this blog of late has been to review inadvertent ASMR videos.
Today’s video is:
How do you do an Eye Exam on an Infant?
This one is a professional video and so has notes associated with it: “131,644 views 28 Mar 2017
Tons of parents ask Dr. Luke Small how he can do an eye exam on a 6-month-old! With a guest star Kenzy, Dr. Small shows you the steps he takes while examining your infant’s eyes.”
Comments are permitted and, for once, they are supportive. The video is eleven and a quarter minutes, so it’s not going to break any length records. It starts without music – hip-hip. However, there is some very impressive air conditioning noise, boo. By impressive I mean intrusive. Dr Luke Small is a tad loud to start but he gets a much milder voice when dealing with the infant.
There is a whirring noise from a small toy used to attract the attention of the child. It is a very quiet and gentle presentation however, whenever Dr Small interacts with the child.
The channel is: Armstrong & Small Eyecare Centre it has seven hundred and ten subscribers twenty-nine videos and four playlists. If we’re looking for similar material, I do not believe that the playlists are going to be of great assistance.
Here we are looking for eye exam material located on this channel and that features infants. This follows the theory I have that adults in videos dealing with children are much more softly spoken than adults in videos dealing with fellow adults.
Scrolling through the videos the next obvious candidate is this one:
This one is a little over a minute and sadly starts with music, and it is rather loud music. Unfortunately, the music then continues for the entire video. Not exactly what we were looking for therefore.
The very last video which appears to have anything at all to do with this area is this one:
Children’s Eye Exam in Winnipeg, MB
just less than four minutes so barely there at all. The notes are “621 views 8 Jun 2015
Our Winnipeg optometrists at Armstrong & Small Eye Care Centre specialize on paediatric eye care and eye exams. Schedule an eye exam for your child at 204-786-8991!
It starts in the manner of a news programme i.e. one person interviewing another person. Here Dr Small’s voice remains the most relaxing but the format itself is not relaxing. The air conditioning noise is now very muted to such an extent that it is barely perceptible. Shame that couldn’t have been the case on the first video. Sadly, this isn’t the kind of video that we were hoping for either.
So just one video this week.
The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:
I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article why not follow this blog.
Some things are changing locally for me which might impact the ongoing nature of this blog, or perhaps the regularity of updates. If I can, I will flag if updates are likely to slow down.
Meantime, I will continue with today’s item.
I have been trying to get more disciplined with my approach to Calm. i.e. to do one of the Calm daily meditations once per day. In general, they are ten minutes in length and one would imagine that ten minutes is going to be available every day, right? Hmm, the resolution is only so-so effective, I have to say.
However, I can say that I found the following one of interest:
Tamara has a great voice and I think this one is a great one to play before sleep. Should you already have a Calm subscription, that is. As I’m sure I’ve said before, I am not a salesperson and no one is likely to be paying me to flog their specific pro-meditation product. Also, I know that other products exist (I spent a while in the past using Headspace, for example).
At this point, I have recently been reviewing a professional ASMR artist and in some way determining how well it stands up to my inadvertent ASMR video reviews. This week I have come across a channel that is dedicated to Unintentional ASMR videos. In fact, it is called
Pure Unintentional ASMR and has 398K subscribers (wow). I have had reservations about hosting videos originally belonging to other people (given I am not a copyright solicitor and what I don’t know might cost me).
However, this channel has no such reservations one hundred and forty-seven videos made by a number of different people. There is no way I could deliver this breadth of material in terms of a blog or a playlist. It is possible that I may browse back here again, but probably not for this blog, as all the work has been done. What can a humble reviewer add?
If, like me, you like inadvertent ASMR material it looks like you could do worse than browse this channel of an evening quite possibly as an aid to sleep. However, just because this channel is doing something so well is not going to cause me to stop reviewing ASMR videos – some people may like to read the reviews after all.
It is necessary to choose one artist from amongst the many. Completely arbitrarily, I have chosen this one:
VERY Soft-Spoken Engineer talks about her career while you sleep
This video is just under one hour and twenty minutes in length (wow). It was posted very recently.
Comments are permitted and these are largely positive, some seem to refer to a previous incarnation of this channel. It would seem it has been taken down before (at least once).
There are (I’m afraid) a very large set of notes, with an element of self-promotion for the channel amongst them so this is the edited highlights:
“Cynthia Barnhart is an award-winning engineer who has studied and now works for MIT. She also has a ridiculously soft-spoken voice for you to fall asleep fast too. Perfect for unintentional ASMR!
So we’ve combed through this interview to cut out as many unwanted sounds as we could to try and create the best unintentional ASMR experience possible. Hope you enjoy and find this unintentional ASMR interview as relaxing and interesting as I do.
A huge thanks to the MIT Infinite History project for the video. You can learn more about that here: https://infinitehistory.mit.edu/
Their channel: / @infinitehistoryprojectmit8815
🔴 In case this channel is removed, please subscribe to our newsletter for updates on new videos locations: http://eepurl.com/ds-orr. We will never email you about anything other than a new channel.”
The original video is here:
and it is not one I’ve come across before, a great find by this channel. It is interesting that they are preparing already for the channel to be taken down. Something which I fear may happen, given the many sources of the videos. I suggest if you like this sort of thing fill your boots quickly.
Given the video has been edited to enhance the ASMR attributes, it is no surprise that the voice is excellent. There is no startup music – hurray. There is no terrible background noise – hip-hip, no hesitation, no staccato delivery, in fact it is pretty nigh perfect for this kind of video.
A further attribute that I like, in this context, is the lack of whispering. There is, I am sure, a place for whispering in ASMR videos, but there seems rather a lot of such videos. It is refreshing to find one that does not take refuge in whispering.
So onto my own inadvertent ASMR candidate and this one perhaps a bit of a cheat as he was a personal favourite from back when I first featured him (greater than two years ago now, which seems, to me, rather difficult to believe). It must have been fun. The time passing oh so quickly.
This time we are looking at this video:
Clinical Skills: Cervical Spine Assessment – Dr Gill’s Neck Examination
The site, subscribers, playlists and so on are, of course, familiar. However I’ll take a look again in case there are some new visitors to the Procrastination Pen.
There are notes:
“1,088,598 views Premiered on 12 May 2023 #asmr #neck #DRGill
Compose a new pain within athletes is cervical spine discomfort, thankfully in the vast majority of cases when the neck is examined the cause of the neck pain is found to be muscular.
However, pain can also refer from the neck to the arm, in which case it is important to be able to assess for cervical radiculopathy prior to gaining more information which may indicate an MRI is needed
We assess for radiculopathy by doing Spurling’s test, an often overlooked part of the neck examination, but it should be included for completeness and reassurance of the patient – not forgetting the athlete or not, neck pain can be a considerable source of distress, so it’s vital to be able to get information from the neck examination which allows you to safely reassure a patient when appropriate, or comment that neck exam found evidence that needs further investigation
#DRGill #neck #asmr”
There are comments but, of course, given it is Dr Gill we can take it as read that the majority of these are positive.
The video itself is a tad on the bijou side given it is only a little over six minutes long. Sadly it starts with music. The voice of Dr Gill needs no introduction (well at least if you are a regular reader in any case). It is restful, not given to whispering, and is at a lovely measured pace. Without the starting music this would be a perfect video. (Well if we could also add about thirty minutes to its length at any rate. Sadly, despite its short length, it still finds time to end with further music.
The playlists on the channel do not seem to be a great deal of assistance in narrowing the field for the location of any related videos.
At the present time there are nine hundred and sixteen videos and it would probably be foolhardy to cover even a reasonable fraction of those in this blog post.
Scanning through the videos for ones which appear to feature the same “patient” reveals quite a number. My thoughts are, therefore, we’ll cover a few here and go on to cover the remainder in a future blog post.
Taking these videos in the order that they appear (from the channel search) we first get to this one:
Ulnar Nerve Examination – Clinical Skills – Dr Gill
Again, it is very short at a little over four minutes. The patient announces her name – possibly Megan Struthers? Even the captioning struggles to capture it so possibly my ears are not solely to blame. The video has music again. I think we can take that as ongoing, as will the existence of notes and comments. Dr Gill’s voice continues as great to listen to. I could probably spend a great deal of my blog just reviewing Dr Gill videos – I won’t – it would make very dull reading. Of course, if you find it very dull reading anyway do feedback and I’ll try to come up with something more stimulating.
Lower Limb Neurological Examination – Clinical Skills – Dr Gill
This one is a little longer at just over nine and a half minutes. Comments are the usual level of variable but not (as far as I can tell) at the level of abusive that is often seen. Such is the power of Dr Gill.
In this one even I can tell the “patient” isMegan Struthers, awards to me for hearing that correctly the first time.
There is another “in” ASMR joke going on with this video in that anyone observing notices that, at intervals, Megan is wearing socks, then not wearing them, then wearing them again.
The “socks” comment seems to be another of those “in the know” comments such as “sandwich breath” which I have referred to before. I suspect it is fun if you enjoy that kind of thing.
Checking a Patients Vital Signs OSCE – Clinical Skills – Dr Gill
Just three and a quarter minutes and still a few seconds at either end given to music – boo.
It is very quiet this one, it would be ideal for sleep if only it was many times the length. As it is in a playlist it should not matter, apart from the opportunity for YouTube to insert as many adverts as it physically can, and at a volume so different to the video springing awake is a not improbable outcome.
General Examination – Clinical Skills OSCE – Dr Gill
A little over five and a quarter minutes in length, the consistency is the thing that stands out and highlights the quality of these videos. If you heard the first video you could more or less assume all the remainder are the same. Much as I hate videos that have been hijacked and concatenated, in the case of these short videos of Dr Gill’s, I can see the point. At least it would keep the intrusive adverts to a minimum.
I think we’ve hit the point where enough videos have been reviewed for one post. Although the total length of this week’s videos is not huge and it will not take you long to review them all for yourself. There are a few more videos featuring Megan and I propose that we come back to those at a future post. Certainly, Dr Gill is a gift that keeps giving, ASMR wise.
The James Gill 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 to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article why not follow this blog.
It is easy to go away with the idea that everything is ticking along hunky dory because there is no news or feedback. I hope that my regular readers out there are still doing well and, by all means, let me know if you would like a particular item of content.
Recently I am finding that my clock is swinging about all over the place, with some days feeling like I could sleep for the gods at 15:00 but as awake as a lark at 22:00. In such times I find it best to just relax with what is. The normal clock will eventually reassert itself I am confident.
I continue with a selection from Calm and yet again, it features the voice that I have grown to like which is Jeff Warren.
As before, it is not designed for encouraging sleep, but I am finding these short presentations to be somewhat more effective than those dedicated to sleep.
I will spend some time listening to other material/by other people. However, I repeat my warning of a few blog items now. Calm content is not free. I am not sponsored by Calm (or by anybody), so I am not trying to sell you a Calm subscription. However, if you already have such a subscription, the above might be interesting.
Repeating the theme that I have followed for a few weeks now. Let’s take a look at some content by a professional ASMR artist (if only to determine how it stands up against any inadvertent ASMR content that I have located).
it is from a channel called Sister Sister ASMR this has forty-six videos and 52.4K subscribers. That is a whopping success rate of subscriber per video ratio, and so it bodes well for the quality of the above video. There are four playlists, but none of these are obviously on a medical theme. We have rather fallen into the rut of medical themed ASMR videos and, at the moment I am not trying to fix something that wasn’t broken to start with.
As expected Sister Sister ASMR appears on the ASMR index.
There are notes with the video which are not that interesting, other than the fact that the participants in this video each have separate channels in addition to this one:
Comments are permitted (which seems to be a theme with professional ASMR artists), and as is usual for such artists, the predominant comments seem to be positive. There must be a halo effect for such videos, in that they seem to avoid some of the more bizarre or downright derogatory comments which we have otherwise seen.
The video is thirty-three and a half minutes and so is moderately substantial. As I have commented before, the participants in professional ASMR videos are attractive and this seems more or less a pre requisite. I’m assuming that some ASMR afficionados are not ASMR afficionados as such, given they are more motivated by appearance rather than sound.
The tone seems to avoid whispering, which makes it slightly more believable than the more whispery videos that I have reviewed. I don’t remember a school nurse whispering at me but then it was a very – very long time ago.
That is not to say that the tone is not magnificent because (in common with other ASMR professionals) it is spot on.
There is background noise and this might well be air conditioning, and again, I am surprised it was decided to include this. I can only assume that realism is an important feature but I am continually searching for videos which do not have background noise. The occasional such gem is habitually peaceful, and reaffirms my belief that eliminating background noise is a worthwhile endeavour.
I suppose, given the length, I should have concluded in advance that this is one heck of a nit scan. I do not remember any school nurse taking thirty-three minutes on anyone’s head. I don’t remember the use of a set of size zero knitting needles either. I have a strong feeling that some ASMR devotees get their tingles from the sound of hair. Quite possibly, that sound is amplified by the needles being passed through it.
I am more interested in the voice.
So, in the end this turns into more of a personal attention video with an extensive section given over to hair brushing. It is doubtful a nit nurse would perform that service either. But I can kinda see why it was done. The last minute is dedicated to errors in the video making process, which for me distracts from the rest of it. Overall, I think the quality of presentation means that this one is deserving of recommendation. I do not really have a playlist for professional ASMR artists but I will add this one into the Sweetie Jar playlist in case you’re interested in listening for yourself.
So, tearing ourselves away from that, we move onto the purpose of the blog which is to review videos established for some medical purpose but which, nonetheless, turn out to be restful.
Today’s video is this one:
Primary Care Provider Physical Examination: Foot and Ankle
A little less than twenty-two minutes so it will not keep us for long.
There are notes, such as they are: “55,239 views 7 May 2021
David S. Levine, MD, demonstrates a foot and ankle examination.
David S. Levine, MD Profile│https://www.hss.edu/physicians_levine…
For CME credit and other courses visit│https://www.eacademy.hss.edu/”
Comments are (wisely in my view) not permitted. Although that does mean we have no idea if ASMR fans are watching this one.
It comes from the channel Orthopaedic Surgical Videos this has an amazing three hundred and seventeen videos and 48.1K subscribers. There are fourteen playlists, the largest of which has one hundred and four videos in it – I don’t think we’ll be reviewing all of those today.
The video starts without music and it has negligible background noise (air conditioning), so an excellent start. David it turns out has a calm voice, although I couldn’t say it was quiet. Nonetheless, one is placed at ease feeling that vocally we are in capable hands, as it were.
So, given the large number of videos on this channel, how to limit the subject of further review to a workable level. I thought in this case I would search for videos that feature David Levine.
There aren’t many, in fact only one further video featuring David occurs on this channel.
Obesity TKA
It is age restricted – regular readers will know my thoughts on age-restricted videos – I do not bother watching them.
I’ve only included the link in case you are interested.
In this case, it is not clear why the search retrieved this video, as I cannot see that David features in it at all. The notes are: “2,290 views 28 Jul 2023
Fred D. Cushner, MD, performs an obesity TKA.
Fred D. Cushner, MD Profile│https://www.hss.edu/physicians_cushne…
For CME credit and other courses visit│https://www.eacademy.hss.edu/
Chapter Points: coming soon…”
It is fifteen and a quarter minutes in length, Fred it turns out has a very loud voice, initially he starts out in an apparent hurry. There is no startup music and the background noise (air conditioning) is moderately loud.
It features some fairly upsetting (to many people) operation procedures. These have loud associated noises. There are jarring equipment noises and loud suction noises as well. Narration during the procedure is also loud. Background noises also seem to be, if anything, even louder.
There are loud drilling noises which could probably wake the dead.
This is just not a suitable video from our perspective.
So just one video this week.
Perhaps time for a bit of pre-sleep relaxation instead.
The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:
I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article why not follow this blog.
Welcome to the Procrastination Pen where, for greater than a year, I have been reviewing ASMR videos. I understand that for a number of people ASMR is so much falderol and, for people who have that view, I would say that the ultimate aim of the Procrastination Pen playlist is sleep. The finding of relaxing videos is just a pathway to creating a tool that makes it easier to fall asleep and to go back to sleep if you wake during the night. To make the waking during the night less likely, videos with sudden changes in volume, excessive noise, and random interruptions will consign the video to the rejected pile (there are quite a few such videos).
The outcome is a playlist – the Procrastination Pen playlist in fact. I listen to this most days and I am constantly tweaking it to remove any videos with irritating characteristics which for some reason did not bother me before. In this fashion, I hope to produce a quality playlist which you can use in lulling yourself off to sleep.
Each week there will be an article like this one, in which I explain the reasoning behind selection and rejection of certain videos, and I flag the playlists at the end of every article. (If you’re short of time, just scroll to the end and pick the playlists up from there).
I recommend that you listen to the playlist via YouTube rather than embedded in my blog. For one thing, YouTube offers the shuffle function for playing playlists which enables you to hear the videos in random order.
I am always open to suggestions for great videos although, to date, I tend to review videos that are inadvertent ASMR videos rather than those by professional ASMR artists. But I am thinking of changing this, so never say never.
This week’s video follows on from the tradition of eye examinations featured on this blog.
Having Cataract Surgery? Here’s everything you need to know!
It rather bravely permits comments and, as expected, a number of these comments are from people who would perhaps be best placed consulting a medical professional, rather than commenting on a video.
There are no obvious ASMR-related comments.
I often find that videos which are professionally produced have a rather detailed set of notes associated with them and this one is no exception. The notes state:
“1,366,499 views 29 Apr 2020
In this video, I go over all the nitty-gritty details you need to know about before your cataract surgery. Common questions that I answer include: What is a cataract? Does everyone get them? What kinds of symptoms will I have as my cataract gets worse? What does cataract surgery entail? What is a lens implant? Are there different choices for my lens implant? What are the restrictions after surgery? Does the surgery hurt? What are the risks of surgery. How much does everything cost? Does my insurance pay for the surgery?
Cataract surgery is a wonderfully rewarding and highly successful surgery but it can be scary when you are faced with eye surgery. If you are thinking about cataract surgery or have already scheduled your surgery, this is the video for you!”
The video is a little less than half an hour so is fairly substantial in terms of videos I have reviewed of late (but certainly not the longest one I’ve listened to).
The video starts with music which intrudes over the top of the presenter’s voice. I have no idea why presenters do this. In fact, the presenter starts out muted but once the music stops that improves a great deal.
The medical professional is Allison P. Young M.D. who, at least initially, does not have the most relaxing voice. However, the video seems to improve as it progresses (one of those videos where it would be great to set the start time some way into the video).
There is a fair amount of technical terminology, but this does not seem necessary to comprehend in order to relax to the video. Most of the difficult terms are explained sufficiently, which is the motivation behind the video. However, this tends to mean it is a bit of a monologue. On first listen, it did not descend into boredom but whether it will have longevity in the Procrastination Pen playlist or will ultimately be weeded to the archive list remains to be seen. The pace is perhaps a little faster than I would have liked, however I suppose if it had been any slower then the video would also have been much longer…
I notice that Allison is presenting from Stone Oak Ophthalmology Center. It is interesting to see a lengthy discussion on insurance, this is something I don’t have to think about under the NHS. I can either qualify for a procedure or I don’t. In this case you may qualify and yet be unable to pay for it. That is certainly food for thought.
One feature to be aware of is that the video seems to have artificial breaks in it where YouTube adverts get inserted. The ones I was listening to were somewhat louder than the video itself, your mileage may vary.
Sadly, the video also exits to music and, yet again, it plays over the voice track. I’m going to trial this video in the Procrastination Pen playlist. However, I’m not sure if it has legs enough to last there a long time.
It is not uncommon for me to explore the channel when I find one good video to see if there are other relaxing videos that may be worthy of including in the playlist. The channel has only seven videos but 17.5K subscribers which is a fair number for so few videos.
It sounds like it is well worth reviewing the channel in total given how few videos there are to review. Most of the videos appear to have been posted three years ago so it has the feel of a channel that is not actively maintained. The upside of which is that if the videos stick around for a long time and are good for relaxation, they are also likely to be in the Procrastination Pen playlist a long time.
What is the Light Adjustable Lens and how do we use it in cataract surgery? | The Eye Surgeon
This video is just a little over 6 minutes, substantially shorter than the last one and thankfully this time no start up music, heaven be praised.
The notes are equally brief: “8,728 views 13 Feb 2023
In this video, I discuss the newest lens implant option for cataract surgery, the Light Adjustable Lens. We will talk about how it is different from prior lens implants and who is a good candidate for the lens.”
Again, comments are permitted and again, a number of people asking the kind of medical questions I would guess would be best asked directly of one’s doctor rather than as comments on YouTube, this seems to be a trend. Perhaps in the future diagnosis will be by social media…
The video has really horrendous background noise. This seems to be the dreaded air conditioning noise which we are well used to by now. It mars a number of videos that have been reviewed on this blog, some have sufficient compensating factors that I tolerate them for a while in the Procrastination Pen playlist. However, if you do take a look in the archive list, a fair number of the videos that ultimately have been consigned there have been put in that place due to excessive background noise.
In this case I do not think it is worth trialling the video in the Procrastination Pen playlist.
What is Macular Degeneration and how is it treated? | The Eye Surgeon
As before notes: “7,528 views 23 Feb 2021
In this video I will give a brief overview on the different types of Macular Degeneration and how they are treated.”
The comments, as usual, are somewhat variable, but do not seem to include any ASMR-related comments.
The video announces that February is macular degeneration month. I’m sure all those people rushing out to buy over-priced flowers and high calorie gifts will be relieved to discover that is what February is known for.
The voice track is muted and includes a fair amount of background (air conditioning) noise. There is an intrusive alarm noise acting as encouragement to subscribe to the channel, which I imagine in those of us trying to drift off to sleep is likely to have the opposite effect.
The video is a little less than five and a half minutes and for me could have eliminated the first half a minute and still been a useful video.
It is again a monologue, but fortunately, in this case, brief. On the plus side, the presentation is more measured than in the previous videos covered by this blog post. Had it not been for that alarm sound, I would have said it might have been the best one so far.
As it is, I think I’ll trial it in the Procrastination Pen playlist but distracting noises like that alarm sound is one of the prime reasons for weeding a video out to the archive list, so I do not have high hopes for its membership in the Procrastination Pen playlist for any great length of time.
DRY EYES | How to stop the burning, stinging, tearing and blurred vision | The Eye Surgeon
There are notes as usual: “38,027 views 24 May 2020
Dry eyes affect almost everyone at some point. In this video, I review the reasons our eyes get dry and some simple ways you can treat them!”
As before we find a range of comments and only a few are of much relevance. As we have seen earlier in this blog post some people really need better availability of medical treatment. Feedback on YouTube is probably not the way to get a definitive diagnosis.
This video is in excess of twelve minutes and so a bit longer than the previous one. Again, the audio seems to be muted but this time the presentation is a bit more measured in delivery. Sadly, there is funky start-up music and boy it is really pacy. The delivery is again a monologue – no featured examination here. The muted delivery means that at least any background noise is held somewhat in check.
More music on the way out, as if rather than sleeping I fancied a trip to a discothèque. This is very borderline. I think I’ll trial it in the Procrastination Pen playlist, but my feeling is that music is going to get it the boot before too long.
FLOATERS | When they are normal and when to call your doctor | The Eye Surgeon
The notes for this one are: “156,943 views 8 May 2020
Floaters are usually just a nuisance, but sometimes they are warning signs of a much bigger problem like a retinal tear or detachment.”
It is a little over nine and half minutes so not huge. There are comments and I am beginning to understand that some people use comments as if they were talking to their own personal counsellor. Perhaps this explains some of the esoteric responses that are seen associated with some YouTube videos.
The video starts without music but at a fair old pace. But just as you’re settling in, the funky music starts. Oh dear.
The subject is a little alarming. The delivery is rapid. The background noise though is muted. It is a monologue again, with no medical examination as such.
Of course, as the video concludes more of that music. I suspect that over time each of the videos featuring startup and tail end music will hit the archive list as newer and quieter videos are found but for the moment, I’ll trial this one in the Procrastination Pen playlist.
STYES! | What are they and how are they treated? | The Eye Surgeon
A slightly less alarming subject than the last one, although I doubt it is going to win in the attractiveness rating. Just less than seven and a quarter minutes long. The notes as with the previous video are brief: “303,387 views 19 Apr 2020
A “stye” is the most commonly-used term for what is technically known as a “hordeolum.” In this video, I review why we get styes in the first place and the usual stepwise treatment plan I use in my office. Hope it is helpful!
Feel free to check out my website for more eye education!
A number of the comments as before seem to be hoping for a response giving medical advice. Perhaps we are seeing a future in which social media will advise you whether the chest pains are because you ate a strong curry or are about to expire due to a heart attack…
Again, the video commences with very active music, not the stuff of sleepiness I’m thinking. The presentation is a monologue again and it is quite fast paced as well. At least post the music, the volume settles down.
However, it returns at the end just as peppy, which is a shame for us slumber lovers.
Blepharitis | 2 Easy steps to banish red, crusty, itchy eyes | The Eye Surgeon
A little less than seven minutes in length. As before there are a few notes: “120,613 views 16 Apr 2020
Blepharitis is a very common condition of the eyelids that causes flakey, itchy, irritated lids and lashes. In this video, I review the basics of blepharitis and some simple steps you can take at home to get your eyes feeling great again!
Products mentioned include:
* Microwavable warm compresses: Several brands available – here are a few links.
There are also comments, including thanks from the people whose products are being endorsed here. (To be clear I am not endorsing any products; I have no idea how effective they are).
The video begins in a muted fashion, although perhaps a little too fast paced, but again, music follows which is just too energetic for our purposes.
However at least that music is brief. The format is a monologue as before, no examination here.
Again, it concludes with music but this time it is quite short.
The Eye Surgeon 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 to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article why not follow this blog.
Last night I discovered that the shuffle function on YouTube is not exactly up to spec. For example, a specific set of adverts can stop the shuffle function in its tracks. I also discovered that some adverts cause the track not to return, but instead, it sets off a not-responding loop.
I recommend the shuffle function because the playlist is growing organically and, therefore, all of the tracks from one review appear in one place. This would mean that if there were, for example eight recommendations from one YouTube channel then these would all occur one after the other. That could make for very dull listening. However, this error in the shuffle function is quite disconcerting.
I do not regularly come across it, which seems to indicate that the problem occurs with specific video/advert combinations. It is irritating when the desire is that the playlist is kicked off and then continues without interaction until waking up the following morning. The error has proven that this is not always reliable.
Currently, I have no adequate solution. I have had the odd problem with YouTube which regular readers will have come across. Alternatives do exist (for example, I often listen to Calm). Some of these would make for less interactive blog posts. However, I am considering widening the scope of these articles to cover some of these alternatives.
Today’s though returns us to YouTube, as has been habitual for a long time now. However, it differs from the usual approach in that, in fact, it is a playlist.
It consists of four videos, which is actually a rather good number of videos to cover in one blog post.
The playlist occurs on the Blackriver & Bootsma Education channel. Whilst I am looking at it, I notice it has two hundred and ninety-six videos, as at today’s date, and a quite whopping 52.9K subscribers. I would have little doubt that some of them are going to be ASMR fans as well.
As I have pointed out before ASMR fans can spot a great video in the dark at fifty paces whilst wearing a blindfold.
There are thirteen playlists (The longest having one hundred and forty-two videos) but none seem to be of as such a convenient length for review as this playlist.
However, I have little doubt we will be back to take another look-see at this channel.
How to Drape – Prone (Face Down) [Upper Body, Lower Body, High Glute] Massage Position
This is nearly twenty-one minutes in length, so sizeable in comparison to some we have recently looked at. It starts without start up music and that is very welcome. It has notes and comments and for a change, none of the comments are unhelpful. The medical professional though is quite loud and I had to turn the volume way down. Once I had done that though, the presentation was excellent with none of the equipment noises we have sadly become so used to. The associated noises include movement of sheets which some ASMR fans seem to rather enjoy. At the time I am looking at it, YouTube took every opportunity to insert adverts (every few minutes) and a number of those adverts were really quite distracting. This now seems to be a standard thing – see the comments above about alternatives shortly being included in these blog posts.
Despite the volume, the presenting professional has a great and measured voice. It is very easy to listen to and definitely calming without any jarring unexpected noises.
It was sufficiently calming that the advert breaks come as an unpleasant surprise.
I’m not really expecting that anyone will pay much attention to the subject matter, it being mainly a source of relaxation for sleep. However, it is quite an interesting subject in itself. I would not have known there was so much to it and the number of considerations that need to be taken into account.
How to Drape – Supine (Face Up) [Upper Body, Lower Body, Abdominal, Chest, V Shape] Massage Position
This commences in the same way as the previous one, no startup music, a calm presentation, a very good start. Yet again I kept the volume button on the low side and you might experience inter-video volume issues on the playlist with some of those with a quieter presentation. In an ideal world, I could normalise the volumes so that as one video ended and another began but that option does not appear to be available.
The process is quite careful and a great deal of thought has obviously gone into it.
I notice however that the floor is floorboards, there are wooden cabinets there is a rug. This has the feel of domestic rather than a medical establishment. (I’m sure most medical establishments opt for wipe-clean surfaces simply on the basis of being more hygienic).
How to Drape – Supine to Sidelying (High Glute) Massage Position
This one is short by comparison with those we have just seen, at just over seven and a half minutes. However, it is very similar to what has gone before. This time, one person in the comments is seeking medical advice. People seem to do this elsewhere in YouTube and on the Internet. I suspect when the developers of AI technologies cotton onto this tendency for people to trust almost any location on the Internet for medical advice (more than say an actual medical professional) there will be a large number of medical bots stood up which for a small fee will diagnose and recommend…
The consistency of the video presentation is a great sign and is an indication that this is a professionally prepared video (we have seen the kind of variety in presentation that occurs in student assessment videos, for example).
There really is little to choose between the ones reviewed so far, and this means that we can push all of them forwards into the Procrastination Pen playlist.
The Blackriver & Bootsma 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 to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article why not follow this blog.
I’ve used this technique myself with clients. It is a good creative technique to use with people who worry excessively or are anxious. Sometimes it is good to use techniques other than talking (and listening) in the room. Visual techniques are helpful in that they display to the client where their current thinking style/behaviour is taking them. It also can help them to clearly see changes that they need to make.
Everyone in the world has two seeds. There is a happy seed and a worry seed. You can do what you like with either seed – there is no instruction book. However the way you behave towards these two seeds is not without consequences.
This exercise is to show what happens when you pay attention to one or other seed.
Draw a happy seed and a worry seed at the bottom of a large piece of paper.
The client can pay attention to either seed. They must first nominate one as the happy seed and one as the worry seed. (Draw a label clearly at the base of the paper so that there is no doubt which one is which).
They can pay attention to either seed. Each seed needs feeding and watering so that it can grow.
If the client is prone to worry it is usually easier for them to pay attention to the worry seed. If a worry comes to mind have them draw a shoot from the worry seed. Have them attach a leaf to this shoot labelled with that worry.
At this stage the worry seed is developing into a plant. The happy seed is still just a seed. The client has free rein to add shoots to either seed. Have them add more shoots with whatever comes to mind.
Their predominant thinking style will rise to the surface. Someone who worries draws more worries.
Dependent upon how much the client has to bring up it might be that you will need a very large piece of paper for this. (Plain wallpaper for example is good).
As you watch what the client is doing you can see that they have a tendency to water and feed one particular plant dependent upon their thinking style.
This can continue for as long as you have time designated to this. However a definite pattern will have emerged.
Eventually the client will run out of things to add – or will have added as much as they can within the time you allotted for this activity. There will usually be an asymmetry between the two plants:
At which point you can point out to them that in life there is only one pot of time. They can pay attention to anything that they like but only one thing at a time. If they pay attention to the worry seed – they care for it, water it and it will start to grow.
A first worry leaf develops. With further attention to the worry seed another leaf pops up. If they keep caring for the worry seed in time a tree of worries will fill the page.
Their life will be full of worries and there will be no space left for happy.
They can’t care for the worry seed and at the same time pay attention to the happy seed. With no attention to the happy seed they concentrate all their energy on worry.
The worry tree becomes so huge that it is overwhelming. By comparison the stunted happy tree is undeveloped. In fact the happy tree is completely overshadowed by the worry tree and is not going to grow properly.
Get them then to consider how life would be different if they spent at least some time on the happy seed.
Better still if they watered and cared for the happy seed at the expense of the worry seed. How much different would life be then.
The intention is for them to seek out the parts of their lives that are happy and to minimise the time they spend worrying.
The Procrastination Pen 