Gentle – Page 10 – The Procrastination Pen

Sleeping With ASMR

The search for ASMR related content (mostly on YouTube, to date anyway) goes on today and this time no deviations into other subjects.

Those who read this blog frequently will now be aware that each one of these articles reviews another YouTube video for its suitability. If it turns out to be relaxing (or preferably it can produce ASMR effects), it gets added to the Procrastination Pen playlist. If it turns out to be noisy or distracting, well, there just won’t be an article about it at all.

As part of the process, I explore the YouTube channel where the video was located and determine if there are other great videos in there. If the other videos on that channel are noisy or distracting, they get a passport out of the playlist, forever to be forgotten. If they are also relaxing, they get added to the playlist as well.

Over time I keep reviewing the existing playlist and some that do not stand the test of time get removed and added to an archive playlist (in case any readers rather liked them and want to hear them again).

Hence the Procrastination Pen playlist grows only slowly but one hopes it retains its quality.

That being the background, onto today’s video which continues the theme of medical examination videos. So far, I have rarely strayed into professional ASMR territory. Therefore, most of these blog articles focus on videos that were produced for another purpose but just happen to be relaxing as well (commonly where one of the people featured in the video has a great, relaxing voice).

In this case, we have mined the rich seam which is medical student videos. These have been featured before and are distinctly variable in sound quality (commonly the voice is accompanied by background air conditioning, equipment noises and even people wandering into the room where filming is taking place).

However, every once in a while, a good one pops up, so I keep on checking them.

Head -to -toe assessment

There are few subscribers, three hundred and thirty-five as at today’s date. Many of the channels we have been looking at had substantially more. Although comments are allowed there are few of them. As is usual in YouTube, comments (those that are there) are not all helpful.

In common with most student videos there are no notes with the video, so we get no clues for example as to where this is filmed. It is posted in January 2018 and so we can guess that this is an assessment video, somewhere, perhaps in the final year of a nursing qualification so probably a course that ended in 2018 then.

Tamara introduces herself as the student nurse. The patient is Caitlyn (I think). That could easily be misspelled.

Caitlyn (I’m sticking with that spelling now) appears to have the better voice (very quiet indeed). However, sadly, Caitlyn does not get a lot of speaking opportunity.

Thankfully, there is no roaring air conditioning accompaniment, no nasty clanging noises, crashes or onset of Beethoven at one hundred and forty decibels.

It isn’t “top of the pops” in terms of ASMR, but in my view is suitably relaxing so it is going forwards to the playlist.

The channel is Tamara Nosa which has eight videos in it as at today’s date. Two videos are posted ten years ago and five of them five years ago. One video is a “short” – so far there have been no reviews of shorts on this blog.

There is a single playlist entitled “Favourites” which includes videos external to the channel so it isn’t going to be useful to us. The playlist was updated more recently in 2022.

The short which is entitled:

IV Vitamins Infusion. We have 10 different IV cocktails for which your body will thank you!!!

Is loud funky and about as relaxing as having needles poked in somewhere sensitive. So we’ll move on.

The older videos are entitled in a different character set:

Вітання українських дітей в Палатайні ч.1

The character set appears to be Russian and the translation via Google translate is “Vetting of Ukrainian children in the Palatine part 1”

It is very home video-y and no doubt is of interest to the parents of said children, less so in terms of ASMR I think.

Вітання українських дітей в Палатайні ч.2

“Vetting of Ukrainian children in the Palatine part 2”

The same comments apply as to the previous video – this also will not be in the playlist.

Both of these videos are posted to the channel ten years ago.

Head – to – toe assessment

The patient appears to be Jessie (probably misspelled). She does not appear to be delighted to be in a video. There are no comments, no notes, no clues about the institution. In this way it is very like the first video in this article. This is potentially a theme starting.

It is posted in 2017 which appears to be the same year it was filmed (according to Jessie anyway).

Tamara seems to be keen to follow a script. There are comments, by Jessie, which Tamara seems to rush past. So far, so normal assessment video.

At intervals this is a bit chattier than the first video featured in this article. This is unwelcome (for us rather than for Jessie) but I do not think it is excessive.

Foley insertion

This is strange in the extreme and does not strike me as conducive to sleep for a number of people watching. There are no comments and no notes but I’m not putting it in the Procrastination Pen playlist in any case.

Subcutaneous injection

This is very brief. There is no patient as such, no notes, no comments, someone wanders across the camera repeatedly. All in all, not really at the level for the Procrastination Pen playlist so it’s not going to be in there.

One video appears to be hidden as eight videos are listed but only seven appear, therefore this next is the last video on this channel:

Head-to-Toe Assessment

Olga is the patient in this one. This one actually has some comments and thankfully not of the trolling variety.

From this we get that it was filmed in Chicago. That is helpful

We therefore obtain that Tamara was in South University in 2020 and in Dominican University in 2018 (the date of the first video we featured).

South University is in Savannah.

Dominican University is in Illinois.

As expected both have their own YouTube channels https://www.youtube.com/@southuniversity and https://www.youtube.com/@DominicanUniversity perhaps these will be worthy of further examination in the future.

The process is similar to the previous head to toe videos featured in this blog post.

I will include it in the Procrastination Pen playlist (but it maybe subject to future weeding). The Tamara Nosa playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time.

Photo by Shona Macrae

Sleeping With ASMR

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

HEENT ear pain

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

Nicki FNP student health assessment HEENT Ear Pain”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There is the occasional clunk which distracts slightly.

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

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

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

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

The next video is this one:

FNP Asmt Musculoskeletal Module 4 Nicki & Melissa

The video includes notes “28 Sept 2018

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

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

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

Definitions:

FNP Family Nurse Practitioner

ASMT American Society of Medical Technologists

Nicki Neuro Assessment Lab

Notes as before “18 Sept 2018

Neuro Assessment with differential diagnosis”

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

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

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

Nicki M. -Basic Head to Toe Proficiency

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

Assmt. FNP Fall 2018”

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

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

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

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

The Nicki Meyer playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time.

Photo by Shona Macrae

Sleeping With ASMR

Welcome reader, I hope that you enjoy this week’s item. You may well be aware how this blog works but, just in case, here is a bit of background.

Each week I am trying to add to a (what is now quite long) playlist on YouTube. Some time ago, I discovered that I was one of the lucky people who could feel ASMR effects. I also found that I wasn’t alone.

I also discovered that ASMR can help when you’re suffering with sleeplessness. I also found that a number of people suffer with sleeplessness.

If you are not one of the people who are blessed to feel ASMR, then I am hopeful that the fact I seek out YouTube videos which are quiet and restful will be helpful even so. If you lie awake at night, subscribing to the Procrastination Pen playlist on YouTube might be one of the things that you can use for relief.

I seek out videos that are not designed for ASMR (mostly medical videos). I review them for their efficacy and add them to the playlist if they are up to a standard. I then continue reviewing them, by listening to that playlist, night after night. Those that prove to be less effective I weed out to the archive list.

In this way I hope to ensure that the quality of the Procrastination Pen playlist remains high. (Although I am always happy to receive feedback).

This week, a blog item which is a legacy from my previous work in finding medical examination videos. Initially I came across the channel MDforAll when attempting to cover the feedback “Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”. The channel has sixty-seven videos but sadly no playlists. Most of the videos are very short indeed at a minute or less.

Without a playlist it is hard to narrow these down in any meaningful way. However, on scanning them I found that by far the majority are in lecture mode. i.e. the person is speaking quite loudly. After a reasonable sampling, I’ve decided to reject any of the shorter videos as they are designed for instruction and there are few (if any) relaxing moments in them.

Of the remaining set, I tried narrowing to a blog post where only one medical professional is involved and found two featuring the same person.

This is the first one:

Pediatrics-Toddler

To start with (in common with other videos on this channel) it is a bit shouty. However, once the medical professional starts interacting with the young person that starts to settle down.

There are no comments and no notes. It is hard to know if any ASMR people have sought this one out already. Although given that ASMR fans seem to be natural video hunters, it is highly likely. The video quality is on the obscure side of fuzzy, such that determining where and when it was filmed is difficult. Although, given the presentation, probably a while before the 2010 posting date.

The child concerned is “Zack” who is probably an adult now and none too pleased that this video of him as a child still exists.

At one point, the video zooms in and we can see that the badge on the uniform of the medical professional refers to the Midwestern University Physician Assistant Program.

This still exists and runs from somewhere called “the Downers Grove Campus”.

Midwestern (of course) has its own channel.

Three hundred and fifteen videos at the date I’m looking at it and twenty-four playlists but none of them seem to be exactly on the same subject as this first video.

There is a possibility that something ASMR-y (official term now) may be found there and if so, it will appear on a future blog post.

The video has at intervals a pronounced background buzz to it which may indicate either its age or the state of technology of recording when it was filmed (videod).

The second video, and the last by the same medical professional on this channel, is this one:

Pediatrics-School Age

As before it starts rather loud, the medical professional appears more used to projecting their voice to an entire classroom. The child concerned is “Jeffrey” (probably misspelled) who is somewhat older than “Zack” above.

Again, there are no notes and no comments so it is going to be hard to identify who the medical professional is. If anyone knows do get in touch and I will list the details in an updated blog post.

The MDforAll playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time.

Photo by Shona Macrae

Sleeping With ASMR

Sometimes it is hard to remember that there might be someone who happens across this blog who has not been here before. If this is you, I hope that you enjoy it and go on to tell everyone you know about how great it is.

The blog exists purely as a review of ASMR videos. Habitually, it reviews videos that were created with a purpose other than ASMR and quite a few of those have turned out to be medical videos. For some reason a number of medical professionals turn out to have relaxing voices.

Each week there are more videos and each week those videos get added into the Procrastination Pen playlist which, by this time, is getting quite long.

However, I keep listening to the playlist and sometimes find a loud noise I hadn’t noticed before, or that the background noise, I had noticed, now appears a heck of a lot more irritating than I remember. In such cases, the videos are banished to the archive list.

In this way, I hope to drive up the quality of the Procrastination Pen playlist and to continually review videos for their excellence.

This week another medical video, the key voice here is that of the medical professional rather than the narrator. Dr. Alex Henri-Bhargava is the medical professional. The video was posted 28 June 2018 and it is part of a professional channel, of which more in a minute.

Neurology: Clinical Skills – Cranial Nerve Exam

Like previous professional videos we have seen this one comes with a healthy chunk of notes:

“28 Jun 2018 The cranial nerve exam consists of a series of tests and observations designed to assess the function of the twelve cranial nerves.

This video will showcase how to exam these nerves.

Filmed, written, and directed by:

Chris Calvin

Kashi (Siyoung) Lee

Kero (Yue) Yuen

Ge Shi

Supervised by:

Dr. Alex Henri-Bhargava (Department of Neurology, UBC)

Zac Rothman (PRISM)

Edited by:

Stephen Gillis”

Phew, and I have truncated the notes quite a bit. One of the original comments states that very few people have seen the video. However, it has 2,664,040 views as at the time I’m looking at it. It must have taken off a great deal since then. There are no ASMR-connected comments so this might be a discovery for this blog. (Although ASMR fans have ferret noses when it comes to a good ASMR video so that seems distinctly unlikely).

Dr Henri-Bhargava has a great voice from our perspective. It is very relaxing. The narrator is not quite as good, but not as bad as in many of the videos I have watched of late.

The examination is very relaxed and methodical.

The channel is UBC Medicine – Educational Media, this has one hundred and forty-five videos and 194K subscribers which as I’m sure you’ll agree is more than a few.

There are nineteen playlists and as luck would have it our first video is part of a playlist:

UBC Medicine: Learner driven and learner made

This consists of ten videos including the one that we started with.

Cardiology: Re-entry Circuits

This one is designed as a learning experience. As with the previous video there are a healthy set of notes, I’ve truncated them a bit (and I’ll do this from now on):

“14 Feb 2017 A UBC medical student explains his own unique take on Re-Entry Circuits.

Animation and Editing- Paul Milaire

Produced by MedIT at UBC Faculty of Medicine

Executive Producer – Zachary Rothman

Faculty Lead – Dr. Carol Ann Courneya

Produced in 2014, released for 2017 Valentine’s Day.”

Judging by the comments, this is great for a learning experience. Sadly, for us this is not relaxing enough to lull you off to sleep so it will not be in the Procrastination Pen playlist.

Cardiology: Wall Stress

The notes state “14 Feb 2017 A UBC medical student gives his unique take on wall stress in the heart.

Animation and Editing by Paul Milaire.

Produced in 2014, released for 2017 Valentine’s Day”

This follows the format of the last one and, like that video, will not be in the playlist.

Cardiology: Action Potential In The Heart

Notes again “14 Feb 2017 Two UBC medical students explain their take on electrical conductivity and action potential within the heart.

Animation and Editing by Paul Milaire.”

This is equally unsuitable for the Procrastination Pen playlist.

Neurology: Clinical Skills – Gait & Coordination Exam

The notes state: “28 Jun 2018 Full Gait & Coordination examination video.

Supervised by:

Dr. Alex Henri-Bhargava (Department of Neurology, UBC)

Zac Rothman (MedIT)

Doctor – Dr. Alex Henri-Bhargava

Filmed, written, and directed by:

John Liu

Chris Calvin

Kashi (Siyoung) Lee

Vincent Soh

Kero (Yue) Yuen

Ge Shi

Special thanks to:

Stephen Gillis and Paul Milaire (MedIT – Educational Technology) Faculty of Medicine, UBC”

Here we discover that the “patient “is Paulina. Again the medical professional is Dr Henri-Bhargava. We discover that his voice is consistent, it is also calming in this video.

Neurology: Clinical Skills – Cranial Nerve Exam

This video is the one we started with.

Neurology: Clinical Skills – Motor, Sensory, & Reflex Neurological Exam

The notes state: “28 Jun 2018 This video will cover, in detail, the motor, sensory, reflect components of a neurological examination.

Filmed, written, and directed by:

John Liu

Vincent Soh

Chris Calvin

Kashi (Siyoung) Lee

Kero (Yue) Yuen

Ge Shi

Doctor – Dr. Jason Valerio (Department of Neurology, UBC)

Supervised by:

Dr. Alex Henri-Bhargava (Department of Neurology, UBC)

Zac Rothman (UBC FOM Digital Solutions: Ed Tech)

Edited by:

Stephen Gillis”

Dr Valerio does not have as great a voice as Dr Henri-Bhargava but this is still properly relaxing. This one belongs in the Procrastination Pen playlist.

Anatomy: Introduction to your first lab

The notes state: “29 Aug 2019 New to anatomy? Not sure how to start your first lab?

One of our med students wanted to provide a simple, step-by-step guide to prep you for your first lab experience. Perfect for anyone studying anatomy!

Animations, Script, Narration by Maryam Garabedian

With Filming and Technical Support by Zachary Rothman

Subject Matter Expertise by Dr Claudia Krebs”

This is quite off-putting; I can’t imagine getting much sleep after watching this. Others may find it ok for them (the voice is certainly good enough in terms of relaxation) but dissection of a human cadaver is not really the kind of thing I want to sleep to. This will not be in the Procrastination Pen playlist.

Introduction to Refugee and Canadian Health Care

The notes state: “22 Mar 2017 Meant for refugees and new arrivals to Canada – an introduction to the Canadian Health Care System.

Written, Animated and Narrated by Maryam Garabedian

Additional Technical Support and Supervision – Zachary Rothman

Subject Matter Expertise

Dr. Mei-Ling Weidmeyer

Barbara Harvey, RN

Stacy Barry, RN

Dr. Videsh Kapoor

Project Support by Jirair Garabedian

Special Thanks to

Refugee Health Initiative

The Bridge Clinic”

This is very helpful in terms of information but is not that great in terms of slipping off to na-na-land. Therefore, it too, will not be in the Procrastination Pen playlist.

Heart Functions: Preload, Afterload, and Heart Failure (Part 1)

The notes state: “13 Feb 2014 What do dogs & frogs, rowing and rubber band sound effects have in common?

A fun and informative look deep into the human heart.

‘From Filaments’ is a basic science explanation of how the heart functions, and why it can fail. A perfect overview for first year medical students!

This podcast was supported by UBC Faculty of Medicine, MedIT Educational Technology with pedagogical support from Dr.Carol Ann Courneya and the participation of Dr. Edwin Moore.

Narration by Tahara Bhate, Carol Ann Courneya, Edwin Moore, Zachary Rothman

Edit, Audio Edit and Visuals by Zachary Rothman”

Sadly, this has a number of distracting sounds which make it unsuitable for the Procrastination Pen playlist. It’s a shame because the person narrating has a great voice. But some of the additional noises would cause a listener to wake up, rather than to start drowsing.

Heart Functions: Preload, Afterload, and Heart Failure (Part 2)

The notes state: “13 Feb 2014 What do dogs & frogs, rowing and rubber band sound effects have in common?

A fun look deep into the human heart.

‘From Filaments’ is a basic science explanation of how the heart functions, and why it can fail. A perfect overview for first year medical students!

This podcast was supported by UBC Faculty of Medicine, MedIT Educational Technology with pedagogical support from Dr.Carol Ann Courneya and the participation of Dr. Edwin Moore.

Narration by Tahara Bhate, Carol Ann Courneya, Edwin Moore, Zachary Rothman

Unfortunately, this is very like the last one and so is also unsuitable for the Procrastination Pen playlist.

The UBC Medicine playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time.

Photo by Shona Macrae

Sleeping With ASMR

I’m sure this happens to a number of people who write blog articles. I often find that in reading back through the blog, I am not convinced that I wrote it. Certainly, there seem to be some articles that do not sound like me at all, as if I had on a Hyacinth Bucket accent whilst typing it. In any case, the endeavour is to produce high-quality output of the type that many of you will desire to read on a weekly basis. If you find that to be true do tell all your friends, by the way.

By this time, we are some way into the journey that has been “Sleeping With ASMR” such that many of you will be familiar with how it has worked so far. This is also how it is probably going to continue to work, unless one day I decide to shake things up a bit.

To fill in the gaps for anyone new to the blog, it exists to review YouTube videos. Each week I will find a video and review it to see if it might be helpful in the drive to encourage the restless to restful. I will focus on whether it is sufficiently quiet and whether the participants have a pleasant, relaxing voice. I will also point out the detractors such as loud equipment noises, oppressive air conditioning, background chatter and so on and so fifth.

Many of the videos I find are posted on a YouTube channel containing more than one video. Where this is the case, I will frequently take the opportunity to look at other videos from that channel to determine if any others would be great for relaxation or better still, could produce ASMR symptoms in those lucky enough to have them.

This week a video which is slightly less than fifteen and a quarter minutes in length, which is not lengthy in comparison with some we have seen.

Respiratory Assessment

Immediately the medical professional has a good quiet voice. Even though the style is of a presentation it is not overly loud which makes a nice change.

The video continues quietly and without extraneous noises, which is great to hear (or not hear perhaps). The video cuts at intervals abruptly from one scene to another, but if you are listening you may well not notice.

It does cut to background breathing noises which might be off-putting for some people. Also, the narrator abruptly changes to someone who is a bit louder (but still not overly loud).

I think I’ll put this in the Procrastination Pen playlist, but it might be subject to weeding in the future.

The channel is:

University of Manitoba Nursing Skills, there are eighty videos and 55K subscribers.

The University of Manitoba turns out to be a university in Western Canada.

Of course, it has its own channel with 1.2K videos as at today’s date. However, experience tells us that these will be predominantly about promoting the university and little to do with ASMR (unless it is quite exceptional).

The medical professional in the video chosen above appears in quite a number of the others. This makes slimming down those eighty videos to a number that can be comfortably reviewed in one blog post less straightforward.

However, as luck would have it the video selected occurs in an existing playlist:

Health Assessment

I will focus on the videos in this playlist, but I may well return to this channel in the future.

There are four further videos in this playlist as follows:

Abdominal Assessment

This video is a little under seven and a quarter minutes. It starts quietly again. There remains no clue as to the participants. The approach is gentle and considered.

This one is a substantial improvement on the first one selected in that there are no intrusive breathing noises added. No doubt for their educational rather than restful value (that is the point of the video after all).

CVS & PVS Assessment

This one is just less than seventeen and a half minutes so the longest we have seen so far and in fact the longest of the five videos in the playlist. At odds with other professional videos we have seen this one has no associated notes. But at least comments are denied (We’ve seen enough bizarre and rude comments to last a long time).

The presenter’s voice is really excellent and if it were not for the odd equipment noise or inserted sound track these videos would be up there with some of the better ones reviewed so far. As it is I will put them all to protracted listening review and if those extraneous noises prove off-putting, I will consign them to the archive list.

This one starts as beautifully quiet as the others. However, there are inserted heart beat sounds which may be off-putting to some people, they are louder than the medical professional for example. There is also a set of pulse sounds and associated crackles which are not fantastic either.

Neurological Assessment

This one is less than seven and a half minutes and as before it starts quietly. We discover that the “patient” is called Justin but still no means of determining who the presenter is. It is consistently quiet and so quite possibly the best one of the set so far.

Integumentary System Assessment

This is the shortest one of the videos featured in this article at just over six and a quarter minutes. It has the same approach as the others and so is equally quiet and well presented. I also like the intonation that the presenter uses, your mileage may vary. The medical professional is very gentle in approach and the video appears to be to be relaxing. Thankfully this one does not have any added noises. That is welcome given so many of the others do have this.

Overall this is a good playlist. I will add them to the Procrastination Pen playlist but some of them, I have a suspicion, will be weeded in the future.

The University of Manitoba Nursing Skills playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Until next time.

Photo by Shona Macrae

Sleeping With ASMR

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is today’s video:

Health Assessment Unintentional ASMR

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

HEENT Exam Unintentional ASMR

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

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

Musculoskeletal Exam Unintentional ASMR

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

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

Neuro Exam Unintentional ASMR

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Photo by Shona Macrae.