Head to Toe – The Procrastination Pen

Sleeping With ASMR

I remember that during lockdown I used to read https://laterbloomer.com/ and the course https://imaginarium.debraeve.com/courses/479032/lectures/8819588. It is material that is designed for those, like me, who would rather like to imagine that there are some aspects of existence still remaining to them, despite their advancing in years.

I suppose it is material like this which encourages me to resist some of the effects of aging like declining sleep quality, and to try to do something about it. Who knows, I might suddenly take up something amazingly fulfilling in later life which I would have missed out on if I’d allowed my sleep to just continue to get worse.

I hope that because I mention advancing years this will not dissuade any young people with sleep issues from reading further. Assuming such a person found this blog, I think the relaxing material which is featured here is very likely to be applicable both to young and old.

By all means, feedback if you disagree.

I think I kicked off Calm recommendations in this blog greater than six months ago. Such that regular readers will recognise what comes next. I have a Calm subscription and I make use of it reasonably frequently because I can guarantee that it is not going to have a loud, unpleasant advert kick in sometime during the track. That said, much of the content is variable, and some of it I do not find as calming as the name would suggest. The one thing I am finding out however, through listening to different ASMR tracks is that everyone is different, and some of the ones that I feel are marginal may turn out to be your favourites.

One of the tracks dedicated to sleep is the Calm Nighttime Wind Down, it is a little less than seven minutes:

https://www.calm.com/app/player/zX75qkm1AI

As such, personally, I do not think it is long enough to get me off to sleep, particularly on one of my more wakeful evenings.

It is also music-based and as I have commented before, I do not actually find music that restful or at least not restful enough to fall asleep to. So, I doubt I’d do much more than lie awake listening. The other problem, for me, is that it isn’t the quietest. I have had more restful moments listening to ITV in the early hours, to be honest. But I guarantee that there will be someone out there who will love it.

Give it a try and see what you think, assuming that you have a Calm subscription in any case.

I have been looking at resources that are not on YouTube (as I wish to avoid the adverts). I came across this one which seems to me a tad surreal:

The notes I can pick up from it are as follows:

“【ASMR】 detailed medical exam for sleep ♡🏥

By: pillowdear ASMR

Published: Jan 20, 2025

Topics: YouTube, video, Entertainment, vtuber, anime, girl, gamer, calm, cute, ASMR, let’s play, spooky, cozy, comfy, relax, funny, cupid, love, waifu, holo, scream, scary, gf, kawaii, stream, gameplay, game, live, asset, clip, comp, voice, female, affirmation, dere, jumpscare, girls, happy, sfw

Collections: Mirrortube: Mirrored YouTube Videos, Social Media Videos, Additional Collections – Video

Ready for your medical check-up? I’m nurse pillow, here to take good care of you and help you get nice sleep! ════ ⋆♡⋆ ════ If you’re thinking about donating, please consider doing it through the link below!!! All tips “

It is animated, it is somewhat peculiar, and the voice is not the greatest. However, it does lack adverts. I’m not sure that you can download it sadly, I could not see a mechanism for doing that. It starts with music – grr. However, it isn’t the loudest music that you ever heard.

The video is in excess of two hours in length! Certainly, long enough to drop off to.

Why not take a listen.

For several months now I have been reviewing just one professional ASMR video per blog article. I have now concluded that if I just review the latest stuff in my YouTube feed it is probably not as useful as picking out a YouTube video at random from the past.

Those of you who do not spend your time reviewing YouTube videos I suspect would not be trawling the historic entries for something that just might be worthwhile. That said I have found a number of professional ASMR videos are not as scintillating as one might otherwise expect and that doesn’t seem to change no matter how long ago, I look back.

Today I am looking at the channel Alleviate ASMR which does seem to be doing the job that I would like to do myself. It would seem that the channel is nicking other people’s ASMR videos and assembling them into a playlist. I shudder to think what copyright implications there might be. It is my lack of awareness in this area that causes me to shy away from similar behaviour. I tend to review original videos where I can find them and keep the videos in the location and in the state that the originator intended. This often results, in my opinion, in a less successful video than might have been the case had they been heavily truncated (notably to remove any branding music from the start and end of some videos). However, I do not want to disturb anyone who can charge a fortune simply for writing a letter. Especially if they are the kind of person who takes to wearing a frighteningly expensive suit.

The channel has 6.9K subscribers and only eleven videos so go Alleviate ASMR for achieving so many subscribers from so little material. There are two playlists one of which is right on theme for us and one of which is not:

and

The channel seems to have been very active a couple of years ago and then swiftly to have fallen into abeyance. I do not have any idea why that should be.

Today’s selected video is as follows:

Cranial Nerve Exams for Unintentional ASMR

As a welcome change this has very brief notes (rather than the lengthy ones we are more used to): “1,167,336 views 2 May 2023 #unintentionalasmr #compilation #cranialnerveexam

A compilation of three incredibly relaxing cranial nerve examinations to fulfil your Unintentional ASMR needs, perfect for relaxation, study and sleep. All credit goes to the owners of these clips. Check out my other Unintentional ASMR videos on my channel 🙂

Check out more Unintentional ASMR medical videos here – • Unintentional ASMR Medical Videos

Be sure to Like and Subscribe for more! Sweet Dreams 🙂

#cranialnerveexamasmr #cranialnerveexam #unintentionalasmr #medicalasmr #compilation #asmr #study #sleep #relaxation”

There are quite a few comments, and many are either strange or for ASMR afficionados in the know. If you have been reading this blog for a while you will swiftly appreciate what I mean by this as at one time or another I have tried to translate such comments.

The video is less than twenty minutes long. It breaks the rules of this section as, although this has been professionally assembled, it is not by a professional ASMR artist as such. I hope that you will give me some latitude. Normal service will be resumed with the next blog post.

It starts with some background noise – probably air conditioning. Then the medical professional introduces herself possibly as Dr Pitford. Two other medical professionals are in attendance and are making notes. It is possible this is an example of one of our favourites the student assessment video. I am used to these coming from a number of the nursing establishments in the US but this person has a resolutely English accent so I assume a UK offering instead.

I would say that this person has a very good voice for our purposes. I have no idea how extensively the video was edited (I’m certain that this is not its usual home) but if I do happen upon the original version, I will review the whole thing for the blog. (I do try to find original videos where I can do that).

There are equipment noises, clunking against metallic objects. None of these is excessively distracting.

Around six minutes in, the video segues without warning to a brand-new medical professional, Vicky, who informs us that she is at the Swindon Academy. As I have mentioned before, I do not like videos that have been crammed together like this. By all means use a playlist, but assembling them into one whole is, I find, jarring when you flit from one place to another, one person to another, and in many cases have changes in sound to go with it.

If anything, Vicky has a slightly better voice than Dr Pitford. A shame that we are not starting a new video. I’ll go with the “I’ve started so I’ll finish” philosophy and plough onwards. However, if I was reviewing this for the Procrastination Pen playlist this would disinclude it. In fact, if I was as brave as Alleviate ASMR I’d take ownership of the video and divide it back into individual videos again. At eleven and a half minutes the video segues again, this time to Tom Sutton who (at the time this was recorded) was a final year medical student. The background noise hikes up a bit and the sound recording is somewhat less successful. Tom sounds a little distant and muted to me in comparison to the two that went before. I would say he has a good voice but by this stage we have been spoiled by the two voices that we have just heard and, in my opinion, both of them are superior voices. Another argument for not gluing these videos together like this.

At this stage in a normal blog post (and since the ASMR part of this blog started) I have been reviewing inadvertent ASMR videos on YouTube. These are videos, ostensibly established for one purpose, but which turn out to be relaxing, possibly even giving ASMR-effects (to those that can feel them).

I don’t give guarantees on the ASMR-yness of the videos because one thing I seem to have established is that one person’s ASMR is another person’s annoying video.

For me, I really like a calm voice. It is hard to define what tone is best, as I have listened to a number, but I would like (I’m sure) a tone that was empathetic even supportive. I’m making a guess that many other people would find such a voice restful and might find my reviews of such material to be helpful.

This week, I have chosen this video which is a little off-centre from the usual medical material that I have chosen to review for months now.

SCEHResources ElkinsHypnotizabilityScaleEHS 2014

This is a professional video so, of course, it comes with notes: ” 487,753 views 17 May 2018

The Elkins Hypnotizability Scale (EHS) is a measure that correlates at 0.86 with the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, and can be administered in 30 minutes. Find this and other Hypnosis Clinical Resources on the SCEH website.

This video demonstrates the Elkins Hypnotizability Scale. For more information, see Hypnotic Relaxation Therapy: Principles and Applications by Gary Elkins Ph.D., ABPP, ABPH. Copyright 2013, Reproduced with the permission of Springer Publishing Company, LLC ISBN: 9780826199393.”

Which, fortuitously, are refreshingly-brief. Given the title, it seems to have been recorded in 2014 but not posted until 2018. There is no obvious explanation for the delay.

No comments are permitted, which, given the nature of a number of comments we have seen, is probably the safe option, to be honest.

The channel is: Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis this has 1.08K subscribers from eleven videos. That’s pretty good performance in my opinion.

There are just four playlists with only one looking a good fit for us, I think:

Today’s video is in excess of forty-three minutes in length. That is not bad at all, in terms of videos we have reviewed of late. A video of two hours in length, so far, being an uncommon thing to find.

There is a fair amount of background noise, an ongoing hiss that could be in the recording technology used perhaps. The voices of both participants turn out to be rather good, calm and nicely paced. I can understand why the professional is good at hypnosis if the voice is anything to go by.

There are paper shuffling noises. These are not excessively distracting and are the only extraneous noises apart from the background hiss.

At thirty-five Minutes the video changes over to a presentation by Dr Gary Elkins at Baylor University. Although a presentation, his voice remains calm.

Many people when presenting seem tempted to project, as if they didn’t have a microphone. The upshot is that presentations tend to be louder. Thankfully this is avoided here. That said, I would not say that this part of the video was the most fascinating thing I’ve listened to. However, given I am reviewing material for its usefulness in driving someone into sleep, I would say this is nigh ideal.

On that basis, just one, video on this occasion.

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

There is a now well-established relationship between getting enough sleep and the strength of your memory. I have always had a pretty poor memory and had to work very hard to retain important facts for any extended period.

I remember reading that scientists can now alter memories during sleep. It would be rather good to banish some of the more unpleasant memories, but how much more relevant is that if you have had a traumatic experience.

The links between lack of sleep and dementia is being explored. It is widely agreed though, that sleep quality gets progressively worse as you get older.

It is for this reason that the Procrastination Pen started to review restful videos some little while ago. I might be getting older but I’m not keen to join any waiting list for dementia. It is therefore important, I feel, to fight the tendency towards shorter amounts of sleep and for that sleep to be more broken. I have felt that one key part is something that will soothe you off to sleep and lull you back to sleep, should you wake up during the night.

I tend now to start with something from Calm. Only because I have a Calm subscription and I dislike putting up with adverts (Calm doesn’t have any).

This week, for a change, let’s look at a course provided by possibly my favourite voice on Calm which is Tamara Levitt.

This is a sequence of Body Scan meditations:

https://www.calm.com/app/program/whzIxMJxVR

Body Scan

Tune into physical sensations to deepen your awareness

Tamara Levitt

Head of Mindfulness at Calm

This has sessions starting at three minutes in length and ultimately building to thirty minutes. I must confess I have not yet learned to sit undistracted for thirty minutes, but it is a good goal.

This is definitely worth a listen if you have a Calm subscription.

At this stage, and for a while now, I have taken towards reviewing a professional ASMR artist – you never know this may turn out to be a great source of ASMR material! (Only half joking, some of the stuff I have reviewed has not exactly set the sleeping muscles to much exercise.)

I was attracted to this one by the title, as it is sleep related:

Chronic Insomnia Healing by Japanese Pro – ASMR

It comes from the channel ASMR Twix with 900k subscribers two hundred and eighty seven videos thirty-two playlists

There is the odd playlist which is borderline for the focus of this blog thus far such as:

and

Videos are still being posted here but the notes against the channel are over a year old:

“Original Japanese Head SPA in Progress for 2024, Spring Grand Opening in Tokyo.

“ASMR Twix” channel set the trend for Japanese Head SPA to become famous worldwide. I am honoured to be the first and biggest YouTuber in Japan to have worked with 190+ Japanese SPAs, salons, haircuts, make-up, kimono, etc. relaxing services and establishments. You can visit all of these relaxing places. Often, there are discounts or gifts just for my subscribers. Mention “ASMR Twix” at the beginning of your session. Feel free to book via Instagram in English or an online website. All places are by appointment only! From the SPA places on my playlist “Gift from Twix,” you can receive a special gift after your session, prepared specially by me (Twix).

Terahertz massage tool collections are available in 16 SPAs in Japan. You can find out more about it (https://asmrtwix.shop) and recent projects at the links below.

For business, contact via Instagram at @asmr.twix.”

(I’ve edited the notes because, as usual, they are quite long).

Today’s selected video has notes as well:

” 1,356,968 views 15 Apr 2021 #asmr #migraine #chronicinsomnia

Salon info: Mr. HEAD

address: Tokyo, Ichigaya station, Yobancho 5F

website: pls go to pinned comment!

Top 10 Frequently asked question about Me:

1. Am I Japanese or mixed?

I’m not! I have been living in Japan for several years.

2. Where Am I from?

I’m full Asian. For privacy issues, I prefer to keep my nationality, real name, age,address in private.

3. Do I get treatments every day?

No. I balance treatments schedule considering my skin and health condition. For example, once a week.

4. Why “Twix”?

Me and My sister work on creating these contents together. As you know Twix chocolate bar has 2 pieces. So, I’m not the only creating these videos. My sister👩 is behind the camera as Camerasister. So we thought that would be fair If I add my sister’s name. Of course, not directly adding her name.

5. Why my Camerasister doesn’t show up in the videos?

She prefers to work behind the camera. I hope you will respect her decision.

6. Does my Camerasister also get treatments?

Sometimes she does. I give her scalp, neck, face, shoulder massages at home😅

7. Who replies to the comments?

Me who always appears in the videos.

8. What kind of ASMR channel is this?

This channel is focused on Japanese exclusive head spa, face and head massage, aesthetics, facial and scalp treatments. In our videos, it is always “Soft spoken” in Japanese language with English subtitles. We don’t do “Whispering” and “No talking” videos.

9. Are my videos sponsored?

If I get sponsored on my videos, I’ll definitely mention about sponsorship in the videos according to YouTube sponsorship terms and conditions.

10. Do all places I visit have good result?

I always do deep research on the places before I visit. Because, I have responsibility of showing the real result and recommend it to my viewers. I always give my honest opinion about the treatment, massage and environment of the place at the end of each video.

11. Do I have any other social media?

No, I don’t. I want to focus on creating better videos on YouTube. We’re working on creating PayPal donations, Patreon page where I can connect even more with Twixes. They will come out probably on March 🥰”

ASMR artists really know how to write very long video notes.

Comments are permitted. There’s a lot of them but they are predominantly positive. So far, so good.

The video is a little over half an hour and so not the hugest we’ve seen. It starts without startup music, for which may the Lord make us truly thankful. However, it does have some pretty impressive background noise. By impressive, read loud. It sounds like a very bad 1980s recording. The video is in Japanese with subtitles in English and it is a shame about the background noise because I would say that the voice is excellent. It tends towards the whispery side with occasional breathy interludes.

The pace is wonderfully slow and relaxed. Turning down the volume a heck of a lot reduces the background noise, a bit. Of course, in consequence, you also lose some of that voice at the same time. The voice is worth holding onto because it is a good one for our purposes, I think. Because it is of such good quality I have made an exception for the advertising that crops up at the tail end of this video. Advertising by the ASMR artist themselves I regard as a no-no for this blog. See what you think, it might be that this video was/was not deserving of a review. Sadly, the normal energetic adverts decided to interpose themselves on more than one occasion (at least whilst I was listening). Of course, this is ever more motivation for me to research sounds that are not on YouTube and that people may find restful. I’ve skipped past that this week due to time constraints but I will locate some more in the very near future.

Meantime, I did not realise until this week that the Internet Archive has some of the ASMR videos we have already covered. This includes the Cate Darnell video which has already been reviewed.

This one is archived here:

I notice that the files are available for download. On that basis it would seem that you can download these, assemble your own playlist, and avoid the adverts altogether. I have not tried this yet but I am certainly giving it some serious consideration.

You may recall a previous post in which I mentioned a URL which linked to thirty two videos. The URL is this one:

Medical Training Videos

It has thirty-two videos (discounting the introductory one). Last time we managed to review just four of these, so there is a fair few left to look at…

The next one in the series is this:

Knee Examination – Orthopaedics

Somewhat over nine minutes in length, the notes are: “684,941 views 28 Nov 2012 Clinical Examinations

This video – produced by students at Oxford University Medical School in conjunction with the faculty – demonstrates how to perform an Orthopaedic examination of the knee joint. It is part of a series of videos covering Orthopaedic examinations and is 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 www.oxfordmi.nhs.uk”

The person narrating has a great voice, lovely and quiet. When I find a good voice like this it is often frustrating that I cannot identify whose it is (so that I could look for other videos in which that person features). In this case though, there are no clues, so reoccurrence of this voice (if ever) will be purely by chance.

Hip Examination – Orthopaedics

A little over nine and a quarter minutes long. The notes are: “938,894 views 28 Nov 2012 Clinical Examinations

This video – produced by students at Oxford University Medical School in conjunction with the faculty – demonstrates how to perform an Orthopaedic examination of the hip joint. It is part of a series of videos covering Orthopaedic examinations and is 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 www.oxfordmi.nhs.uk”

The narrator has a good voice and it is nicely paced.

Trauma Assessment – Pelvic Fracture Scenario

A little less than sixteen minutes the notes are: “176,944 views 13 May 2012 Trauma Surgery

This video – produced by students at Oxford University Medical School in conjunction with the faculty – demonstrates how to perform the initial assessment of a patient with suspected traumatic injury. This scenario is of a patient with a suspected pelvic fracture and internal haemorrhage.

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 www.oxfordmi.nhs.uk”

This is introduced and, although it is a trauma situation, it is not excessively loud, but not exactly restful either.

Trauma Assessment – Teaching Scenario (with possible pathology)

Fifteen and a half minutes. The notes are: “58,225 views 13 May 2012 Trauma Surgery

This video – produced by students at Oxford University Medical School in conjunction with the faculty – demonstrates how to perform the initial assessment of a patient with suspected traumatic injury. This scenario is of an uninjured patient. It includes possible pathology to be found at each step.

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 www.oxfordmi.nhs.uk”

The narration is similar to the last one. The medical professional has a reasonable voice and the progress is methodical.

I think that I will conclude the blog post at this one and continue in another post. Failing that this blog post would become really large indeed, to the point of boredom, I imagine.

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

The Oxford Medical Education Hospitals 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

Sleeping With ASMR

This week I discovered a possible resource which may assist those of my readers who seek other resources for sleep outside of The Procrastination Pen. In this case I have come across a podcast dedicated to the kind of material that Procrastination Pen readers should be able to make use of i.e. a podcast dedicated to sleep:

The title is ” Bedtime stories to help grown-ups fall asleep in the deep, dark night.”

Home

It is a person reading a story that is designed to help someone fall asleep. I have not listened end to end (the episode I was listening to was in excess of two hours in length). The voice isn’t the most restful I have ever heard and the introduction was on the long side of rambly. However, one thing I have discovered with all of my reviewing activity is that people have as many opinions as there are people. So, I am certain that some people will just lap this up.

I did say that I would try to find resources that did not rely on YouTube. I’m time constrained in terms of finding new content. However, I do remember that on the long drives in to a college some years ago, I used to listen to a person called Diana Winston. How I found her is lost in the mists of my failing memory. However, I do recall that I very much liked her voice. Diana is the director of mindfulness education at UCLA. At one stage I seem to remember there was a podcast, a website where I could download MP3s, and so on.

There are, of course, numerous YouTube videos. For example:

However, I am supposed to be getting away from YouTube so what else can we make use of.

Well, there are a very large number of downloads available here: https://www.uclahealth.org/uclamindful/guided-meditations

(including many in different languages).

There are also a set of the weekly mindfulness sessions available for download here: https://www.uclahealth.org/uclamindful/weekly-meditations-talks

I hope that you, like me, find Diana to have an excellent voice.

At this point, I tend to look at a Calm track. This week let’s go with Jeff Warren, a voice which I rather like and who often has interesting subjects in his material as well:

Daily Trip

A Secret to Better Boundaries

https://www.calm.com/player/Z0HEmm1mXV

NARRATOR

Jeff Warren

AUTHOR

Jeff Warren

It’s just nine minutes so not enough sleep-time material by itself. Perhaps you could listen before cracking open the full fat Procrastination Pen playlist.

This is about trying to survive being around other humans. Part of that is maintaining boundaries. I hope that you find Jeff’s stuff as interesting as I do (assuming that you have a Calm subscription, in any case). In the assumption that is a minor subset of anyone who might wander onto this site, I’ll move swiftly along.

At this stage, for some months now, I have been reviewing a single video from a professional ASMR artist. These have ranged from the near silent to the blinking loud. I have not yet though found an artist that I consistently like. That’s a bit sad, as with videos purportedly at this quality, I would have expected to do so.

This week’s one is a bit of a different video for us in that it is a professional ASMR channel posting an inadvertent ASMR video. Grist to our mill in fact…

This is from the channel ASMR Beauty Treatments https://www.youtube.com/@asmr_beauty, it has four hundred and seven videos 145k subscribers, seventy playlists a great number of these playlists are on a medical theme such as:

and

and probably a fair few more that I didn’t spot.

This is another hard-working channel.

Today’s video is this one:

Real ASMR Eye Exam in Leicester (Unintentional, Real Person ASMR)

Because it is a professional ASMR artist, of course, it has notes:

” 1,039,383 views 1 Nov 2022 #asmreyeexam #unintentionalasmr #medicalasmr

This week’s ASMR video is an eye exam! Christian’s eye exam was so detailed and precise and I really hope you all enjoy watching it! So much was checked in this session including my vision, eye health, peripheral vision, retinal photographs and even my general health! I really hope this video can work as both an educational tool and also a tool for relaxation!

👁Details are as follows: 👁

Website: https://consultingoptometrist.co.uk

Location: 60 Main Street, Kibworth Harcourt, Leicester, LE8 0NQ

Treatment: Comprehensive eye exam

Email: christian@consultingoptometrist.co.uk

If you’d like to support my work, please consider donating to my Ko-fi! (https://ko-fi.com/asmrbeauty) Any amount is much appreciated! ❤️

‼️All of my unintentional ASMR content is footage of real sessions and experiences I have had in London or in other parts of the UK. I upload these real person ASMR sessions with the intention to help people destress, relax and learn‼️

#asmr #asmreyeexam #medicalasmr #unintentionalasmr #asmrbeauty”

Which are refreshingly short, as professional ASMR artist video notes go. Comments are permitted and as usual they’re pretty nigh universally positive.

The video is one hour and seventeen minutes in length. This is whopping, for a video of this type. The voices are great as we would expect. Background noise is muted. However, at the beginning, the video does dot about a bit as if the best bits of the examination have been sampled and then stapled together. Then it settles down into examination proper. There is no whispery presentation. The person receiving the exam is more your classic ASMR voice. In many ways though, I preferred the voice of the person giving the eye test. I am probably massively out of step with most people viewing the video.

For me, at intervals, the video does feel a little long. Although as a mechanism for promoting sleep this may very well work in our favour. There are occasional noises from moving around on a chair which are surprisingly loud, and probably emphasises how quiet the rest of it is. There are some louder equipment noises following the eye chart section – I didn’t find them excessively distracting but your mileage may vary. There are some louder clicking noises towards the tail end of the video, which is a shame.

I found it surprising that, despite the fact I have had innumerable eye tests myself, I still learned a few things from watching this one. However, that is not why we are here.

I think this one is well worth a review, why not give it a try for yourself.

The inadvertent ASMR video this week is this one:

Head to toe physical assessment

It has zero notes, (which goes some way to show it is not a professional ASMR video). The comments are suitably various and occasionally off-the-wall, which also seems to fit with a non-professional ASMR video.

However, there are 1.3 million views, which is something extraordinary.

Immediately, you get the impression that this is another student assessment video. It comes from the site Emma Weekly, this has forty five videos, two shorts, no playlists. A number of the videos would appear to be on a medical theme and connected with a course. Medical-themed videos apparently commencing in 2021. There are 9.63K subscribers which seems a lot for an amateur channel connected with a medical student.

This week’s video starts very quietly – no startup music here. It is quite a long one, at in excess of fifty-one minutes. Emma seems to have a fairly good voice, not ASMR-y I would say, but at least quiet and level in intonation.

The video itself is rather quiet which I think is a limitation of the recording equipment, because background noises are rather pronounced on this one. It is typical of student assessment videos we have seen, in that it seems students have to get as many medical terms as feasible crammed into the video presentation.

There is no indication as to the medical establishment and the “patient” is also not introduced. At least we are not subjected to strange illusory knocking or “privacy” acts that often are the commencement to such videos.

Emma seems to find the process somewhat tiring as, no doubt, it is and the “patient” seems properly bored, which given the person is just sitting there, she most probably is. There are other people in the background – various conversational noises can just be heard above the background drone (presumably air conditioning).

At intervals the delivery is a little hesitant and I got the impression it is either highly stressful or a little too much effort, as a great deal of sighing is going on. There are also the more expected student related pauses as Emma mentally searches for the relevant medical content (presumably to satisfy the requirements of the course).

There are noises from moving the chair around but, compared to background, these are hardly loud. Emma suffers from the typical student issue of a lack of equipment; in this case there is no reflex hammer. I can remember one medical video where the student employed a fork from the cafeteria rather than a tuning fork. As expected, it did not really work. Here, the absence of a reflex hammer means that testing reflexes is just as ineffective.

This, I think, is suitable for the Procrastination Pen playlist.

On that basis, just one video on this occasion.

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

A bit of shock this week. Fresh from a recent Procrastination Pen article discussing Melatonin as a sleep aid, an article describing the concerns about it and why it is not available off-prescription in the UK.

Daytime drowsiness is certainly something I have found, but I reasoned that compared to a night with minimal sleep it was not that terrible a side effect.

I leave it up to you to do your own personal risk-assessment, no doubt taking into account how badly your insomnia is affecting you.

Today’s Calm track is again, taken from the Calm Dailies rather than from tracks dedicated to sleep. That will probably continue for a while. Quite a lot of the material that organisations seem to think assist with sleep do not seem to work for me at all. That might be why I often find myself on the sofa watching dirge TV in the early hours rather than listening to “restful” music tracks.

The Calm track is this one:

https://www.calm.com/app/player/Wi1C26rnLi

Daily Calm

Bird by Bird

NARRATOR

Tamara Levitt

AUTHOR

Tamara Levitt

It is an excellent guide to taking each thing in its time. It comes from one of my favourite voices on Calm, Tamara Levitt. It seems certainly worth the few minutes it takes on the assumption that you have a Calm subscription, that is.

On the day I am looking at it, Calm seems to be priced at £39.99 a year (in the UK anyway). I can’t argue it is good value; indeed, I would not try to sell it to you. If it fits with the kind of material you would normally listen to, I leave it up to you to assess whether you want to spend that.

Established readers will know that for a little while (in the history of blog articles on the Procrastination Pen) I break off now to review a professional ASMR artist and to subject them to laser-focused critique. After all, they are setting themselves up as the pinnacle that ASMR can achieve.

Of late it has been a little disappointing, as I am finding the genuine ASMR artist’s videos have the shortcomings of the inadvertent ASMR videos. In addition, there will be a great deal of self-promotion and advertising thrown in.

I’m sure that I just haven’t found the real quality material yet and, any day now, an artist of truly awesome ability will dumbfound me.

Well, I live in hope.

Today’s video is this one:

ASMR POV You Visit the Sleep Clinic – Medical Exam for Insomnia

It is a little over thirty four minutes and so quite substantial, but we have noted of late that these professional ASMR artists do tend to produce videos of a healthy length.

Of course it has notes: “40,406 views 15 Aug 2025 #ASMR

🔔 *Don’t forget to subscribe* for more ASMR roleplays and relaxation content! Hit the notification bell to stay updated on our latest videos.

Thank you for watching, and I hope this ASMR experience brings you peace and comfort! 🥰

#ASMR

⤖ INSTAGRAM / sophiemichellegoodall

BUSINESS ENQUIRES: sophiemichelle_asmr@outlook.com

Lots of love x”

Refreshingly short notes there, and for a change it does not try to sell me anything.

It is from the channel SophieMichelle ASMR, this has seven hundred and three videos and 645K subscribers – crikey.

I am no longer commenting on attractiveness of artists, I’ll let you know if I come across someone of average appearance.

Of course, this channel features on the ASMR Index. I realise I am giving that site a mass of free promotion, feel free to ignore this…

It starts with music, but this is so subdued I think that you’ll barely notice it. The voice as you would expect is perfect, although as we have come to anticipate, veers a little too closely to whispery to be really believable (in a realistic medical context in any case).

There are comments and, given this is an ASMR artist, these have the halo of pleasantness so infrequently found elsewhere on YouTube.

I am not into rubber glove noises, I don’t find clucking sounds that appealing, and I find beeping from equipment to be off-putting. Against that, there is no air conditioning noise, noises from an adjacent road, or people talking in nearby rooms. There are, in addition, no noises from the moving of heavy equipment. I wouldn’t expect any of these in a professional ASMR video but sadly, some of them have decided to include one or more of those sounds.

There are crackling/crinkly noises, noises from paper/page turning and from the rustling of clothing. There are tapping noises, which I find wake me up if anything. I suspect some ASMR devotees are rather fond of one or more of these sounds. I am about the voice. This one is excellent. It does make me wonder how much of a medical-themed video this is. I have wondered this in connection with hair brushing in other videos, which seemed out of place other than to maximise ASMR “triggers”. I have the same suspicion here too.

Moving on to inadvertent ASMR videos (mostly medical videos – at least so far).

This week we are back to a channel that has featured multiple times on this blog here, here, here and also here. It is Geeky Medics. The videos so far have featured Dr James Lower and Dr Andrew Pugh and so below.

The dedication to this site has been because the videos there seem to be of a reasonably consistent quality (given that they are inadvertent ASMR videos in any case).

Of course, some readers will not have read the previous articles so I should mention that Dr Lewis Potter is the founder of Geeky Medics. The videos will all have notes that are similar (this has been established in those past blog articles). However, in order to cover the notes for new readers I will give a precis version with the first video.

How to Feel a Pulse | Radial & Brachial Pulses – OSCE Guide

A sample of the notes with the video: “120,381 views 16 Jul 2022 Cardiovascular OSCE Guides | UKMLA | CPSA | PLAB | MRCS

This video demonstrates how to assess upper limb pulses in an OSCE station including:

Introduction 00:00

Radial pulse 00:06

Brachial pulse 00:30

You can read our guide to peripheral vascular examination here: https://geekymedics.com/peripheral-va…

Check out our other awesome clinical skills resources including:

• 🔥 Geeky Medics Bundles (discounted products): https://app.geekymedics.com/purchase/…

• ✨ 1000+ OSCE Stations: https://app.geekymedics.com/purchase/…

• 🏥 Geeky Medics OSCE Revision Book: https://app.geekymedics.com/purchase/…

• 📝 150+ PDF OSCE Checklists: https://geekymedics.com/pdf-osce-chec…

• 🗂️ 3000+ OSCE Flashcards: https://app.geekymedics.com/purchase/…

• 📱 Geeky Medics OSCE App: https://geekymedics.com/geeky-medics-..

• 🩺 Medical Finals SBA Question Pack: https://app.geekymedics.com/purchase/…

• 💊 PSA Question Pack: https://app.geekymedics.com/purchase/…

Subscribe to our newsletter to be the first to know about our latest content: https://geekymedics.com/newsletter/ ✉️”

This video is a little less than one and a half minutes and yet sadly, it still finds time to squeeze in some startup music. It seems to be one of a sequence of short guides taken from earlier videos. I suppose that in some cases the advantage is that it avoids some of the less desirable noises.

The presentation is quiet, apart from a constant background hiss. The voice is nicely measured and calm.

Sadly, it concludes with more obtrusive music…

Lower Limb Pulses – OSCE Guide

I won’t put the notes in again, they are all similar. This is a little over two minutes and again has the same two participants. All of these videos would be improved by the removal of the music, of course. This is another short guide and I would say it is taken from a much longer video. (In fact, most probably one I have already reviewed – see the above blog articles for details). It is a lovely slow presentation and the voice is as good as in the previous video. The background noise is as before, and I think I’d be safe in saying it is going to be present in every one of these videos.

Neck Lump Examination – OSCE Guide

This one is nearly four minutes long. This time I do not think I have seen the content before. The background noise is, if anything worse than before. There are lots of on-screen sentences which provide guidance for medical students but, of course, these are not of interest to us in the slightest.

I would say that without the music, a string of these shorter videos chained together would be excellent night time – fall-asleep – material. Sadly though what with music and inter-video adverts, I am including them in the Procrastination Pen playlist under strict review. I maybe binning them in the future if they prove to be excessively intrusive.

I think I will make the next one the last one, to prevent this blog post stretching on too long.

It is this one:

Percussion & Auscultation of the Lungs – OSCE Guide | Clip

I am pretty certain this is a subsection of an earlier video. It is four minutes long and it contains breathing noises. These are intrusive and unwelcome and I think this means it can be discounted from the Procrastination Pen playlist.

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

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 DeepAI

Sleeping with ASMR

This week I found a podcast episode which I am going to use to supplant my usual Calm track recommendation. I feel a bit easier about this, given the podcast episode is free to listen to and the Calm site/app requires a paid-for subscription. However, in the end I decided I would include it and details of a Calm track. So, it is a two-for-one deal this week.

This is the podcast:

Inner Safety and Sleep with Dr Nerina Ramlakhan

It’s from Action for Happiness, which, if you have not become familiar with their work by now, certainly is an organisation worthy of some familiarity. This latest is on a relevant subject – sleep. However, there are many engaging subjects worthy of listening via podcast channel or YouTube.

This is just under an hour long and, of course, has notes:

“In this enlightening episode of the Action for Happiness podcast, host Mark Williamson engages in a thought-provoking conversation with Dr. Nerina, a renowned physiologist and sleep therapist. With over 25 years of experience and several acclaimed books to her name, Dr. Nerina shares her expertise on how feeling safe can significantly improve sleep quality. The discussion explores the vital role of the autonomic nervous system, introducing listeners to concepts such as neuroception and interoception, and the science behind creating a safe internal environment.

The episode delves into practical techniques for cultivating inner safety, which not only enhance sleep but also overall well-being. Listeners are guided through exercises like the soothing Havening technique and reminded of the powerful effects of love and gratitude on the nervous system. With a focus on realistic sleep expectations and a compassionate approach to self-care, this episode provides valuable insights for anyone looking to improve their sleep and lead a more balanced, happier life.”

Hopefully you will find that it is of assistance with your sleep-related struggles.

The Calm track this week is this one:

https://www.calm.com/app/player/YEvPMJC9wh

Daily Jay

Crossroads

NARRATOR

Jay Shetty

I’m not certain that Jay is the most restful voice on Calm. I would say for me, at the moment, that is Tamara Levitt. However, Jay seems to cover such interesting material that you find yourself distracted from whatever was on your mind. I am still finding that the short Calm-daily material is more restful for me than the longer material dedicated to sleep. It would be great though, if Calm allowed you to setup a playlist of all these shorter tracks, as it would then mean you would have an advert-free playlist. Kind of like YouTube, but without the disadvantages (well other than the cost anyway).

It is less than eight minutes so isn’t going to take you very long. This one is about evaluating options and choosing the best way forwards.

I am still doing a brief foray into professional ASMR review with the following:

[ASMR] Real Person Head to Toe Physical Assessment with ‪@ediyasmr| Soft Spoken Medical Roleplay Exam

It is from channel Semide ASMR. This channel has 341K subscribers, two hundred and ninety-three videos and eighteen playlists. Wow, this is a hard-working ASMR artist. As expected, it is also found on the ASMR Index.

The video has notes, of course, mostly given over to self-promotion (as is usual for a professional ASMR artist), so here is a brief selection from those:

“5,292,031 views 4 Jul 2020

Assessing my cousin @ediyasmr “Head To Toe” with a skin exam, scalp check, eyes, ears, nose and throat exam, respiratory, cardiac, abdominal exams and more! Enjoy and be sure to check out her channel as well! 🙏🏼🙏🏼 Some exams were adapted for Ediya’s comfort. Technique and information is not accurate so please don’t study from it! Also, please excuse my bare feet 😂 (English subtitles are available for this video)”

As you can see it has been around a long time, but for some reason only today popped up in my recommendations. Fortunately, now it’s in this blog, you know about it, and you don’t have to wait as long as I did.

Comments are permitted. Oh, such a lot of comments. They are, thankfully, predominantly positive.

The video is a little less than three quarters of an hour so reasonably extensive. There is no startup music – hurrah, but there is a fair amount of background noise. The participants are not whispering though, so they can be heard reasonably well above what must be air-conditioning noises. It is calm, measured and, as you would expect the vocal tone is more-or-less perfect.

The setting is a little odd – I would say domestic – with the “patient” on a sofa, I think, and not the variety of sofa with which Freud would have been familiar… (more the watching television variety).

The manual blood pressure bulb is a bit loud and there is a sound like passing traffic in the background which is a tad unwelcome. I’m not that keen on rubber glove noises (other ASMR listeners seem to be) and I don’t personally get any joy from hair-related noises (again, others do seem to get ASMR “triggers” from this). There are noises from equipment, from opening packaging, from the participants moving around, and the rustling of clothing. There is humour (one of the participants starts to drift off). There are loud tapping noises when the chest is percussed. Some of those maybe just what some ASMR devotees are looking for in a video.

I do like the voices however, and I can certainly see that if the focus of this blog was professional ASMR artists then this would be one ASMR channel I would come back to again.

One of the disadvantages of working for this long on blog postings is that you cannot tell where you have effectively written the same subject twice. I have had some near misses already and a few discarded articles where it just got too close. There is no trail for me to verify that that video has been covered. I rely on a file listing already published items. I’ve found that reliance on memory is not that bright a move.

I appeal to your observation skills therefore. If you do spot that I am covering the same video over and over (and there seems no logical reason why I would do so) do point it out. At the very least, I can pull the video from the playlist as I am sure it is annoying to have the same video play more than once as you are trying to sleep. I suspect with the playlist growing every week that it might take me a while to spot duplicates.

My main weeding criteria are based around noises I find irritating whilst trying to sleep, so I may never weed out duplicates. (I tend to play a randomised order using the YouTube shuffle function).

As at today’s date, I also find that YouTube has pulled twenty videos from the main Procrastination Pen playlist so some duplication is obviously self-healing. One channel disappears with all of its videos, another channel starts up, often with many of the same videos. Many of the channels list the same videos sometimes with minor tweaks – a different start image here, a different title there. Just enough to confuse the unwary.

I’ve written duplicate articles (same videos written at different times and often with quite different commentary) at least twice already, but in each case, I spotted it and removed the articles before publication.

Today’s video comes from a channel I cannot remember seeing before and so I think we are on safe ground (elderly memory permitting).

Health Assessment – Midterm check offs

It is very brief at just shy of four- and three-quarter minutes. The health professional is Patrick (a nurse) and Patrick has a lovely quiet voice – almost too quiet, the microphone seems to be struggling with volume a little here. His “patient” is not introduced. Patrick is not slow in his approach sadly; he seems very much on the hurry up. Perhaps these assessments require something in the way of time efficiency.

However, given how great his voice is and the very muted background noise I think this one is a good video for us.

The notes are informative: “10 Jul 2013

Demonstration of the Midterm check off used at Palm Beach Atlantic University School of Nursing. Covers skin, respiratory, cardiovascular, and abdomen.

http://www.patheyman.com/nursing/heal…”

The URL leads here which has links out to other relevant videos.

Palm beach of course has its own YouTube channel with thirty-four videos which might be worth a view on another occasion.

There are a few equipment noises as the “patient” changes position. There is a very loud conclusion which I’d love to cut off altogether, but I am currently unclear how.

The channel is Patrick Heyman Zhuravel with one hundred and four videos and 8.6K subscribers – so a fair amount to get through.

I suggest that in order to limit the videos covered by this one blog post, we go back to that URL and examine the videos therein. There is the video above and two more.

Health Assessment – Final Check Off – Head to Toe

This starts a bit loud and then settles down. It is a bit less than fourteen minutes and descends into laughter quite quickly. All of this does not help in its use for getting some sleep. There are a couple of false starts (which it would be great to eliminate).

However, once Patrick gets into his stride, it is a lot quieter. The angle suffers a bit if you choose to watch instead of listen, as they appear some way from the camera (unlike the first video above).

There are more equipment noises and a certain amount of presenting (presumably to a class off camera).

Health Assessment – Bed Assessment

This is just less than six and a half minutes and heck, the air conditioning has decided to have a starring part in this one. Patrick is a lot louder here.

The camera position is better than video two above but is fighting for focus. Not that I imagine many of you will be watching.

There are some quite loud equipment noises.

These three videos are covered in this playlist

(This is also linked to from the above website.)

The Patrick Zhuravel 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.

Photo by DeepAI

Sleeping With ASMR

With articles clamouring about the necessity of getting more sleep to avoid dementia, one can hardly ignore the warnings about insomnia. Get to sleep on time day in day out. Sleep a good eight hours. Do not wake up in the early hours of the morning…

Scant succour to anyone who struggles to get the allotted sleep hours and seems to have an internal clock that wages war against the working day. If you are such a person, welcome. Even if you bounce into bed and fall instantly to sleep, welcome. Perhaps you can provide a contrast to any that are suffering for sleep.

The Procrastination Pen is a resource for those that find ASMR useful as a relaxation aid and potentially a sleep aid as well. For quite a while now it has focused on YouTube as a source of free YouTube videos. Indeed, within YouTube, there are a number of playlists linked to the Procrastination Pen, some of which are designed to assist in this regard.

There is also a weekly article which attempts to find a further video which may prove useful in this respect. This is one such article.

I have also taken out a Calm subscription in the hope that some of the material there might be useful for sleep. (Some of it is helpful, but that doesn’t mean you should all hammer over to the Calm website and lay down your spending loot).

I have also found that a number of audiobooks are helpful if you find yourself lying awake. I personally have enjoyed some of the Miss Marple recordings on CD. This is just because I prefer this approach to a subscription (because I am old). I also am getting tired of the nature of adverts online, in that they have become so intrusive that they now detract from the actual material.

Script blockers are helpful against some of them. A pi-hole (should you be so disposed) can help against others. So far, there is no assistance that I have found with YouTube adverts (I am told that they are incorporated into the stream and so cannot be separated from the videos themselves). However, technology keeps improving so I am certain that someone will crack that problem one of these days…

Meantime, you can subscribe to YouTube if you feel it to be of sufficient value. I’m not sure to what extent it obviates intrusive adverts. One would hope, absolutely.

Alternatively (and I’m sure that it is heavily frowned upon, so I dare not recommend it). I see that certain YouTube downloading softwares will download an entire playlist locally enabling you to bypass the adverts in their entirety. Again, I don’t recommend it. Given it affects a company’s revenue, I can guarantee somebody official in a very expensive suit will be quite upset if I did recommend anything of the sort, so I don’t.

However, if you decide to ignore my advice and download the entire Procrastination Pen playlist, then do feedback what it sounded like and any improvements you would like to hear.

Calm today was very inspirational; it was in fact so energising that I am not clear whether it will be soporific-inducing. I’ll risk it as I rather like Jay Shetty, and I enjoyed the material.

Daily Jay

Chase the Future You

NARRATOR

Jay Shetty

https://www.calm.com/app/player/Ga3PYvH2pG

If you have a Calm subscription, give it a spin and see what you think.

I have been, recently, evaluating a professional ASMR artist in these articles, rather as a counterfoil to the inadvertent ASMR material that I prefer. Today we have:

ASMR Head to Toe Exam [Real Person] Medical Assessment | Cranial Nerve, Feet, Scalp, Abdomen Tingles

This is a little less than forty minutes. One thing we have found with professional ASMR artists is that one tends to get a substantial video. This can be great, but sadly sometimes just means that it seems to go on, and on, and on…

KatieASMR is the channel and this has 415K subscribers (which is a fine achievement I’m sure you will agree). Of course, KatieASMR features in the ASMR Index. We can almost take that as a given nowadays. That ASMR Index site seems to do sterling work, this little blog could aspire so high…

The video has notes: “91,191 views 24 Apr 2025 #relax #asmr #asmrvideo

In this video I give Joyce a head-to-toe exam! This real person role play includes soft spoken tingles to help you relax and sleep. Please enjoy and consider being a patron ❤️‍🔥

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/user?u=80985362

TikTok: / katieasmr00

For Business Inquiries: ilovekatieasmr@gmail.com”

Brave putting an email address down I would have thought, as is the decision to permit comments against the video. That said, professional ASMR artists seem to have great loyalty in the comments department and so here. A definite absence of negative and downright nasty.

Of course, again, the participants are attractive in fact it is so common it is barely worth mentioning. If I come across a video with an unattractive guy in his fifties doing ASMR a) it will probably be me b) the comments will most likely be of a calibre that would dissolve rust.

As usual we find that there is background noise, in this video it is rather loud too. An interesting choice for a professional ASMR video. There are also noises coming from outside of the room, potentially from a nearby road.

As we’ve come to expect the participants are vying towards the whispery style of presentation. I suspect that this makes for great ASMR but poor believability. Although if my GP whispers at me the next time I visit, I will at least know that he reads the Procrastination Pen.

As the video advances the background noise drops off, and we get the time to admire the cute dog who is remarkably quiet. There are various intestinal noises, and I’m not convinced featuring them was intentional. It does however, make the presentation a bit more realistic.

Also realistic is the inability of the “patient” to pass the smell test. I have wondered how people manage to distinguish certain smells when challenged. This just proves the test is not as easy as some other videos would have us believe.

The combing (of hair) section I am now convinced appeals to ASMR aficionados that get their ASMR sensations from the sound that comes from combing hair. I’ve come across it before and it never seems to belong in the video. I therefore think it must be included through popular demand…

Sadly, the video is interposed with adverts which appear to pop in at five-minute intervals and, as usual, YouTube does not seem to be selecting them for their restful content, quite the opposite in fact.

The personal attention, of course, is exact. The pace is more or less perfect. I got to like the whispered approach in this one as well.

Anyway, it is worthy of a review I think. Give it a try and tell me what you think.

Moving on to the part of the blog that started the review process all those months ago; the locating of, and the review of inadvertent ASMR videos and to date this has mainly consisted of videos on a medical theme.

This week we are back to a channel that has featured multiple times on this blog here and here and indeed here. It is of course Geeky Medics. The videos so far have featured Dr James Lower and Dr Andrew Pugh.

However, at this point the videos are more recently posted and hence there have been some changes. The first such video is this one:

Peripheral Vascular Examination – OSCE Guide (Latest)

The video notes are all pretty much the same but given some people may not have read those earlier blog posts, I’ll feature the ones associated with this video in precis form, in any case, so that you get an idea:

“444,692 views 14 Jun 2022 Cardiovascular OSCE Guides | UKMLA | CPSA | PLAB | MRCS

This video provides a demonstration of how to perform a peripheral vascular examination in an OSCE station including assessment of key pulses (e.g. radial, brachial, femoral, posterior tibial, dorsalis pedis). Read our guide alongside the video here: https://geekymedics.com/peripheral-va… Check out our other awesome clinical skills resources including: • 🔥 Geeky Medics Bundles (discounted products): https://app.geekymedics.com/purchase/… • ✨ 1000+ OSCE Stations: https://app.geekymedics.com/purchase/… • 🏥 Geeky Medics OSCE Revision Book: https://app.geekymedics.com/purchase/… • 📝 150+ PDF OSCE Checklists: https://geekymedics.com/pdf-osce-chec… • 🗂️ 3000+ OSCE Flashcards: https://app.geekymedics.com/purchase/… • 📱 Geeky Medics OSCE App: https://geekymedics.com/geeky-medics-… • 🩺 Medical Finals SBA Question Pack: https://app.geekymedics.com/purchase/… • 💊 PSA Question Pack: https://app.geekymedics.com/purchase/…”

The startup music on this video is different to that in the videos reviewed in the earlier blog posts. However, it is equally loud and equally unwelcome. The participants seem identical to those in the previous blog posts – I mean in appearance as well as identity. It is as if no time had elapsed between those videos posted some time previously and the more up to date ones featured here. I’ll make a guess that earlier videos have been sampled to create shorter videos focused on a specific subject. Perhaps this is a posting of some left-over older footage.

This video is just over seven minutes in length and so is not huge. However, it is a more substantial video than some we have featured from this channel.

Comments are permitted and we know what that means by now. The commentators are beginning to notice that this pairing has been around for a while. Cue some comments about age and believability. However, surprisingly comments are predominantly positive.

Either there is a great resource of older material which they can keep plundering or James and Andrew are the most diligent pair I’ve encountered in a long time.

Dr Lewis Potter is the founder of Geeky Medics. He is at Newcastle University and it seems sensible therefore to conclude that the filming was completed there. So, we have a where, and a who, but not necessarily a when. However, I think Poirot can safely go back to bed.

There is background noise – I would say it is more the level of a recording hiss than of air conditioning. In my opinion Andrew has the better voice in this one. It is a good voice too (it must be why I keep returning to this channel then).

The examination is calm and well-paced and it takes mere moments to feel relaxed. Shame about that startup music though and the fact that the music comes again at the end of the video. Perhaps surprisingly, the seven minutes were not interrupted by random adverts whilst I was watching. YouTube made up for it as soon as the video concluded though.

Diabetic Foot Examination – OSCE Guide (Latest)

There seems to have been a surge of posting of videos on Geeky medics in 2022. This is another one from that year. As I mentioned there is no point in reiterating the notes here. James and Andrew feature again and I am pretty sure this is a rehash of some older material. The commentators are convinced of that as well. A number of comments focusing on the apparent Peter Pan nature of the participants.

This video is just over five minutes in length and the format is exactly as before (except for the startup music). By now we are used to periods of absolute silence in the video– it is quite a restful approach. We are now used to the voices and remain on safe ground in terms of level, presentation and pace. In this one the background hiss seems more intermittent. There are periods when it actually seems quite a bit quieter.

Sadly, there is still concluding music – shame it doesn’t avoid music altogether.

Measuring Jugular Venous Pressure (JVP) – OSCE Guide (Clip)

This one is just one and a quarter minutes, long so don’t blink. There are various negative comments – so far so normal YouTube, including this time I notice some dissent about the use of the term “tummy”. Crikey, people are fascinated by details.

It features James and Andrew and by now we are used to how it goes. Despite the shortness of the video they still find time to slot in startup music – grrr. Then they go and finish with music as well. Still, that was the perfect introduction to a very loud advert in my case.

Rinne & Weber Test – OSCE Guide (Clip)

This one is a little over two minutes long and has the same two participants as before. I have many more videos on this channel to review but I think I will stop it here for fear of posting a humongous long post. Given how consistent this channel has proven to be I think that I will be back here again (perhaps on several occasions). Notes remain similar, comments remain similar including the fact that people are noticing that Andrew should have aged a good deal more by now (In the comments). It isn’t long enough to provide much in the way of material of course (in common with several other videos on this channel).

It still has startup music of course more’s the pity. I think Andrew has a great voice and I assume someone will chain these together without music and put it up on YouTube somewhere. I don’t usually like such videos but in this case I might be prepared to give it a try if I come across it.

They also publish a guide to these tests if it is of interest. (I’m assuming most people reading this blog are not medical students so I would guess not…

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 article why not subscribe to this blog:

Photo by DeepAI

Sleeping With ASMR

Of late it has seemed to me that a change of approach might be indicated. A weekly approach to inadvertent ASMR videos located only on YouTube might eventually get to be boring for some. Those who happen upon the blog might be asking yes well, but what next.

Of course I can do more. Already I am looking at Calm and at professional ASMR artists but does this really result in any better-quality outcomes? The key, as I’m sure we agree, is a better night’s sleep and a dropping off to sleep that happens reliably and rapidly.

Sadly, I am not sure that I have achieved all that myself. I’ve tried a number of legal pills, some work, some do not. (Frankly, I would not know where to get the illegal variety even should I be so inclined.) I’m using Calm to try to build up some kind of meditation discipline, just in case a surfeit of mental self-control also results in a metaphorical off switch. It seems to me, if that is the route, then it’s going to take a long time in getting there. Of late, the most effective route has been lying on the sofa with some awful early morning TV programme burbling away. Despite what you might be told about the influence of light from the television or the impact of noise on restfulness, more often than not that is an effective action.

YouTube has historically been great (hence this blog), but the increasing intensity of adverts and the lack of filtering for quieter overnight adverts can undo the good work of the playlist in drifting off in the first place.

Admittedly, in the early hours, some TV channels change over from awful programmes to even more awful teleshopping presentations, with presenters of a personality which seems to indicate they do take something of a stimulating variety simply in order to keep it up…

There is nothing that is a perfect solution. Perhaps the Procrastination Pen playlist is one of those things that may prove to be helpful. (I’m always ready to receive feedback regarding improvements).

In the interest of changes (however small), this week’s Calm recommendation has nothing whatever to do with sleep:

Anger Management, Jeff Warren

https://www.calm.com/app/player/HzvkP4OlNV

However, I do find Jeff Warren’s voice to be restful and the material is interesting. It also is gratifyingly short, so is not going to be waking you again once you have drifted off.

This week, the YouTube recommendation from a presenter who set themselves up as a ASMR video professional is this one:

ASMR the BEST Full Body Exam | “Unintentional” Real Person ASMR | Abdomen, Lung & Back Inspection

It has notes: “2,633,344 views 21 Nov 2022

The most precise and professional ASMR on a real person you will see in a while with layered real sounds of lung listening (respiratory auscultation) and abdomen sounds (abdomen ausculation). Well-prepared unintentional ASMR examination with lung inspection, abdomen inspection, skin inspection, eye examination, hearing examination, cranial nerve examination, and hair inspection.

Ways to support the channel: https://swopi.co/kewas_asmr (all links)

!!!! NEW !!!! Send Kewa a GIFT:

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Join my Patreon:

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Donate thanks to NEW button SUPER THANKS! (button right below the video – heart with a dollar in it)

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Leave a LIKE, COMMENT and do not forget to turn ON the notifications on your SUBSCRIPTION!

*Disclaimer: We are not professional doctors, security or any other role we play in these videos. This video is for relaxation purposes only. Do not take any medical advice from this content.”

So, the normal level of self-promotion. Comments are permitted and for a change are predominantly positive. As we have come to expect both participants in the video are attractive, I wonder if it is even feasible to make your way as an ASMR artist with a more average appearance. If I find such a video I will feature it.

The video is slightly less than fifty minutes in length so substantial compared to material we have seen recently.

Sadly, it starts with music and, worse, quite loud music which seems to be key to yet more brand promotion, but I would have thought militates against instant restfulness.

There is a strong background noise (air conditioning, I suspect) And initially at least, the voices are not that quiet. However, it settles into the more whispered approach that we are by now familiar with.

The channel is Kewas ASMR and of course it appears on the ASMR index. The channel has three hundred and sixty one videos, four playlists and 333K subscribers. A very busy channel.

The video has equipment noises and there is a kind of bassy sound as if the microphone was slightly being overwhelmed, or it is an echo effect from the room in which it was filmed. Turning the volume down did not appear to remove this on the equipment I was using.

There are parts of the video where internal noises are played quite loudly, for example, heart beats and intestinal gurgles.

Despite these limitations and in common with many of the commentators, I did find the video restful. However, given that this is not an inadvertent ASMR video all these sound factors are within the control of the person filming, and so I do wonder at the choices that include them. I have concluded thus far that it is a drive for authenticity in the material, but I think the video would better promote relaxation if the extraneous noise were to be removed. Again, if I come across such a video (i.e. without these unnecessary noises) I will feature it.

I did find at intervals that I wanted the video to be shorter (which is probably not a great sign). However, I do think it worthy of review if you want to take a look/listen.

Today’s more bread-and-butter offering (at least as far as this blog goes) is the following:

March 28, 2017

Shari Rice is the channel. This has three hundred and seventy-six subscribers, one video, one playlist. The single video is just over fifty minutes in length and this time it is the only video on the site so come-what-may it is going to be the only inadvertent ASMR video I review this week.

There are notes: “148,625 views 30 Mar 2017

Rambo_Head to toe assessment_Nurs 5418”

Comments are permitted and include a number of ASMR-related responses and a number of unhelpful comments – so normal for YouTube comments then. At least it proves that I am not the first person looking for an inadvertent ASMR video who located this one.

The video appears to be one drawn from that rich seam of videos which I often feature, the medical student assessment video. It starts with some aggravating noises, presumably originating with the recording device being manipulated to show the whole room. Straight away we discover that background noise is going to be (a quite intrusive) thing. There is a sound like a motor running constantly in the background (presumably an older air conditioning system). The voices are not classically ASMR-y. There is certainly no whispering here.

We find that the medical practitioner is Sharon Rambo. I notice the channel is Shari Rice so I’m speculating Sharon Rambo got married to a Mr (or Miss) Rice at some stage after the video was filmed. Sharon tells us that this is a “Head to Toe” assessment. A type of assessment which has been featured here many times before. The identity card that appears in the video does not appear to give away where the assessment is taking place. The card is issued in 2016 and the film is dated 28/03/2017 (UK date order, so, March) but there is no obvious clue which course this relates to. However, straight away Sharon introduces herself as a Nurse Practitioner at UT Arlington – hence the “A” symbol on the identity card. A look at the UT Arlington website indicates that the horses head icon (as seen on the identity card) also prominently features.

So that is where we are and when we are.

The ”patient” is introduced as Savannah Martin (which may or may not be misspelled). Who is apparently twenty in this video so nearer twenty-eight now I would guess. Savannah has the look of someone who is not completely entertained by the process and indeed it does seem to go on a bit. Presumably this is so that all the material required by the course is covered.

At intervals Sharon seems to refer to notes which makes the presentation a little staccato. However, it settles down and Sharon’s voice likewise. In fact her voice is much quieter when performing the hands-on parts of the examination and hence these seem to be the best sections.

As we have seen before with student videos, the presentation at intervals is halting, presumably as memory fails… There is of course the occasional equipment noise, including the odd quite loud bang. There is humour – Savannah turns out to be ticklish…

After a while I found myself settling into the listening and it actually was restful (just as many of the commentators had reflected). It’s not the greatest ASMR experience ever, but I certainly think it is good enough for the playlist.

Have a review for yourself and see what you think.

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.

Picture DeepAI.org

Sleeping With ASMR

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.

The YouTube Channel is: The Eye Surgeon.

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!

www.stoneoakeyes.com”

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.

http://ocusoft.com/ocusoft-dry-eye-ma…

https://www.bruder.com/eye-care/dry-e…

* Lid scrubs:

http://ocusoft.com/ocusoft-lid-scrub-…

https://systane.myalcon.com/eye-care/…

Feel free to check out my website as well for additional eye education!

https://stoneoakeyes.com/”

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.

Until next time.

Picture DeepAI.org

Sleeping With ASMR

Recently I have been including a cameo role for a professional ASMR artist. I’ve limited my adventurings to videos where they are playing a medical professional to fit in with the ongoing blog theme, which has focused on medical-themed ASMR videos for well over a year now.

Once a person strays into this area though, you very quickly realise that there are a huge number of medical-themed ASMR videos and the scope for spending hours on really quite unsuitable videos is commensurately high.

After trying a few, I also happened upon another hazard which is that the first several minutes of the video is given over to the junk the sponsor of the video wants to sell. Quite a lot of heinous-instantly-disposables in such videos. It convinces me that any video organised this way is unlikely to get much space on this blog. There is quite enough intrusive time given over to advertising as it is, without it forming a part of the video itself.

This one seems to escape some of these problems:

ASMR Head to Toe Assessment 2024 [Full Body Medical Examination] | ‘Unintentional Style’ Roleplay

Sadly, there is the ever-present air conditioning noise which I would think a professional ASMR artist could ensure was dispensed with. There are also some equipment noises, including some loudish beeps, whirring equipment and clunks from moving equipment around. This is rather like many of the genuine medical videos we have reviewed. There is the sound of rubber gloves which is quite off-putting. The video is a little over forty minutes so quite substantial and as expected the tone of the presentation is nigh on perfect. In this case two recognised ASMR artists are collaborating so in a sense it is two for one in that both voices here are excellent (if they weren’t then the number of subscribers would be something of a surprise).

The channel is Ivy B ASMR it has 350K subscribers and 1.9K videos so someone deeply loves this ASMR artist (or rather quite a number of someones).

So, well worthy of consideration, I think. I will place it into the sweetie jar list. However, bear in mind this list does not receive anything like the attention of the main Procrastination Pen playlist as it has not been the focus of this blog (at least so far).

So, after that brief sojourn into videos created deliberately for ASMR, back to the inadvertent ASMR video and, perhaps the slightly more difficult task of finding a video with potentially relaxing effects amongst the large number of videos which are unsuitable.

Today, we return to Stanford, which has been a rich well of restful videos.

Venous Testing

This is just a little over five minutes in length, so blink and it is already gone. It is a professional video and so, as we would expect, there are notes. “4 Jul 2012

Visit: stanfordmedicine25.stanford.edu

This video is from the Stanford Medicine 25: an initiative to enhance the culture of bedside medicine and physical diagnosis. Visit our website to learn more. The ankle brachial index is one of our “25” diagnostic techniques that we teach.”

There are no ASMR-related comments and quite frequently this means it isn’t a desperately great video.

It starts with the standard Stanford musical intro (boo hiss). The medical professional is John Cooke MD and John has an excellent voice. There is a slight background hiss which is unfortunate, but nothing as bad as some of the air conditioning we have heard.

There is a doppler device in use which some people might find off-putting. The noises from this device seem to get louder and more explosive as the video goes on. There is also the standard Stanford end music as well.

We have visited the Stanford Medicine 25 channel prior to this and we know that the videos tend to be divided into playlists.

This video comes from the playlist Stanford Medicine 25: Ankle Brachial Index. There is only one other video in this playlist, and it is this one:

Ankle Brachial Index (ABI) Test: How to Perform

The notes do not introduce anything substantially new. This one is also presented by John; this time the video is seven- and three-quarter minutes long. There are comments and this time, the odd one might be ASMR-related (the comments as usual are variable). John continues to have a great voice in this video. But we know what is coming when the doppler device is produced again.

The doppler device does produce the odd distracting noise. This is a shame because I do like John’s voice and the pacing of the presentation. It is only because of this that I am considering running with these two in the playlist to begin with. Sadly it is quite likely that both will ultimately get culled for the archive list.

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.

Picture DeepAI.org

Sleeping With ASMR

For a little while, I have been reviewing a professional ASMR artist with the understanding that as they have set themselves up to produce ASMR material, that material had better be top notch. That is, I am disposed to be more critical of such videos than I would be of a similar inadvertent ASMR video.

This one caught my eye because it is seeking to emulate the very type of video that I habitually review i.e. the inadvertent ASMR video:

ASMR Head to Toe Medical Exam | Cranial Nerves, Physical Assessment | “Unintentional” Style

It is not completely quiet I notice; there are equipment noises, background noises, noises from participants moving around and using medical equipment. In all, not as quiet as I would expect for a professional video. The voices are of course as close to perfect as you can achieve and we’d expect that. It is setting its stall by the ASMR flag after all.

It is odd to find the participants whispering, but not unwelcome in the scheme of things. It does make the occasional noise seem louder than it would do otherwise.

The video is just under forty four minutes and so quite long compared to a lot of the inadvertent ASMR material we have been reviewing of late.

There are notes “308,882 views 16 Nov 2024 #asmrunintentional #asmrmedical #asmrheadtotoe

Let me know if you can spot the surprise towards the end!!! ASMR Head To Toe Medical Exam | Cranial Nerves, Physical Assessment | “Unintentional” Style

SUBSCRIBE FOR DAILY VIDEOS https://bit.ly/Subscribe2MadP

my personal insta: / just_madspam

asmr insta: / madpasmr

For collaborations: madpasmr@gmail.com

Wear Headphones

This is an ASMR medical role-play, I’m not a real doctor and if you have a medical condition please consult with your physician. This video does not display accurate information therefore none of the information should be taken as accurate/truthful facts.

#asmrheadtotoe #asmrunintentional #asmrmedical”

The channel is MAD P ASMR. This has 603K subscribers and 940 videos (no one need say that ASMR is not popular).

I found that MAD P ASMR also has an online review. It is good to see that there are other bloggers involved in a similar area.

As with other professional ASMR artists we have so far seen, the attractiveness of the participants tends to be towards the well above average level and so I remain unclear if it is the quality of the sound that is the main appeal (and quite probably it is not).

There are comments, of course, and surprisingly they predominantly are positive. MAD P ASMR is obviously a well-respected contributor.

As we have seen before in a video of this length, YouTube is going to hammer in advertising as frequently as it can get away with and quite a lot of that advertising is not going to be restful. This is a major downside of using YouTube for this kind of material.

Around the twenty-seven-minute mark the video continues but one of the participants has left and a new one has joined. That seems odd and usually I would have thought this the perfect cue to start a whole new video.

I’ll refer to this as the second half of the video (although it’s more like the final seventeen minutes) and it seemed to me to start a little louder. However, this, for me, makes it seem a bit more realistic as all the whispering did not seem the kind of thing your average medical professional commonly engages in. The voices are still muted and probably still much too whispery to be considered a model of real life medical professional behaviour.

At least the part where the patient is talking but the medical professional is just typing into a computer seems representative of real life. (I’m not certain the typing noises are exactly what I would call restful though).

There are various unwrapping noises, which perhaps some people will find appealing. They don’t really appeal to me that much. There also seems to be a quite elevated set of blood pressure instrument noises. The sound of palpating the back sounded more like someone hitting a drum, so I am not sure how the microphone was set up for this.

In the final moments the medical professional starts spraying the back of the “patient” with something which appears to have a glitter-like substance in it. A bit surreal for a medical exam.

In all though, this just adds up to my being extra critical because this is a professional ASMR video after all. I still think it is worthy of review and I am going to add it into the Sweetie Jar list.

Well, that has been a somewhat lengthy diversion from the real meat-and-potatoes work of this blog which is to find inadvertent ASMR videos. (i.e. real videos which may have some relaxing effects rather than ASMR professionals playing doctors and nurses).

Today’s material follows on from an earlier blog post. In this, I introduced the Geeky Medics channel and we got to see videos featuring Dr James Lower and Dr Andrew Pugh.

My preferred method for refining which videos we would review from the channel was to look for videos that featured James.

This led to a very long blog post and enough extra videos for several more blog posts besides. I arbitrarily divided them up for part 1 and this is part 2.

Hip Joint Examination – OSCE Guide (Latest)

There is startup music but different startup music to the videos we saw in the last article. James is in for another examination with Andrew. This time all kinds of leg manipulations are seen but what we hear is similarly quiet and methodical to all those videos that went before.

As we saw in the previous article there are notes – but I won’t repeat them here. Comments are permitted and as before some of those comments are not fully helpful.

This video is just over four and a half minutes. It is so speedy that it is hardly there at all. There is of course background (air conditioning) noise. It is almost rude to have a video without it. Although when it does happen, it is so – so welcome.

Knee Joint Examination – OSCE Guide (Latest)

The video is six and three quarter minutes this time and if you read the previous article, this video will be familiar. (Some elements of the video are obviously just repetitions of filming completed for other videos).

Selecting James as a method of thinning out videos has resulted in a sample of a good percentage of the videos on the website. Overall, this will bulk out the playlist (which really wasn’t the aim).

In order not to tax your reading patience, I think six videos is going to be sufficient for this article.

Dix-Hallpike Test & Epley Manoeuvre – OSCE Guide

This is just under two and a half minutes so it is not hanging around this one. Andrew and James appear again but James appears different and the video is posted much more recently up to now the videos have been six years old but this one is a slimline five years ago.

The new startup music is firmly established and dogging the start of the videos. Andrew’s voice seems to be at a higher volume for some reason and the background hiss a little more established.

Here we have Mr Ben Cosway as ENT Registrar for the first time in the credits at the end of the video as “Reviewer”.

Lymphoreticular Examination – OSCE Guide (lymph node, spleen and liver examination)

This one is a little over four- and three-quarter minutes in length. Startup music, tick, Andrew and James, tick, hissing background noise, tick, initial pre-amble, tick, move onto actual examination, tick, (of which a fair amount is actually in silence – heaven be praised no background noises). In summary, it is just like those we have already seen.

This time the reviewer is Dr Adam Gibb Clinical research fellow in Lymphoma, he seems to be at the Christie NHS Foundation Trust which is in Manchester.

Subcutaneous Injection (SC injection) – OSCE Guide

This one is not brilliant if injections are really not your thing (don’t watch!) It is just two- and three-quarter minutes in length. Andrew and James continue their merry dance across the screen. (To be fair it has all been relaxing so far, apart from the odd extraneous noise in videos which we can afford to dismiss from the playlist, given the resource of videos on this channel is just so large).

Otoscopy and Hearing Assessment | Ear Examination | Rinne’s & Weber’s test | OSCE Guide

I’ll make this the last video in this blog article but there are quite a few more for a future article or articles. It is slightly more than three-and-a-quarter minutes so none of the videos today will waylay you for very extortionate periods of time. It features Andrew and James again, the Morecombe and Wise of medical examinations. There is whispering, so I take it all back, medical examinations really do feature whispering, but perhaps not for the entire length of the examination.

There are a few disturbing ear related images, but as you will be listening rather than watching, you should be well placed.

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 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.

Picture DeepAI.org