Recently I had occasion to browse YouTube using a smart TV. The app for YouTube browsing turns out to be a cut down of the version available via a web browser. For a start the shuffle function does not exist, the ability to skip adverts does not crop up and it took some searching to find the Procrastination Pen channel at all.
However, I am pleased to report that despite all that, the playlist still stands up pretty well even when forced to play each video in order. Some of those early videos have become like old friends now.
It also gave me the chance to identify the odd one that is ripe for weeding and push it over into the archive list – by this mechanism does the main Procrastination Pen playlist keep being refined and improved.
Today’s video is this one:
Head-to-Toe Assessment NR 304
Comments are permitted and we can see that ASMR fans have already been here and done that. NR304 turns out to be a nursing exam. The online references to it appear to come from Chamberlain University College of Nursing but that is not to say it is the only university to offer it.
The video is twelve and three quarter minutes long so a good average length for a medical examination video. And this seems to be again another video produced by students as part of their course. (we have a great deal of experience of this now and the results can be somewhat variable).
There is some background noise. There are conversations happening nearby both are quite distracting.
The medical professional is “Nadia”. She has a great voice which is somewhat overshadowed by the other conversations just off camera.
The “patient” is Jackie Santiago (almost certainly misspelled) with DoB 6/9/97. However, thereby is a trap for the unwary, this is the US dating system so almost certainly 09/06/1997, so June therefore.
Each of the participants has a tunic with a crest on it which is just a little too fuzzy for me to make out the name of the institution.
However, the Chamberlain University College of Nursing has a very similar logo.
So it could be that this is the location.
Chamberlain appears to be in Addison Illinois and unsurprisingly it has its own YouTube channel.
This is filled with the kind of promotional videos we have come to expect from such channels.
The channel is Nadia Hussain. This has just one video posted there years ago at the time I am looking at it, yet despite this there are four hundred and two subscribers. This is quite amazing and possibly speaks to the ASMR-y nature of this video.
I would completely be in accordance with that if the extraneous noises were not punctuating this video. It is also a shame, given the nature of her voice, that Nadia did not post any further videos.
In the brief intervals where no conversations from elsewhere are overheard this is a very good video. It even lacks oppressive air conditioning noises (which is very rare as we know).
Sadly, there is no more from Nadia, she does not seem to have any other channel, so presumably she went on to make good her career and never looked back. Good luck Nadia, but very sad for us.
So until next time then.
The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:
I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article why not follow this blog.
I am continually reminded that there is nothing new under the sun. I spend so much time on YouTube now that I sometimes inadvertently happen upon something which I was not really searching for. Recently I discovered that the Procrastination Pen is not the only channel trying to put together a playlist connected with sleep. (On reflection I suspect that there are many of these).
I found that the channel Zbizzle has a playlist just entitled “Sleep”. At the time of looking, it has twenty-eight videos and four thousand two hundred and thirty views so none too shabby. I am listing it because you may be interested in checking it out.
The videos seem to be compiled from professional ASMR channels and so quite different to the approach that I have been taking. It might form an interesting contrast to the Procrastination Pen playlist.
Sadly, Zbizzle has not included any details about themselves in their channel (other than that they joined in 2012 – so somewhat before the Procrastination Pen).
I have not reviewed the sleep playlist myself; I’ve been a bit busy reviewing my own list. I can’t either recommend or criticise, I simply offer it up in case you haven’t found it yourself and you fancy giving it a try.
Back to the Procrastination Pen and the video being appraised today, this being:
Hannah’s Head to Toe assessment
At just less than forty-two minutes this one is a real thoroughgoing test. Recently we have been used to videos quite a bit shorter than that.
The title immediately strikes me as possibly being to do with a student assessment video which we have seen a number of in the past.
The focus looks a bit off, the distance of the subjects as if they are at the end of a long tunnel, both participants reasonably young in appearance.
The patient is introduced as “Miss Strickland” but the channel is “David Strickland” – there is no indication as to how that is the case. A possible gender change individual perhaps?
The background noise is not too oppressive thankfully, there is no introductory music for which may the Lord make us truly thankful. The medical professional does not introduce herself but jumping ahead the second video on this channel may iron that one out – of which more later.
There are no notes associated with the video which does indicate a non-professional video as we have noted. Professional videos tend to have notes associated with them.
There are comments, and as usual the comments are unhelpful. (I’ve formed the view that denying comments is probably a wise move with videos on YouTube).
There are no ASMR-related comments which may mean this is a find or it is a terrible video.
The sound is somewhat muted, which we have heard before and might be connected with the quality of microphone employed.
The delivery is as we have grown used to; the individual is assessed and so has to rattle off a certain amount of terminology in order to get a grade. (I surmise this in that most of the videos produced apparently as part of a course all seem to progress in the same way).
Videos of this type always seem to involve the “medical professional” consulting with some kind of mental checklist in a fairly rigid manner, up to the laughable “privacy” provision sections, where the poor student draws an invisible (i.e. non-existent) curtain.
The delivery is slightly loud and a little hesitant. It is obvious that the “medical professional“ keeps forgetting where they are supposed to be in the examination.
Regular readers will now be thoroughly familiar with cranial nerve tests now of course including some that are delivered by professionals.
The medical professional keeps pausing delivery, presumably in an effort to remember exactly what it is that is supposed to come next. Towards the end she actively consults her notes. But of course, for the purpose which we wish to put this to, which is to lie there and to listen, this need not be too distracting.
I love the way that she pronounces “Lazy eye”, a very different way to enunciate those two words to what I am used to.
The channel is David Strickland, perhaps a relative of Hannah Strickland who we saw as the patient in that first video.
The second video features the same participants but in a reversal of the roles:
Danielle’s Head to Toe Assessment
The key is that the medical professional of the former video was Danielle and in this one Danielle is actually the patient. There remain no clues as to where this actual medical establishment is.
The comments remain unhelpful and there are still no notes. The focus remains on the fuzzy side and the background noise is still muted. This one comes in at a little under thirty-eight and a half minutes.
Hannah starts off a little loud. The introductions are somewhat brief and definitely not enough to give much information about course, institution, more details of the participants and other information that I often use to determine that the video is a legitimate one and not from an ASMR professional. (From the appearance of it, I somewhat doubt it is the latter).
Given the paucity of the number of videos and the complete absence of playlists, two hundred and twenty-two subscribers is a really good result. One certainly gets the idea that the video was never intended to be out there in the greater public and, given both videos are both posted in 2014, any related course is long gone by now.
Part way through Hannah’s voice is completely masked by a background noise sounding like the microphone has been placed in a wind tunnel. Almost as if someone was hoovering it with a 1950s vacuum which had not received regular maintenance in the last seventy years. That is really quite distracting.
As before, the presentation is hesitant with some wrong steps being taken and some parts forgotten and returned to later.
There are obvious pauses as elements are recalled. Like the first video of this article in fact.
We discover that Danielle was born April 6th 1994 but the location is given merely as “nursing lab” which doesn’t help much in tracking down the institution – oh for an identifying badge or similar.
The David Strickland playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:
I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop my listening experience to log on, this interrupts the listening experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article, why not follow this blog.
If you’ve been reading the Procrastination Pen for a while you will have come across the theory that people have a much more gentle and quiet approach to examinations when dealing with small people.
What could be better to test if this is consistent or just an occasional occurrence than to occasionally feature an examination with a small person and to observe whether such videos are better in terms of volume and method.
Universities have so far been pretty good for videos but they are also often a huge source of self-promotional material involving MGM style soundtracks and Saachi and Saachi motivational messages. There is, therefore, a mass of material to look at and quite a lot of it is unsuitable for us.
The University of Leicester though, in common with Warwick University, who we saw before, has a number of teaching videos and some of those are very good. Today’s video is sadly very brief at just shy of five minutes in duration.
Paediatric Clinical Examinations – The Abdomen
It includes comments and as expected a number of the comments are not helpful. Reading between the lines though, I think ASMR fans are here well before I am. This is something that we have come to expect now.
It is a professional video and so of course it has notes associated with it:
“30 Jul 2014
This is a real-time demonstration illustrating the technique and parent and child interaction involved in the examination of the abdominal system of a child.
The film was produced by a paediatrician to aid the teaching of clinical examination skills. It starts where the history has been taken, and the clinical examination is about to commence.
Written and presented by Dr Elaine Carter, Emeritus Consultant Paediatrician, MA, MB ChB, MRCP, FRCPCH, MMedSci.
This film was produced by External Relations, University of Leicester.
Filmed & Edited by Carl Vivian
Written & Produced by Elaine Carter”
There is no – I mean zero – music at the start of the video – Warwick take note. This is such a welcome difference.
We are introduced to mum Sophie and her son Alex, who, it has to be said, looks suitably anxious. There is limited background noise; no obvious air conditioning noises for example.
The presentation is lovely and gentle. So far, the theory about small people is vindicated yet again.
I never expected a child to be this calm when having his abdomen probed in such a deep manner. Perhaps the presentation is just a little loud but that is a minor criticism and is only possible because other aspects of the video are so right.
Interestingly, I found the video is now in the Internet Archive the first time I have ever found that to be the case.
This channel is simply huge, 1.3K videos at the date I am looking at it. Eighty-seven playlists and few of these are anything that we could use.
However searching the Internet Archive, discovered earlier, we find that Elaine is also involved in another video of a similar type.
This video, as luck would have it, is also present on YouTube:
Paediatric Clinical Examinations – The Respiratory System
This one seems to have been filmed before the previous one in that this is the first time we are introduced to Alex.
Again, there are notes: “30 Jul 2014
This is a real-time demonstration illustrating the technique and parent and child interaction involved in the examination of the respiratory system of a child.
The film was produced by a paediatrician to aid the teaching of clinical examination skills. It starts where the history has been taken, and the clinical examination is about to commence.
Written and presented by Dr Elaine Carter, Emeritus Consultant Paediatrician, MA, MB ChB, MRCP, FRCPCH, MMedSci.
This film was produced by External Relations, University of Leicester.
Filmed & Edited by Carl Vivian
Written & produced by Elaine Carter”
As before there is no startup music. If it wasn’t the fact that there would be so little material to work with, I would only select videos that lacked startup music (and tail end music as well for that).
We are also introduced to Ellie, Alex’s sister, Alex looks suitably bored, possibly because his sister is the focus of attention in this video.
It is another brief one at just less than six- and three-quarter minutes.
The presentation style here, if anything, is quieter than with the previous video. Ellie seems calm, even happy at intervals.
The comments are variable as always but again reading between the lines this is also already known to the ASMR community.
That’s it for this time.
The University of Leicester playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:
I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article, why not follow this blog.
I think I can conclude, after quite a few ASMR articles, that nursing is an absolute gift to the ASMR community. There are nursing students who post assessment videos. There are various nursing disciplines that require additional training. Much of that training apparently needs videos. Then there are the tuition videos designed to help nurses improve their expertise and log continuing professional development hours.
With nursing, GPs, and physicians we have videos which are commonly dedicated to medical examination material and this can be quite restful.
In my one blog post per week, I have hardly scraped the surface of everything that seems to be out there in this area. I may, one day, happen upon an even more productive area (paediatrics currently is a little explored area for example). But for the moment thank God for all the nurses out there and the efforts that they put in.
Today’s is from a channel dedicated to nursing it is this:
01.03 The 5 Minute Assessment Physical assessment
Despite the claims of its title the video is nearly six minutes in length.
There are no notes, which is unusual for a professionally produced video. Comments are permitted. Mostly these are unhelpful, but they do lead me to suspect that a number of people listening to this video are ASMR fans.
Oh no introductory music. Thankfully though, it is brief and unsurprisingly, for a video that declares it is all going to happen in five minutes, the pace sets off pretty rapidly and perhaps not as quietly as I would like.
The patient self-identifies as, I think, “Tammy Hawes” but that is probably misspelled. Once the examination begins things start to quieten down, but the pace certainly does not slow any.
The channel is “Nursing made easy” this has one hundred and seventy-two videos at the time I am looking at it and eight hundred and ninety-nine subscribers. That is rather a lot of videos/subscribers.
There are six playlists. One of these has seventy-four videos in it.
However examining the videos in overview, it appears that the titles denote a series. Posted one year ago are four videos with titles ranging from 01.02 to 01.05.
A quick scan of the remainder reveals that few if any will be suitable for our purposes.
The first is this one:
01.02 Barriers to Health Assessment
At just less than eight and a half minutes, the title doesn’t obviously sound like one for us. There are, again, no notes but this time no comments either. There is introductory music again. Then that frenetic pace of presentation (but this time in roadrunner proportions).
I imagine people actually play this one on half speed if they are trying to study it properly.
This really isn’t for the Procrastination Pen playlist.
01.03 is where we came in of course.
01.04 Adult Vital Signs
This is just less than five and a half minutes so another short one. Again, there are no notes and, perhaps thankfully, no comments either. That, accursed, introductory music of course. But after that start the pace is somewhat slower than with the previous two videos. It still isn’t what you would call slow though.
In this one neither patient nor the nurse doing the examination actually get to say anything, it is all about the narrator.
I think the videos in this particular blog article are probably all borderline restful. They are just good enough for the Procrastination Pen playlist but potentially liable to weeding on subsequent review.
The last video in this particular set is this one:
01.05 Pediatric Vital Signs
This is a bit of a segue in fact; the numbering system obviously linking more to the originating course than to the people delivering the examination, the patient, or even the specific subject area.
This one is just less than six and a quarter minutes long. As before there are no notes and no comments. As before the annoying start up music. As before the pace is pretty fast.
This is more a course-delivery video than a medical-examination video. It is not especially restful (although I’m sure if you are on the specific course, it is very informative).
This is not really for the Procrastination Pen playlist
The Nursing made easy 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.
Habitually I am reviewing inadvertent ASMR videos i.e. those videos made for one purpose (usually medical examinations) but which are relaxing enough to produce ASMR effects in those lucky enough to have them.
Recently though I seem to have meandered more into the world of ASMR YouTube channels. It will not be a permanent move however. My intention is to get right back to genuine medical videos.
Today’s channel is “ASMR Sandwich Breath”, as mentioned before “sandwich breath” is a bit of an insider ASMR joke. People either know of the sandwich breath video or they do not. Afficionados of ASMR videos are expected to understand the inside jokes. (I only get a few of them as there are a great many such videos).
Today’s blog article is about this video:
Physical Medical Exam Unintentional ASMR
The video starts with the title “PE for TOPE Student Demonstration”.
Ross, here the “patient”, Jessica the medical professional. She states this is the University of Washington and that she is a registered nurse. The comments state that the original of this video has now been deleted. Assuming that we can trust those comments, this is possibly the only place we will encounter this video.
The University of Washington has its own channel of course.
There are seven hundred and fifty-seven videos on that channel and twelve playlists. The upshot of which is that some of those playlists are composed of over one hundred videos.
Jessica’s video does not seem to be there.
UDUB is apparently a shortening for the University of Washington to those in the know.
Ross does not seem the happiest patient or, taking a more positive view, he could be half asleep.
Jessica enunciates the medical terms here in such a clear way, possibly the best I have heard so far.
I also notice a great deal of time taken to explain what is coming next. Perhaps this thoroughness explains why the video is in excess of thirty-four minutes.
This is very quiet. Jessica at intervals is on a par with Vicky Scott which is quite a statement. The result is a video which is a good Procrastination Pen playlist candidate.
The video concludes with a healthy amount of information Jessica Burke-Lazarus BSN, RN Midwifery-DNP student was the medical professional Jessica it turns out graduated in 2013 and now works in Seattle.
The “patient” was Rosson Wiebe PMHNP-DNP Student Ross also graduated in 2013 and went on to work in Florida.
It also tells us that it was filmed December 9 2011 in the Center for Excellence I Nursing Education at the University of Washington.
ASMR Sandwich Breath has forty-eight videos as at today’s date. That is a fair-few videos to attempt to motor through. A quick scan of them reveals some old favourites which we have covered before.
The usual approach is to reduce the number to be covered by selecting a suitable playlist from the channel.
There are five playlists on here but some of them are a little on the long side.
As with the above video, I will cover this one in a future review of the video in its proper home.
Gastrointestinal Exam Unintentional ASMR
We’ve covered Mark Pepin and Corey Duke before so I won’t repeat it here.
Only one video made it to the Procrastination Playlist this time so there will be no Jessica Burke-Lazarus playlist on the Procrastination Pen. (Great though this video proved to be).
The Procrastination Pen playlist (which is no-doubt what you have all been reading this in order to locate) is found here:
I have been listening to that playlist most nights and some of the videos that were members have now been removed. If any of your favourites are missing from that main playlist you can find them here in the archive list:
Quite often the videos getting removed have no faults other than occasional intrusive noises. The playlist of items that are great for ASMR (but contain an age verification function), usually a great way to interrupt your listening in the middle of the night, is here:
I hope that you find the playlists restful and that you get a good night’s sleep.
Hope to see you again back here for the next blog article.
If you liked this blog item why not subscribe to this blog.
Recently, I am finding some variability around the efficacy of using just the ASMR videos to get some sleep. Some nights very effective, some nights a distraction, and some nights just not effective at all.
On such nights, I tend to lie on the sofa and tune into the dreariness that is late night television (dreariness is probably advisable as really compelling television is only going to keep you awake for longer).
However, there are other things to try, for example, there are free online meditation resources. Some people I am told find the discipline of meditation really diverting. I have until recently found focusing on meditation to be one more thing I do not want to do when I am tired and I want to sleep.
However, never say never, I recently have received a gift subscription to Calm and I am giving some of the meditations a try. So far without positive outcome, but you never know.
Meantime I am back to finding more ASMR videos. I am trying to stay ahead as I notice that some of my blog posts already have blank spaces where videos used to be. Videos are obviously being taken down.
Previously, we have dealt with the Sterling Freeman part of this partnership.
Now we have Olivia Rabone and, as we saw in that previous blog post, this looks like it is a video designed as part of an assessment.
Head-to-toe physical assessment-Olivia Rabone and Sterling Freeman
As we have heard before, the ever-present air conditioning to provide an audio background for us. In this, Sterling Freeman is the “patient”.
Olivia Rabone attended Howard College Texas until 2022
Howard College has (as we’ve come to expect) has its own channel.
However, the badge on the shoulder of Sterling does not look anything like that on the Howard College Channel.
Sterling also studied at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.
This college also has a YouTube channel. However, the badge is not like that on the uniform.
Sterling early in the video confirms that they are both at Howard College, Big Spring Texas. (Perhaps the college has subsequently changed its branding).
We also get the confirmation that this is 2019, which was very likely Sterling’s final year there (although Olivia appears to have attended for longer than that).
I always find it amusing that in these videos the students provide privacy by drawing an invisible curtain. We have seen this before of course.
I’ve seen a few applications of a blood pressure cuff in these videos. Given how far Olivia has to wrap that cuff around Sterling’s arm I think it might be bit on the large side.
The assessment proceeds at the pace of an express train. This makes me wonder if trainee health professionals are under the cosh to get things accomplished in the smallest amount of time possible.
Olivia seems to be reciting from a mental script as the empathy quotient in this video is not obviously high.
Against that, the tone is really pleasant; it is not excessively loud. It makes a good Procrastination Pen playlist candidate.
The channel, unsurprisingly, is called Olivia Rabone. It has eight videos on it, which is a number I think I can cover here without over stretching your attention. (The Procrastination Pen playlist is at the end of this article if you want to skip to that point, simply scroll down to find it).
Although Olivia hosts this one on her channel the medical professional here is Sunny and the “patient” is Olivia.
Sunny has her own channel which might be worthy of a future review.
Judging by Sunny’s shoulder badge (which is the same as Sterling’s in the previous video) this is also filmed at Howard College.
We have the constant drone of force-driven air to keep the ears entertained. In this case the medical professional’s volume is not aligned with this background noise. It is quite difficult to hear what Sunny is actually saying. This might be ok if the air conditioning noise was more restful but I do not find that it is.
The camera appears to be a huge distance from the two participants. This is unusual for videos of this type. However, given we are mainly here for the listening experience I cannot judge this video solely on that basis.
Sunny at intervals seems to be distracted. Potentially she is trying to follow some standard assessment checklist.
This does make it a little difficult to relax into the experience (and fall asleep to it for example).
Overall, I think the sound quality discounts this video from the Procrastination Pen playlist.
This continues in the vein of the last video, with a high background noise in relation to the main spoken audio track.
Stacy Kuykendall is a remarkably common name in Texas it turns out (including one woman whose children were killed). The upshot of which is that I have been unable to determine if Stacy has a YouTube channel.
To be honest given this is set up exactly like the last one it didn’t stand a chance from the outset so I will not be adding it to the Procrastination Pen playlist.
The background noise on this is really intrusive, including what sounds like a whole flock of rock doves trying to outcompete one another.
There are a number of non-medical and non-ASMR comments with this video. But none of these have any interest to us.
There is the noise of overflying planes. At one point Olivia starts laughing, which given the challenges involved in filming here, is probably unsurprising.
If you’re watching as well as listening, there are also some strange artefacts coming from sunlight across the lens.
As before, there are occasional gaps as Olivia consults a checklist so it is a little staccato in approach.
It just isn’t there in terms of ASMR, so it will not be into the Procrastination Pen playlist.
CN’s & Musculoskeletal-Olivia Rabone and Sterling Freeman
Here we are straight back to the partnership that we started this blog item with. Although the partnership is the same, it appears that someone stuck the microphone actually inside the air conditioning outlet.
The audio track is nearly completely occluded by the constant whirr that is going on.
It is a shame because in all other respects this is the equal of the video that we started with in this article, but I don’t think it can really go through to the Procrastination Pen playlist.
Respiratory & Cardiac assessment-Olivia Rabone and Sterling Freeman
Yet again the background noise is high. However, I think this is just acceptable. It is very calm and considerably more methodical than some others featured in this blog post. However, it may well suffer an early weeding if it proves to be distracting on subsequent review.
A louder vocal track would have compensated for the air conditioning. Perhaps YouTube videos of the future will incorporate an air conditioning filter designed to eliminate all that excess noise.
HEENT assessment-Olivia Rabone and Sterling Freeman
This seems to start a bit louder, but so does the air conditioning. I could probably provide a good service to listeners if I could somehow process all the sound tracks to eliminate background noise. Sadly, however I am no sound engineer.
There are relatively few comments but just shy of seven and a half thousand views, which sounds remarkable.
To be honest, I’m not certain it is a great Procrastination Pen playlist candidate.
NG tube/EN/PN discussion
This is so much quieter than the others which must be down to the change of venue. This is filmed inside someone’s house. The start of the video though is not restful. It is almost in the format of a lecture with the delivery a tad hesitant.
Someone off camera starts coughing and Olivia is merely reading from a script.
This one isn’t for the Procrastination Pen playlist either.
The Olivia Rabone playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The Procrastination Pen playlist (which is no-doubt what you have all been reading this in order to locate) is found here:
I have been listening to that playlist most nights and some of the videos that were members have now been removed. If any of your favourites are missing from that main playlist you can find them here in the archive list:
Quite often the videos getting removed have no faults other than occasional intrusive noises.
The playlist of items that are great for ASMR (but contain an age verification function), usually a great way to interrupt your listening in the middle of the night, is here:
I hope that you find the playlists restful and that you get a good night’s sleep.
Hope to see you again back here for the next blog article.
If you liked this blog item why not subscribe to this blog.
According to a guide I was reading recently, in order to be successful in the cut and thrust world of blog posts this really should be entitled “Ten ways to the sleep you’re hoping for” or similar. Apparently, I should have researched my audience so that I know I’m targeting a fifty-year-old non-smoker living in West Wales with her five cats and a small moped called Nigel.
As you can tell, I have not done that.
So if by some miraculous twist of fate you have happened across this blog post, welcome. I hope that you enjoy and if you feel so disposed tell all of your ASMR-loving friends. If you are living with multiple cats and a moped, or if you are not.
Today we are looking at a video from an establishment that even I have heard of. I am hopeful that it’s expertise also churns out medical professionals with a gentle deliberate manner and calm attentive voices.
Percussion of the Chest (Stanford Medicine 25)
It begins with a funky tune which, sadly has become the norm for such videos. However, the medical professional’s voice is actually quite good. This is quite obviously an instruction video but lacks the elevated volume and strident delivery of many such videos.
The “patient” is Geoff (or possibly Jeff). As usual for such videos some of the comments are not particularly relevant or even complimentary. I am beginning to prefer the videos where commentary is denied altogether.
A search around the Internet reveals that this is Dr. Abraham Verghese who even has his own Wikipedia entry and website.
(I wonder if it is feasible to create a Wikipedia entry for yourself, that could be quite fun).
This is not as great as Dr James Gill but is a worthy addition to the playlist, I think. The video is part of a playlist
In which there are only two videos. The second of which is
Stigmata of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (Stanford Medicine 25)
(The same patient, the same medical professional, the same institution).
Again, with the funky music, which, thankfully is soon over. This is equally as good as the last one.
Sadly, it is also quite brief.
So, a brief playlist today but it would seem that we need to follow up with Dr Verghese in the future as he may be a great source of future ASMR videos. Look out for future posts of this type. The Stanford Medicine playlist is here:
I continue to harry this list with demands for ASMR perfection and so at intervals one or more videos drop from this list to the “playlist of Hades” (I mean the Procrastination Pen Archive list):
I keep them here in case I have demoted one of your favourites and you make a reasoned argument why I should restore it to Heaven’s glory (I mean the overall playlist.)
The playlist of items that are great for ASMR (but contain an age verification function), usually a great way to interrupt your listening in the middle of the night, is here:
I hope that you have a restful sleep listening to the playlist. If you do why not subscribe to the blog (even I don’t know what is coming up next and it would be a shame to miss it wouldn’t it).
I Hope to see you again back here for the next blog article.
Having a bad day at work? Just want it to be over? Despair that you’ll ever chill enough to actually get any real sleep tonight? Welcome to The Procrastination Pen. Here the finest in inadvertent ASMR material is reviewed at intervals. Even better there is an ever-growing playlist of curated items for your delectation. And if after all that you’re still plotting ways to murder the boss in an undetectable fashion, at least you’ll get to listen to a relaxing video whilst you are doing it.
Today we have a video from a channel dedicated to health. Nothing could be more medical than that I am thinking and therefore any ASMR effects must be purely down to chance. So far so much the aim of this sequence of blog posts.
The notes are helpful, which we often do not find: “Jessica Nishikawa demonstrates some of the techniques of the Lung and Thorax assessment.”.
We know who the professional is before we start. Comments are turned off which is a breath of fresh air after some of the nasty stuff that you sometimes see.
We start with Jessica Nishikawa DNP, FNP-BC. DNP appears to be Doctor of Nursing Practice. FNP-BC is Family Nurse Practitioner – Board Certification
Unless you follow nursing, you, like I, may not have been aware these qualifications existed.
Suffice to say a highly qualified person then, but this is not why we are here.
The background hiss which we have heard often before is present here as well. Initially I thought I was going to exclude this video from the Procrastination Pen playlist, but it soon settles down to be less obtrusive than in some of the videos I have reviewed of late.
The “patient” is McConnaugh (probably nothing like the spelling). A quick search of YouTube determines that McConnaugh appears elsewhere such that he might crop up in a future blog post.
At intervals Jessica looks off video to her right. I’m not sure if there is a person there or if she has notes about what she wishes to cover. However, you’re likely to be listening rather than watching, so it is unlikely to affect you.
This is moderately good – no Hollie Berry but still worthy of a place in the playlist I think.
The channel BilderbackHealth surprisingly has only eight videos (including the above one), so we can comfortably cover this off in one blog post.
The majority of the videos feature Jessica – there’s a couple that look like they are not going to be on theme including one on Log Cabins so it might be that six is the total we’re going to be looking at today.
It is great to have a medical video from a medical facility (not someone’s front room) and for the noise of air conditioning to be absent. Having got used to background noises of late, it is fantastic what a difference silence makes. I may be weeding some of the more air condition-y (new technical term) videos from the playlist going forwards.
The presentation is lovely and quiet. Positively gentle at intervals.
Definitely a Procrastination Pen playlist member I think
The Cardio Vascular / Peripheral Vascular Exam Video.mov
McConnaugh is the “patient” again
JVP – Jugular venous pressure – used to diagnose types of heart and lung disease.
Thrill – a vibration felt whilst palpating a blood vessel.
This remains consistent with the first video we looked at.
I’m not sure if this is bias but the videos featuring Miley sound to me moderately more-gentle than those featuring McConnaugh. In any case this one is consistent with the HEENT video featured previously.
Connie is the “patient” here – somebody new. Interesting that cranial nerve one is generally not tested and yet how many of these videos have we seen in which people test coffee or even alcohol to verify that this nerve is functional (its function is for smell perception).
This is a bit more of an instructive tone than the ones that have gone before. However, it is probably indicative of the consistency of this set of videos that I even bring this up. Usually in a group of videos that I review we are lucky to have one or possibly two videos included in the playlist. In this case we very likely will include the majority of them. We have not seen that since Dr James Gill.
Chris is the patient this time (I’m a bit more comfortable with that spelling)
The best demonstration of abduction and adduction I’ve seen so far.
I’ve watched a number of these and have just realised that Jessica does her nursing in a set of high-heeled shoes, I have pity for her poor feet and respect for her endurance standing on her feet all day in those shoes.
Anyway, this will probably be the last time I actually watch the video (listening being the more usual approach) so this will be of no concern to me (and likely to you either).
I love the pronunciation of buttocks probably the first time I have heard it pronounced that way.
Another video the equal of the ones we have seen in this post previously.
It’s worth noting that Jessica has her own channel, which given the nature of these videos is very likely going to be the subject of an upcoming blog post.
The guitar music is good, but in other respects this is just not the quality of those that have gone before. This is not going to be in the Procrastination Pen playlist.
It also goes all funky subsequently which is just not conducive to great relaxation. (Entertaining though I’m sure it is).
Funky music from the outset, charming images but that isn’t why we are here. This is a poor fit for the Procrastination Pen playlist.
In general, an excellent set of videos and the largest consistent set of videos for the Procrastination Pen playlist we have seen in a while. This gives me more ammunition for ongoing weeding activity to perfect that playlist.
The Bilderback Health playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The Procrastination Pen playlist (which is no-doubt what you have all been reading this in order to locate) is found here:
I have been working through that playlist repeatedly and some of the videos that were members have now fallen from favour. If any of your favourites are in there you can find them here in the archive list:
Quite often the videos getting removed have no faults other than excessive background noise.
The playlist of items that are great for ASMR (but contain an age verification function), usually a great way to interrupt your listening in the middle of the night, is here:
I hope that you find the playlists restful and that you get a good night’s sleep.
Hope to see you again back here for the next blog article.
If you liked this blog item why not subscribe to this blog.
We came across Michael Koller in a previous blog post.
At the time I pointed out that he had a page dedicated to videos i.e. this one.
So far I have not tried reviewing videos which have been linked to from a web page. This is a venture into the unknown. It is not possible to add them into a playlist so this entire blog post will buck the trend of all previous blog posts on ASMR and ASMR-related videos.
The organisation of the page is impeccable, a series of links in a table. I’d guess that they are designed for education purposes.
The first video is:
Head to Toe: Male; Dr Michael Koller
There is a link to the main video entitled “Complete Video”. The video has also been divided into four parts (I’m not sure what the point of that is).
There is also a link called “Text”, this turns out to be a fourteen-page checklist. Students have a much greater memory than I have if they can memorise and utilise all of that.
The quality doesn’t improve just because they are a component of the main video above. These are also quite loud for what we want.
If the tone was a bit quieter, then these might have been ideal.
I was considering asking Dr Michael Koller if he would permit me to upload the videos to YouTube so that they could be enjoyed in the normal way. However sadly he has died so I am unable to do that. As such I cannot upload them to YouTube and therefore, I cannot add them to the Procrastination Pen playlist.
I very much suspect that this is a lost branch of a website which will one day be rediscovered by the Stritch school of medicine and taken down.
For that reason, if you want to see the videos, now is probably the time to do that.
Head to Toe: Female; Dr Michael Koller
For these the only videos available are the Part1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 videos rather than a complete video.
Parts 1, 2 and 3 are secured by a Stritch logon leaving only part 4 for us to see. There is no associated text file as there is for the Head-to-Toe Male video. The reason is not obvious.
This video is much better than any of the Head-to-Toe Male videos in that it is substantially quieter. If this video was on YouTube, it would be in the playlist. I suspect that one cannot just take other people’s videos and upload them to YouTube so I’m sorry for ASMR video fans out there who would like this to be in the Procrastination Pen playlist.
In contrast to the above this video does not come in parts -only the complete video is available. In addition, the above video does not have a “Text” link but for this video a link to the text file is provided.
The text file is four pages long and is again a checklist to go with the video.
At least the music used to start this is gentle, a bit of classic guitar music. Dr Koller introduces Nancy Grecko (assuming that is how you spell that).
The sound for the video is not great – a constant background noise. It is as if the sound track had been lifted from an ancient cassette tape. We have heard background noise like this before.
Given the track is not on YouTube it will not be in a playlist, however I may have considered it if it had been.
I have made an email request to a general contact address at Stritch to see if permission will be granted for me to upload these videos to YouTube. Assuming permission is granted I will upload the videos to my channel in the future and create a playlist as I would normally do. If no such list appears you can assume no such permission was given.
At intervals there are brief snatches of narration which do not have the background noise and this is distracting in that the noise is only emphasised as a consequence.
Thorax; Dr Michael Koller
There is an associated text file, which is again a four-page checklist. There is a bit of a theme developing.
The complete video has funky start music (thanks but no thanks). The background noise is still there but just less pronounced than with the “Head and Neck” Video.
Dr Koller refers to this being a composite video composed of videos that are found elsewhere – my apologies if you notice some overlap (I have not done so).
This is a reasonable video. It is not truly quiet, but it could be said to be quite calm and methodical, not as good as Dr James Gill however.
Part way through, though, Dr Koller starts whacking a tambour which cannot be said to be properly restful.
The outro indicates the “patient” was Thad, assuming that is how you spell that.
A review of the “part” videos indicates that, as expected, they replicate the content of the complete video.
Pulmonary; Dr Michael Koller
Having established with reasonable assurance what the expected behaviour is i.e., the “part” videos are just bits of the complete video, I’m going to limit myself to reviewing the complete video in each case.
We are back to the classical guitar music approach to video introductions although it seems to be a bit louder than before, the inter-video volume problem reasserting itself
Dr Koller and Thad appear again. (Apologies to Thad if I am misspelling your name, happy to correct this if you let me know).
The sound is strange like there is a slight metallic tone to the voice (as if the microphone was inside a metal box). Thankfully we lack that awful background noise in this video though.
There is a set of breathing sounds on the track but (to me) these were not excessively loud and did not distract from the track in anyway. Your mileage may vary.
Again, we see the definition of egophony which we have seen before.
Heart; Dr Michael Koller
The obligatory text file (which I think we can assume now is a checklist) and the complete video supplemented with 2 “part” videos.
The complete video starts with the classical guitar music again (a bit loud this time). This video still features Dr Koller and Thad. Again, we have a slightly metallic edge to the sound.
This is very much of the quality of the previous video.
Towards the end there are various heart beat sounds but I did not find then distracting. You may have a different reaction.
Abdomen; Dr Michael Koller
This video begins with far-too-loud start music, no restful guitar music this time. It has the metallic sounding vocal track, Dr Koller and Thad as we have heard in previous videos. This really needs a better microphone, I think. If it wasn’t for this aggravating metallic echo I think this would have been quite a good video.
This is the last Dr Michael Koller video on the site. However, there are a lot more videos with other participants.
I’ll return here in a future blog post to review the others assuming the page stays up.
Sadly, I have not created a playlist this time (I may get permission to create one in the future from Stritch perhaps).
The overall playlist of videos covered so far in this blog is here:
The archive playlist (videos which were in the overall playlist but after repeated playings it turns out that was a mistake) is here:
The playlist of items that are great for ASMR (but contain an age verification function) – usually a great way to interrupt your listening in the middle of the night is here:
I hope that you find them restful
If you liked this article why not subscribe to this blog.
If you’ve wandered into the blog via a search engine then you may not have read any other articles in this series. A brief background to explain what this blog is about. The plan is to review videos for their potential for ASMR or at the very least the ability to soothe you off to sleep.
The main output is an ever-growing playlist and my unwritten contract is that this will always appear at the end of each article. The assumption is that if you just want to hear the playlist you can scroll completely through the article and take up the link at the end.
Today’s video comes from a channel that we have seen before.
The channel is MDforAll, it contains no playlists. I use playlists habitually for filtering down content (i.e., limiting the number of videos covered in any one blog post). The channel also has a large number of videos, at today’s date sixty-seven videos in fact.
In the previous blog article I decided to adopt the mechanism of featuring only those videos which all contained the same medical professional and patient together in each one. On that occasion it resulted in nine videos which was a more workable number for you to read about in that one post.
This is therefore a sensible mechanism for arriving at a sensible length blog post on this occasion as well.
A scan through the videos on this channel indicates that a number of them are way too loud for our purposes. They are designed as instruction videos and the participating medical professionals are obviously trying to project themselves. Fair enough, the videos were not designed for the purpose to which we are putting them.
Eye, Ear, Nose, & Throat Examination
In contrast this video is a nice fit. The person presenting (unnamed) is quiet throughout. The patient has little to say. The video quality isn’t exactly HD but, given we’re using it to sleep, then it is probably of little consequence. The sound is pretty good but of course accompanied by air conditioning noise. This is something we expect by now.
The video has notes but they do not tell us very much we don’t already know: “Physical Examination of The Eyes, Ears, Nose, And Throat.”
The comments reveal that other people have happened across this video for ASMR purposes, so we are certainly not the first here.
Having selected this medical professional, the number of videos featuring this person (on this channel) is now limited, to just three videos in fact.
Neck & Cardiac Examination
This continues in the same vein as the previous video. It is equally quiet and the background noise (which we are probably getting used to by now) is limited to air conditioning noises.
One of the comments indicates that this is from MSU CHM. Assuming this is accurate, this refers to Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. This has a channel on YouTube with forty-five videos in it. This channel might be worthy of future review.
At least the medical professional asks the “patient” to hold his breath rather than “stop breathing” which we have seen before this. As I commented previously slavish obedience to this instruction (if it were possible) could have very final consequences.
The heart sounds at one point in the video might prove to be a little distracting. Not least, that I think my heart beats a bit faster than this guy and yours might as well.
On balance though, I think this video is worthy of inclusion in The Procrastination Pen playlist.
Lymph Nodes & Thyroid Examination
This video is slightly louder at the start but that still does not exclude it from the Procrastination Pen playlist. The notes tell us nothing we didn’t know: “Examination of the lymph nodes”. But at least there are notes. The video fades out even as the medical professional is talking. This makes me think there was/is a longer version of this video out there somewhere.
Again, there is no identity for the medical professional listed so there is no way to check where this originated. For all we know there could be more of these. Unless a random YouTube search turns them up though, I’m afraid that this is it.
These videos have been consistent. They all belong in The Procrastination Pen playlist.
These are the only ones on the channel that feature this medical professional and this patient. From the review, I think this channel might be getting mined-out for ASMR related content but I may review it one more time to be certain.
The playlist for MDForAll (On The Procrastination Pen channel) is here:
The playlist which contains every video reviewed so far on the blog is here: (less any that have subsequently been weeded)
The playlist of videos that initially made the above playlist but after much review it was determined they didn’t really make the grade is here:
(I’ve kept them in that list in case you still find them helpful)
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop listening to log on, this interrupts the flow. You may not find this to be the case in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article why not follow this blog.
The Procrastination Pen 
