Gentle Whispering ASMR – The Procrastination Pen

Sleeping With ASMR

This week I was listening to a podcast in which it was mentioned that “no regrets” was a daft philosophy. The phrase “no regrets” chimed for me and then I remembered it was the name of a song:

and so, in the way that one does, I looked up the song and found out far too much about it.

It did leave in me a question about the effects of relationship breakup on sleep. I have noticed that things like relationship failure are not often taken seriously. Presumably the phrase “man up” would be employed here. I certainly never hear of any time off being awarded because one’s beloved decided that Geoffrey (or Gemma) from Accounts was a better fit.

It would seem that my suspicion that it would have a significant impact is supported with studies demonstrating shorter duration sleep, depression (which also impacted sleep) and fragmented sleep when one finally gets any at all.

Sadly, The Procrastination Pen is not going to try to stir the crocodile-infested waters of relationships. I have no great solutions to offer you. My favourite AI tells me that 22.8% of couples are divorced by their 25^th anniversary, which means a colossal number of people are suffering relationship breakup in their lives. I would be prepared to guess that those people do not get used to breakup even when they have been through one previously. The effects on sleep must be quite staggering.

The Procrastination Pen is however designed to try to alleviate some of those insomnia symptoms. The sole way that it attempts to do this is via distraction. Whilst the disciplined have trained their brain to switch off moments after the light is extinguished, the remainder of us would like something to keep the mind distracted whilst sleep slowly takes over.

The method I have chosen is to listen to something whilst trying to sleep. Personally, I find a calming, caring, dare I say it, empathetic, voice is quite effective in these circumstances. I therefore try to find resources that demonstrate that (rare) facility and evaluate them. Quite a lot of the time I wind up on YouTube but I do try to mine the alternative resources that I can find.

This week I thought I would stay on the subject of relationships and the stuff that goes wrong with them and pick on a podcast that I have often listened to, and rarely for the quality of the voice I have to admit: Limerence The Psychology of Romantic Obsession Brandy Wyant, Being Well. The actual site lists the resource as being on YouTube but the podcast is widely available including Apple. I have often thought that Dr Rick Hanson has an excellent voice, Forrest also has a pretty good voice. I’m not quite so convinced by Brandy’s voice here. However, there are any number of episodes with just Forrest and Dr Rick in them, so it should give you an opportunity to determine if you like them.

The Calm track this week is this:

https://www.calm.com/app/player/zOO7Lqwcg_

Daily Jay

When to Quit

NARRATOR

Jay Shetty

Quitting is not a sign of failure, although it is never wise to make a snap decision. I rather like that. I’m none too keen on the term failure especially as I read often of people who under one metric were terrible failures and by another great successes. Failure sounds to me like one of those rather too convenient labels you can give to others whose lifestyle you dislike.

Calm requires a subscription; I haven’t come across free Calm content yet. If I do, I’ll be sure to let you know. However, if you do have a subscription, why not try that out.

Some months ago now, I decided that some professional ASMR content should appear in the blog by way of contrast to the inadvertent ASMR which is most definitely still the core theme of this blog.

I’m beginning to realise that I actually prefer videos that were posted a little while ago and I see that on YouTube videos posted prior to the pandemic are now being referred to as “old school” videos. Given that is a scant six years ago now, how young are these ASMR artists on YouTube now?

There seems no reliable way to find really older YouTube videos with most searches on the site indicating that the majority of YouTube viewers preferring new, really new, or exceptionally new, videos and all the filters being optimised to take those preferences into account. I take some kind of perverse pride in exploring pre-pandemic videos where I come across them.

Todays for example, states that it was posted nine years ago and is by an artist that my ASMR index tells me I have not reviewed before (let us pray that is not for a fundamentally good reason). The site is Latte ASMR this site has 2.15m subscribers, three hundred and sixteen videos three playlists, I think that is nearly seven thousand subscribers for every video ever posted by this artist which seems a fairly good return to me.

The online translation service tells me that the three playlists are Japanese Videos, All Korean Videos and All English Videos, so no playlist dedicated to medical videos I’m afraid.

The notes against the channel are magnificently sparse: “Latte ASMR

More info

http://www.youtube.com/@LatteASMR

Joined 4 Jan 2016

2.15m subscribers

316 videos

667,479,881 views”

I would guess with that kind of patronage there would be very little need to advertise.

The video is right on theme for us (in that it is a medical examination role play):

Cranial Nerve Exam ASMR

It is a little less than thirty-eight minutes and so moderately substantial. There are notes, of course:”2,570,932 views 10 Nov 2016

Hello! This is Latte 🙂

In this video today, I will do the cranial nerve exam!

Actually, it was a bit challenging to make this video in English.

I don’t know the words that used in medical situation and it was difficult but many of you guys asked me to make more English videos and I took courage from your comments and made this video. So, I had to speak very slowly not to lose my mind. I don’t like the outcome of this video that much but I just did my best!

I know most of you guys are very open-minded and sweet-heart so I believe that you can understand me 🙂 I will not give up anyway. I will make lots of English videos again and again to make better videos!

Thank you for taking your time to watch this video and love you all! ♥

☆If you want to support me ♥:

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4170402

★My second channel!

/ @latte5017

★Instagram

/ latte_asmr “

Which regular readers will recognise are startlingly short for a professional ASMR artist (who habitually can write biblical notes with every video).

Comments are permitted. There are a lot of them, and most seem to be of the off-the-wall variety. That does not bode well. ASMR afficionados tend to wax-lyrical about the videos that they really like, sometimes to quite a nauseating degree. However, that is usually a fair sign that the video is a good one for us.

The video starts without music but there is a kind of background noise. (A hiss, but quite unlike the air conditioning noise that I am used to. It is more probably some kind of artifact from the recording mechanism used). The voice is quite high pitched but it is not whispery so that is quite rare. It sounds to me like the voice I would expect from a child, but the person starring in the video does not look that young. The pace is excellent, very measured. There are additional noises: nails clicking, the rustling of clothing, the odd clunk, paper rustling, the sound of pen scratching against paper, glove-related noises (I’m not a fan of these), the sound of the chinking of a glass vessel, clicking of pen light, what sounds like a small wooden drawer being opened and closed (it is off screen).

There is an amount of whispering during the examination, so that is fairly typical for a professional ASMR artist. There is that mouth clucking/clicking sound so beloved of ASMR professionals. The enunciation of some of the words is properly excellent and not that common in ASMR videos I have found.

There is the occasional oddity; “the liquid of taste” was one that stood out for me. But I thought that added to its charm rather than took away from it. You can probably tell that I very much liked this one. Why not give it a review yourself.

The inadvertent ASMR video this week is, in fact, drawn from a time when I was speculating about the treatment of youngsters and did this mean that people employed a gentler voice, a calmer demeanour, a more measured approach. In fact, did the very fact that a medical professional is dealing with a child mean that they are more likely to produce ASMR material.

I came across not a video but a playlist. It contains six videos however the blog post is already of a reasonable size so I think that I will evaluate the first video and file the other five for a return visit. The playlist is this:

It comes from a channel that I have visited again and again, primarily because it seems to have many suitable videos. It is, of course, Stanford Medicine 25, the playlist on the Procrastination Pen has a fair number of videos drawn from this channel in it.

The first video in this playlist is this one:

Abdominal Examination of the Newborn – Stanford Medicine

It is a little less than four and a half minutes so is another in a long line of brief videos that I have reviewed of late (the content is often great but short videos do maximise the inter video advert breaks).

The notes are sparse in the extreme: “411,093 views 5 Apr 2022

Dr. Bill Benitz demonstrates the abdominal examination of a newborn including identification of the liver edge and palpation of the spleen, kidneys, and a distended bladder.”

Dr Bill appears to be a very prestigious guy so we’re probably honoured to have him (if I did but know enough about medicine to understand it).

The video starts without music, but, in comparison to the professional ASMR artist I just reviewed, Dr. Bill is quite a lot louder. Another situation where the volume button needs to be thumbed down a bit. The speed is nicely slow, however. There is no background noise. The other good thing is that this, in common with all medical professional videos I have reviewed thus far, does not involve any whispering whatsoever. The baby involved is remarkably calm. It does not object in any way, quite surprising. For our purposes it makes for a more restful video though.

Just one, video this time.

That’s it on this occasion, more next time.

See you again next week.

The Stanford Medicine 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.

Until next time.

Photo by Deep.ai

Sleeping With ASMR

I notice that it has been so hot that we are starting to get advice about sleeping in a heatwave and that a sleep “divorce” is being discussed as a potential solution to some sleep-related issues. One thing that seems to be coming out of recent sleep articles is that people all over the UK (and no doubt elsewhere) are struggling to get enough decent quality sleep. The very high temperatures cannot be helping.

This blog, as regular readers will recognise, is all about sleep but mainly it focuses on sound and how to use sound to distract your mind from all the stresses of the day (and anticipation of the stresses of the day yet to come).

To this end I recommend (and review) a few audio tracks in the hope that you will find them restful. I am also, very gradually, building a playlist of inadvertent ASMR on YouTube which you may find helpful in this respect.

Some time ago I promised that I would find material that was not on YouTube so that those, like me, that loath the state of advertising on YouTube, during the quieter moments of the night could find refuge with another audio facility.

This week I notice that Susan Piver (someone I have mentioned before) has now started a podcast, called “Buddhism Beyond Belief”. It seems to have started in May and is still going strong. I rather like Susan’s voice. I also found that I could click on any of the tracks and they would just play without the need for any kind of logon (unlike some of the Spotify recommendations I have made recently). There is no obvious mechanism for downloading each track so, sadly, no method for building into your own personal playlist. It may still be worthy of a review however.

The Calm track this week (which is strictly for people who already have a Calm subscription) is this one:

https://www.calm.com/app/player/rUpkBWv51r

Daily Jay

Unlikely Teachers

NARRATOR

Jay Shetty

What do unpleasant people teach us about ourselves.

I do not think that there is any free content, so on that basis (given most readers will not have a Calm subscription) I will move swiftly along.

I have, for some months now, been reviewing a professional ASMR artist. I have recently taken refuge in some rather old ASMR in that it is nostalgic for me (I used to listen to these tracks close to the time that they were first posted). This week’s one is this:

Ocean Fabric Affirmations 🕯[ASMR] Whisper

We have featured the channel WhispersRed ASMR before, but for those of you new to the blog, WhispersRed ASMR has 1.12m subscribers, nine hundred and twelve videos, twenty-nine playlists.

Of which this one is dedicated to getting sleepy:

Regular readers will have noticed that I have, yet again, strayed from the core theme of these blog articles which is medical orientated videos. I have been reviewing such videos for a long time and I assure you that I will be returning to them as well.

The notes on the channel are quite informative including the fact that WhispersRed has been posting videos for thirteen years now (wow):

“WhispersRed ASMR

Description

Welcome home 💜 Make yourself cosy, put your feet up and I’ll pop the kettle on.

ASMR Tingles ✨ Relaxation ✨ Sleep ✨ Sound Therapy ✨ Silence ✨ Peace ✨ Love ✨ Smiles

Emma WhispersRed, Emma Smith, YouTube Mum

London, England

Links

Vlog Channelyoutube.com/@Emma_WhispersRed

Children’s Channelyoutube.com/c/WhispersRedASMRForChildren

Websitewhispersredasmr.com

Dog Rescue Charitywhispaws.org

Instagraminstagram.com/whispersred_asmr

TikToktiktok.com/@whispersredasmr

Facebookfacebook.com/WhispersRedASMR

More info

http://www.youtube.com/@WhispersRedASMR

United Kingdom

Joined 12 Apr 2013

1.12m subscribers

912 videos

433,408,137 views”

As you can see the notes are pretty comprehensive (read extremely long). The majority of professional ASMR artists seem to double as part-time authors if the length of their notes is anything to go by.

The video is a little over thirty-two minutes and it also has humongous notes; associated with it. This time I think I’ll edit them down (a lot):

“663,439 views 16 Jan 2020 #whispersred #asmr

An ASMR affirmations whisper using ocean fabric hands sound, candle gazing, smudging and fluffy mics for close comforting hair sounds 💜0:01 – Introduction 6:53 – Guided relaxation 14:36 – Affirmations begin 23:39 – Repeated affirmations for sleep 29:09 – Goodnight, Sleep tight, with LOVE from me 🌟

Items in this video:

🌸US Links – Satya Incense collection including Celestial – https://amzn.to/2u4hpAt

Silver grey blanket https://amzn.to/30o6wFG

🌷UK Links – Satya Incense with Celestial https://amzn.to/2teboRK

Silver Grey Blanket https://amzn.to/2uSixaB

📚My ASMR Book – Unwind Your Mind: The Life-changing power of ASMR https://campsite.bio/whispersredasmr – Published by Ebury/PenguinRandomHouse in the UK/Europe and Harper One in the US and Canada. Available in Hardback, Paperback, Audiobook and Ebook.”

The full set of notes are interesting to true ASMR afficionados and no doubt to out-and-out WhispersRed fans.

Comments are permitted. There are a fair number and as per usual some are lauding WhispersRed as the pinnacle of ASMRishness. Some are just peculiar. This seems pretty average for any YouTube video. (Some YouTube videos also attract some rather nasty comments, but not so here, as far as I can tell).

The video starts without music and I suppose the clue was in the name of the channel in that we can hear that we are focused on the whispery; in fact, I would say it is on the whispery side of whispery.

Emma mimics ocean sounds by dragging her hands across fabric (and it is really very believable). If you find ocean sounds restful, I would say you would be hard pressed to tell the difference with your eyes closed. I am mainly here for the voice and whilst I prefer presentations that are not focused on whispery, as whispery presentations go, this is a good one.

There is the crackling of a burning candle, the sound of a cigarette lighter, the clicking of nails and that ongoing fabric sound which could easily be the waves retreating over sand, if you did not know better. I thought it quite a clever effect and I’m not certain who first worked out that you could employ fabric in this way. The blowing of a Joss Stick quite effectively mimics the wind blowing; it really is quite carefully put together. It even includes a few well-placed affirmations; I’m quite in favour of an affirmation so I would say that gives it extra kudos.

I can now remember what it is caused me to listen to it all those years ago. In fact, whether it was the heat or the restfulness of this video I did find myself nodding whilst listening to it. In terms of this blog, therefore, I would deem that a success.

Why not review it yourself and see what you think.

The inadvertent ASMR video this week is from a channel that regular readers will already know. It is from Oxford Medical Education a channel with 164k subscribers, thirty two videos, nine playlists, and I have mined this channel for material repeatedly. Some of the videos have actually been quite good.

The video is this one:

Neck Examination – ENT

It is a little less than four minutes so play close attention or you’ll miss it!

There are notes of course: “338,976 views 17 Feb 2012

This video – produced by students at Oxford University Medical School in conjunction with the ENT faculty – demonstrates how to perform an examination of the neck. It also demonstrates the lymph node regions of the neck.

All videos on this channel are linked to Oxford Medical Education (www.oxfordmedicaleducation.com)

This video was produced in collaboration with Oxford Medical Illustration – a department of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust. For more information, please visit http://www.oxfordmi.nhs.uk”

How lovely and succinct they are, compared to those for the previous video.

The video starts without music but I was somewhat shocked after WhispersRed how loud the narrator initially sounded. This might be one to thumb the volume down a little. It might also be that in the context of the Procrastination Pen playlist it will fit right in. Something goes wrong with the video at about twenty seconds – it makes a very odd sound and the screen goes crazy for about three seconds. That is a great shame the video is otherwise quite calming. One of those where if I owned the video, I would cut that section out altogether. The medical professional has a great voice for our purposes, quite calm and quiet. However, sadly he does not get to talk as frequently as the narrator in this one. The “patient” doesn’t get to talk at all. The narrator has quite a good voice but not quite as great as the medical professional here. It might be that she has been instructed to be louder in order to be clear for the (no doubt students) attending to the video. It was not, after all, recorded for us ASMR fans.

The only problem from my perspective was the rather active advert that kicked in immediately afterwards.

On that basis, just one, video this time.

That’s it on this occasion, more next time.

See you again next week.

The Oxford Medical Education 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.

Until next time.

Photo by Deep.ai

Sleeping With ASMR

Recently it has been warm. Actually, warm does not even begin to describe it. It has been the kind of warm that must attend a sweating person’s undergarments. It has been hot and humid, and the kind of weather that makes you wonder why winter seems such a terrible idea.

One of the things that I find when it is like this is that lying in a pool of your own sweat is not that conducive to sleep. I also find that a couple of asthmatic tower fans do not really begin to make a dent in it. I am also hearing colleagues discussing the relative merits of this air conditioning system or that one.

England seems a quite different place to what I am used to if air conditioning starts to become as normal as formally a gas boiler would have been.

In these times as far as I can tell, all that is feasible is to rest, trust that your body is going to sleep when it has to, oh, and listen to a nice distracting playlist. It is for the latter that the Procrastination Pen has been reviewing calming material (predominantly from YouTube) for the last mumble-mumble months now. (It’s been a long while).

I am making efforts to live up to my promise of finding Internet-available material which is both free of adverts and also free of cost. (I think I was something of a lummock for promising it in the first place, but the endeavour persists).

This week I remembered that I had heard a meditation from someone called Chris Murchison called “I Am”. I found a copy of it here: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/podcasts/item/happiness_break_an_affirmation_practice_for_the_new_year

There is no obvious download button, however, there was also nothing that demanded payment. It is quite brief and there is some music, which is not my preferred thing. However, I found that Chris has a relaxing voice. Why not give it a try for yourself.

Whilst I’m looking at past relaxing material, I found that I had at one time been listening to this week’s professional ASMR artist in the past. The video is not on a medical theme but it is a goody (in my opinion).

The video is this one:

🌙* Sleepy Time🌙* ASMR * Soft Sounds * Massage *

It is from a channel that I have reviewed before

Gentle Whispering ASMR which has 2.43m subscribers, 848 videos, and 14 playlists.

There is even a playlist on a medical theme:

containing thirty-eight videos no less.

Today’s video is dated 2016 which is when I would have been listening to it. The notes, as usual, for a professional ASMR artist are making a run for war and peace in terms of their length:

“1 May 2016 #Gentlewhispering #ASMR #relax

Good evening🌙 ^_^ In this video we will scratch a pillow 00:59, make sleepy sweeping sounds with it 03:15, tuck you in with a soft blanket 06:22, massage your shoulders and your neck to help you relax more while learning why it is so good for you 08:45, then we’ll rub your temples and your forehead to sooth any tension you might have 17:00, help you locate and relax your jaw muscles 21:14 and at the end we’ll use a tissue technique 23:05 to help you close your eyes and fall asleep faster 🙂 I hope you’ll enjoy this simple and light video. Thank you for watching! 🌙 ♥

Disclaimer: ***- This video is created for relaxation, entertainment and ASMR/tingles/chills inducing purposes only. For more information about ASMR phenomenon please click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomo…

-This video cannot replace any medication or professional treatment. If you have sleep/anxiety/psychological troubles please consult your physician. Thank you 🙂

Email: MariaGentlewhispering@gmail.com

#ASMR #Gentlewhispering #relax”

As usual I have truncated those quite a bit. The video is a little over twenty-six and a quarter minutes. There are a shed-ton of comments. As usual there is lots of fawning commentary with the odd strange comment thrown in to remind you this is YouTube.

There is no startup music and the presentation is heavily dependent on whispery, breathy presentation. Pretty standard for a professional ASMR artist then. I do prefer them less on the whispery side personally, probably because such videos are comparatively rare. The voice is so quiet that at intervals what is being said cannot be made out (by me at any rate). However, the tone is so restful and quiet and the pace so marvellously slow. There is a persistent background hiss but it is barely noticeable. (I had turned the volume up a bit as the presentation really is that quiet).

There are non-vocal sounds of course: nails clicking on sequins, fabric-related noises, (some of those do not seem to be that restful), stroking of a cushion (which is uncannily like an ocean noise), stroking of a jumper, rustling noises, fingers tapping on material.

At intervals my mind did start to drift a bit which is perhaps not a good sign. Then again it could be a sign that if I was horizontal, I would have drifted off at that point.

I would say this one was definitely worthy of a review, why not take a look yourself.

The Calm track this week is this one:

https://www.calm.com/app/player/yS_L-ODr3t

Daily Trip

Awareness for Curious Cats

NARRATOR

Jeff Warren

AUTHOR

Jeff Warren

What is awareness? We can never fully know ourselves but we can try.

I know the chances are that relatively few of you will have a Calm subscription and I am not going to sell you one. However, if you do subscribe to Calm, why not give that a try.

For the inadvertent ASMR we are back, once again, with a channel that I have covered many times previously, that is Geeky Medics. This channel has 1.44m subscribers, three hundred and fifty four videos, twenty playlists and occasionally we do find a really rather relaxing video. With the downside that as far as I remember every single video I have reviewed from this channel has music.

Today’s video is this one:

Tinel’s & Phalen’s Test – OSCE Guide | Clip | UKMLA | CPSA | PLAB 2

In common with several recent inadvertent ASMR videos of late it is rather short at a little less than one and a half minutes. The video still has notes though: “2 Oct 2022 Neurological Examination OSCE Guides | CPSA | UKMLA | PLAB | MRCS

This video demonstrates how to screen for sensory loss in the hands in an OSCE station. Sensory assessment of the hands (radial, median, ulnar nerve) is commonly performed as part of a hand and wrist examination.

Tinel’s and Phalen’s test screen specifically for median nerve compression (i.e. carpal tunnel syndrome).

You can read our step-by-step guide to hand and wrist examination here: https://geekymedics.com/hand-examinat…

Always adhere to medical school/local hospital guidelines when performing examinations or clinical procedures. DO NOT perform any examination or procedure on patients based purely on the content of these videos. Geeky Medics accepts no liability for loss of any kind incurred as a result of reliance upon the information provided in this video.

Achieve success in your medical school OSCEs, UKMLA CPSA, and PLAB 2 exams with our free clinical skills videos. Subscribe to our channel to be informed of our latest releases. 🙂

CPSA OSCE Guides https://geekymedics.com/the-clinical-…

UKMLA AKT Notes https://geekymedics.com/ukmla/

PLAB 2 OSCE Stations https://geekymedics.com/plab-2-osce-s…

Revise for the Simulated Consultation Assessment (SCA) with our collection of high-quality SCA cases written by GPs and Training Program Directors. Check out our SCA revision cases and prepare for the MRCGP https://geekymedics.com/sca-cases-ban…”

Again I have edited those down a tad.

Despite how short this video is there is still time, apparently, for startup music (I am not a fan). The examination is not quiet, but the tone is good and the pace is excellent. Without the music it might even have been very good indeed. There is even further music at the tail end of the same video… it’s a great shame, I need a Geeky Medics Senza Musica but no such channel exists.

Still worth a review though I feel.

On that basis, just one, video this time.

That’s it on this occasion, more next time.

See you again next week.

The Geeky Medics 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.

Until next time.

Photo by Deep.ai

Sleeping With ASMR

This week I get age verification in my operating system. As if to reinforce it, age verification on YouTube became even more strident, indeed, positively insistent. I wouldn’t mind but I do not wish to be reviewing material that is unsuitable for a three-year-old. I would think, therefore, that no age verification should be necessary.

I suspect there is more involved to this age verification business than is being stated and so I am not in a hurry to comply. My mission to find resources for ASMR outside of YouTube just got a boost and that can only be to the good.

To which end: Elisha Goldstein has to be about as famous a meditator as it is feasible to get. Are there any resources for Elisha that do not involve my straying into YouTube territory (we can be assured there are many, many videos on YouTube featuring Elisha). Fortunately, a number of meditations are available here: https://www.mindfullivingla.org/elisha-goldstein/. These stretch from five minutes to thirty minutes and as such should act as a reasonable distraction in your snoozing moments. Not a single age verification challenge did I receive (which I hope means that not one item of age-inappropriate content is therein contained).

This week’s ASMR from an ASMR professional. It is a true blast from the past. I used to listen to this one some years ago now. Before I really started listening to inadvertent ASMR material in any quantity.

It is this one:

🌿 Relaxing Naturopath Visit 🌿 ASMR 🌿 Doctor RP

And it comes from one of the titans of professional ASMR artists. Often justifiably so I have found as she has a great voice.

The URL of the video is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmhmKEhnIpA

The channel is Gentle Whispering ASMR and anyone who listens to ASMR must surely have come across this artist. To give you an idea, the channel has 2.42m subscribers, eight hundred and forty-three videos. With statistics like that it makes me wish I’d paid more attention in school and grown up to be a successful ASMR artist.

Surprisingly, there are only fourteen playlists with only the one playlist on theme for the medical ASMR material which I have been featuring on this blog of late:

Today’s video has notes – of course it does. However, surprisingly, these are moderately on the succinct side for a professional ASMR artist: “8,082,246 views 16 Jan 2018

Hello sweetheart! 🙂 Today I welcome you to my naturopathic medicine practice 🌿 I will shortly give you an overview of your visit then at 03:00 I will perform a check-up of your hair, your ears 06:30 , I’ll put on my gloves and examine your skin 08:50 , your sinuses 11:25 , your lymph nodes 13:03 , neck muscles check 14:10 , I’ll gently test your eyes reflexes with a flashlight 16:56 , I’ll tell you about Eyeology 19:29 and check your eyes 22:26 , then I will perform a check of your tongue 29:55 after I explain how you can read your health by your tongue 27:47 , I’ll tell you a bit about tension headache that you’ve been experiencing and how to deal with it 32:32 , I’ll recommend you some essential oils 34:34 , and herbal supplements 36:16 that even sound good and at the end I will relax you deeper with gentle hand movements to help you doze off 38:29 . Enjoy ♥ Thank you for watching! 🙂 “

Still, the notes are on the long side though you notice (ASMR professionals do so love their notes). I have edited them a little or you’d never have time to read it all.

There are comments and, sheesh, people do so love to comment. Lots and lots of appreciative comments and a fair few off-the-wall ones as well. No surprises there then.

The video is forty one and a half minutes long and so it is lengthy compared to those we have listened to of late. It starts without music and straight away we realise that the focus is going to be at the whispering level of delivery. Not a bad thing, but also a fairly common approach to ASMR. I do like it when I find a non-whispery one.

Some of the words I could not make out, but I think the overall delivery may not be intended to deliver meaning so much as a relaxing effect on the audience. In which case I would say that the video is a good one. The voice really is that good.

It is calm, quiet, and the intonation is well-nigh perfect. Presumably over two million people would agree. There is that strange clucking come mouth-clicking sound beloved of ASMR artists. This is not something I am trying to find in a video (a lot of people must disagree).

Of course, there are some non-vocal related noises but not too many I notice, mainly clicks and rustles. There is also the tendency for the delivery to vie towards the breathy side. I am not really into breathy personally, but it would appear that a great many ASMR fans are. There is also some clicking from a plastic valerian tablet bottle which did not appeal to me (but must appeal to someone). There is also the grinding sound of a pestle on mortar which is not unpleasant or distracting in my opinion. All told an excellent video and I can remember why I used to listen to it.

Today’s Calm offering came via a recommendation (from Calm). It is this one:

Daily Calm

Tiny Choices

https://www.calm.com/player/-82hIZWhE5

NARRATOR

Tamara Levitt

AUTHOR

Tamara Levitt

A person with possibly my favourite voice on Calm but who I only encounter on the Calm dailies. These daily offerings are around ten minutes in length (as here) and so probably not long enough for you to drop off to in themselves. The other disadvantage to the majority of readers of this blog is that Calm access is not free; you will have to pay a subscription if you want access.

This is about the big effects that small choices can make. Regular repetition of habitual choices can have a big effect. It is important to have awareness of the choices that we unconsciously have made in the past, giving the facility to change such choices in the future.

This week’s inadvertent ASMR is this one:

02.01 General Assessment Physical assessment

and comes from the channel Nursing made easy with 2.68k subscribers and one hundred and seventy-two videos. There are six playlists all of which are in some way related to the medical theme I’ve been pursuing for a while (and given the title of the channel, unsurprisingly).

and

The video is just a little over two minutes, blink and it’s gone, it has no notes and no comments and sadly starts with quite loud startup music.

The narration is from a voice which is nicely calm. There is a medical examination which is featured visually but we cannot hear the participants. Thankfully there is no tail-end music. So, it is a reasonable one but also a rather brief one this week.

On that basis, just one, video this time.

That’s it on this occasion, more next time.

See you again next 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.

Until next time.

Photo by DeepAI

Sleeping With ASMR

I am getting the opportunity recently to converse with people who are a generation older than I am, and the news for people reading this blog is not very settling. I’m afraid the interruptions to sleep get worse. The length of sleep gets shorter. The feelings of tiredness persist. It therefore seems to me that there is some value in The Procrastination Pen, in that this blog keeps pursuing restful sounds that can assist a person into sleep.

I have been exploring audiobooks of late (there seems a rather vast amount of Agatha Christie on CD, for instance). Those so disposed can probably get something similar from Spotify or some similar subscription service. I am actually finding that a story droning away in the background can be quite restful. However, it is a good idea to miss out on books that might include elevated, dramatic noises. A sudden loud noise probably having completely the opposite effect to that which one desired, by listening to such a thing at bedtime, in any case.

I notice that Calm is pushing its sleep app. I have found the material in the Calm App dedicated to sleep a bit variable. I find much of the material dedicated to sleep actually has no such effect on me. Regular readers will have noted that where I do make recommendations from Calm, it tends to be the Daily Calm meditations that I draw from. I find these superior in sound content, but sadly they are designed to be around ten minutes in length. That is probably an insufficient length to drop off to and, so far, I have not found a method to chunk then together into a vast long playlist.

I have now subscribed to the regular Calm email in the hope that it will produce great material, and I notice that this one has been in this email of late:

Rainy Day on the Farm

https://www.calm.com/app/player/NMJNYgZbbi

This is thirty minutes in length but on a loop, so it appears everlasting. No artist is given. I do not really find rainy backdrops to be that restful. However, a number of people seem to do so. There are a number of offerings on YouTube in the same vein.

For example, this one:

It is all a bit noisy and stressful in my opinion to be really conducive to sleep. However, if this is your thing, by all means, fill your boots.

I have been trying to find material that does not depend upon YouTube (because I’ve decided that I do not like the adverts). This is purely an addition to the YouTube-based material because, for the moment, there is little else that is free and has a ready supply of sound-based material which you can use to distract the mind addicted to wakefulness.

I remember that during lockdown I used to receive emails from a site called Mindful on which a number of people published meditations. Sadly, this does not line up into a playlist and, from memory, they did not offer a download option. So, it may be of only passing interest. I also know that I followed specific artists at the time and one of these was Elaine Smookler. It turns out that Elaine does a few twelve-minute meditations such as this one:

https://www.mindful.org/a-12-minute-meditation-for-embracing-your-inner-mountain/

and this one:

https://www.mindful.org/a-12-minute-meditation-for-navigating-grief-anniversaries/

and of course there is a great deal of material on YouTube:

and I also see that MP3s can be obtained from here:

https://player.fm/series/the-mindful-podcast/gratitude-practice-savor-the-moment-by-tapping-into-your-senses-with-elaine-smookler

As expected, if you choose that route you will need to download the MP3s and assemble into some kind of playlist yourself. The advantage being that you can normalise the inter-MP3 volume so you don’t get any mid-sleep nasty surprises.

At this point, for some weeks, I have been reviewing professional ASMR videos. Akin to the mindful material I can remember, some videos that I have listened to in the distant past including this one:

🌿 Relaxing Naturopath Visit 🌿 ASMR 🌿 Doctor RP

Gentle Whispering ASMR

2.41m subscribers

Gentle Whispering ASMR is one of those powerhouses of professional ASMR artists. there are 2.41m subscribers and eight hundred and twenty six videos, there are fourteen playlists of which the odd one is on theme for material we have been covering of late. For example:

and

This week’s video is an oldie as you can tell by the notes:

“8,059,900 views 16 Jan 2018

Email: MariaGentlewhispering@gmail.com

Gentle Whispering ASMR

2.41m subscribers”

So the standard professional ASMR huge set of notes then. As usual I have trincated these a whole lot as they really are very long. In this case comments are not only permitted the first comment is also from GentleWhisperingASMR:

However this comment simply replicates a good deal of the notes so I will not repeat it here.

There are literally thousands of comments and a number of these are the standard YouTube level of strange. A number of them are the standard professional ASMR artist level of sycophantic. We are on familiar ground here.

The video is forty-one and a half minutes long, so of a reasonable length. There is no startup music and the presentation is the now familiar professional ASMR artist level of whispery. I would not say this was my favourite voice, but it is restful. There are of course extraneous noises, rustling, equipment noises, writing noises, keyboard noises, clothes brushing against other clothes, breath across the microphone noises, mouth clicking noises, glove-related noises, paper-related noises, rattling noises.

It gets a bit breathy and there are those mouth-clicking noises I have noticed some similar videos using before. I don’t find a need for them but you may love this sort of thing (close to two and a half million people obviously do so). I would say that this one requires a small increase in the volume, when listening. Another one where the disgruntled listener is rolling over and thumbing the volume up button. I’m also not that certain how well it works without the video content. Obviously, you don’t want to be watching if you’re also trying to close your eyes. There are also a few close-to-microphone moments where the sound seems more abrupt and louder and I would think that might not be a pleasant surprise if you are already snoozing.

I’d say that this one is certainly worthy of a review.

This week’s inadvertent ASMR video is this one:

HEENT Assessment Part 1: Head, Face, and Neck

Straight away we can see that this forms part of a series. Even though this blog post is already on the long side, I therefore feel I’d better review all four of the videos in this series.

It comes from the channel NursingYOU 2.0 this has 3.7K subscribers nineteen videos zero playlists. It is not the hugest channel we have ever reviewed. The channel description is: “NursingYOU 2.0

Description

This is a nursing education channel led by a Masters prepared Nurse Educator. This channel offers videos on health assessment, skills, lecture series, and NCLEX test taking strategy. The videos presented by NursingYOU 2.0 are intended only for education of healthcare professionals. Previously called Nursing YOUniversity. See the updates!! Enjoy.

More info

http://www.youtube.com/@nursingyou2.073

Joined 5 Jul 2017

3.7k subscribers

19 videos

1,126,488 views”

A quick scan indicates that all of these videos were posted eight years ago. So, it also appears to be a channel that is no longer maintained. Grab your video views while ye may.

The video itself has notes: “319,367 views 5 Jul 2017

In this video, the head, face, and neck are assessed on an adult client. This video is part 1 of 4 for the Head Ears Eyes Nose and Throat (HEENT) system of a complete health assessment.”

The comments are, as usual, of various types including the off-the-wall. Some ASMR fans are here way before me, though I notice.

The video is just slightly less than six minutes in length. It starts with no startup music but an absolute ton of background noise. Also, the presentation is pretty loud as well. Currently I am less than clear why ASMR fans have been listening to this. I would say that this is not classically ASMR. For example, there is a fair amount of background chatter going on. Simply turning down the volume is not going to eliminate that. There is also the sound of paper being rustled throughout (although I know this is a sound that some ASMR fans go in search of). There are sounds from motion – the participants moving around. There is, at one point, the sound of a prop driven aircraft passing over head. For me this is all a bit busy to be that relaxing.

Onto part 2:

HEENT Assessment Part 2: Nose, Mouth, and Throat

The notes are similar to the last set of notes so I won’t go into them here. The comments are the usual level of unhelpful and no ASMR-related comments this time, which is not uncommonly a bad sign. It is five minutes in length and starts without music. The background noise remains but at least the background conversations seem to have abated. Again, it is a bit loud for me. The voice of the medical professional isn’t ASMR-y from my perspective. However, I would say that this one is a slight improvement on the previous video in this series. Part way through the background noise gets substantially worse, as if the air conditioning has been switched into turbo mode, this obscures the voice to some extent and is moderately distracting.

HEENT Assessment Part 3: Ears

Three and a third minutes so quite a bit shorter than the two previous ones. This one starts with the level of background noise where the previous one left off i.e. quite substantial. The medical professional now sounds to be at some distance from the microphone as if the entire video was shot in a tube station. In fact, I think it is an open area within a hospital, a hospital with very powerful air conditioning.

The noise is now getting quite distracting. This one has minor and brief equipment noises.

HEENT Assessment Part 4: Eyes

The last one in the series and, at just less than six and a half minutes, the longest video as well. The voice is now quite subdued and distant in relation to the background noise. This really does sound like the medical professional is at the end of a long tunnel. If you get your feeling of restfulness from air conditioning noises this is definitely the video for you. This time you can hear background chatter at a reasonably elevated level. This is quite distracting as well. There are equipment noises as the “patient” moves around. Due to the muting of the entire soundtrack these are not excessively loud.

That’s it on this occasion, more next time.

See you again next week.

The Nursing You 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.

Until next time.

Photo by DeepAI