Tag: HEENT

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

and

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

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

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

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

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

Rainy Day on the Farm

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

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

For example, this one:

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

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

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

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

and this one:

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

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

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

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

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

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

🌿 Relaxing Naturopath Visit 🌿 ASMR 🌿 Doctor RP

Gentle Whispering ASMR

2.41m subscribers

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

and

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

“8,059,900 views 16 Jan 2018

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

Email: MariaGentlewhispering@gmail.com

Gentle Whispering ASMR

2.41m subscribers”

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

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

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

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

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

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

This week’s inadvertent ASMR video is this one:

HEENT Assessment Part 1: Head, Face, and Neck

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

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

Description

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

More info

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

Joined 5 Jul 2017

3.7k subscribers

19 videos

1,126,488 views”

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

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

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

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

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

Onto part 2:

HEENT Assessment Part 2: Nose, Mouth, and Throat

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

HEENT Assessment Part 3: Ears

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

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

HEENT Assessment Part 4: Eyes

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

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

See you again next week.

The Nursing You playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:

The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:

The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:

I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.

The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:

I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.

I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.

If you liked this blog article, why not follow this blog.

Until next time.

Photo by DeepAI

Sleeping With ASMR

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

HEENT ear pain

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

Nicki FNP student health assessment HEENT Ear Pain”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There is the occasional clunk which distracts slightly.

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

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

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

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

The next video is this one:

FNP Asmt Musculoskeletal Module 4 Nicki & Melissa

The video includes notes “28 Sept 2018

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

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

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

Definitions:

FNP Family Nurse Practitioner

ASMT American Society of Medical Technologists

Nicki Neuro Assessment Lab

Notes as before “18 Sept 2018

Neuro Assessment with differential diagnosis”

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

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

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

Nicki M. -Basic Head to Toe Proficiency

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

Assmt. FNP Fall 2018”

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

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

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

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

The Nicki Meyer playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time.

Photo by Shona Macrae

Sleeping With ASMR

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

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

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

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

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

Respiratory Assessment

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

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

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

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

The channel is:

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

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

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

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

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

Health Assessment

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

There are four further videos in this playlist as follows:

Abdominal Assessment

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

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

CVS & PVS Assessment

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

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

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

Neurological Assessment

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

Integumentary System Assessment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time.

Photo by Shona Macrae

Sleeping With ASMR

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is today’s video:

Health Assessment Unintentional ASMR

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

HEENT Exam Unintentional ASMR

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

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

Musculoskeletal Exam Unintentional ASMR

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

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

Neuro Exam Unintentional ASMR

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If you liked this article why not subscribe to this blog.

Photo by Shona Macrae.

Sleeping With ASMR

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:

The Procrastination Pen overall 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.

Until next time.

Photo by Shona Macrae

Sleeping With ASMR

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 Lung and Thorax Exam

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.

The HEENT Exam Video.mov

The “patient” is Miley (the spelling may well be incorrect).

HEENT head, eyes, ears, nose, and throat.

Sclera the white of the eye.

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.

The Abdominal Exam Video.mov

Miley returns as the “patient”.

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.

The Neurological Exam

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.

The Musculo Skeletal Exam

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.

Hand Hygiene

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).

Outside Log Cabins 1.16.21 with Jamie O’Brien and friends

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.

Until next time.

Photo by Shona Macrae

Sleeping With ASMR

We are back to fairly safe ground this time. Firstly, this video is not found in a channel dedicated to ASMR (this blog focuses on unintentional ASMR videos for review material). Secondly, we are back to a Cranial Nerve exam which has featured before.

Neuro PACES is the channel and it is fairly easy to cover as it contains in total five videos none of which is longer than ten minutes (in fact all are quite a bit shorter than that).

The Cranial Nerve Examination is this one:

Cranial Nerve Examination Example

A nice calm start but progress through the video does seem to be quite hurried. Dr Michael is the medical professional, Mr Foot is the “patient”

I would guess that in order to get the entire exam completed within five minutes Dr Michael really needs to be motoring along.

The video is quite a bit different to the Vicki Scott one in this respect.

As the video progresses, if anything, it gets even quieter but the pace never seems to slow down much. To me that is not too distracting and it is a good video for the Procrastination Pen playlist I think.

The patient here states that the sensation in his face is unequal. This is the first time we have come across this in any of the videos covered so far. Surprisingly there is no mechanism here for noting that concern, that seems unusual. In addition, the medical professional here does not echo back the concern. Reflecting the concern has been more typical in the videos we have covered so far.

The link at the end of the video links back to Liverpool university neurosciences research.

A number of the videos seem to have been set up specifically for the neuropaces course organised by:

Professor Benedict Michael, Professor in Neuroscience, MRC Clinician Scientist and Honorary Consultant Neurologist

Professor Tom Solomon, Chair of Neurological Science and Honorary Consultant Neurologist

Dr Viraj Bharambe, Neurology Consultant

Dr Rosie Heartshorne, Neurology Registrar

I’ll make a guess that Dr Michael and Professor Michael are the same person.

Investigating the rest of the Neuro PACES channel we find that there are no playlists. Without a playlist order to guide the sequence of videos to review let’s begin with those videos dedicated to medical examination:

Lower Limb Examination Example

This features Dr Michael again, this time with Mr Jamieson. Again, this is a very gentle presentation. This one is pretty nigh ideal for our purposes and is a definite candidate for the Procrastination Pen playlist.

The patient here seems to be really struggling, the first time I’ve seen this featured in a medical examination video. The videos reviewed to date have always featured healthy people. I’m guessing these are usually student volunteers. This is quite a good vindication of what the process is supposed to be for i.e., verifying an unwell person’s condition.

For our purposes though it is a good ASMR candidate and like the previous one merely five minutes long. I’d say Dr Michael is as good here ASMR-wise as Dr James Gill which is quite a statement to make.

Neurology Lower Limb Examination for MRCP PACES. NeuroPACES.mov

The patient isn’t introduced in this video and Dr Michael starts off in much more robust fashion than in the previous two videos, (it’s quite a bit louder, as if he is trying to enunciate for a distant audience). There is a consistent background hubbub as if it is being filmed in a public area.

However, it still has its quiet and attentive moments which brings it back into a candidate for the Procrastination Pen playlist for me. It is still not quite as good as Shane Brun though.

In common with the other videos in this article it really motors though and is all over in five minutes. Overall therefore this one is not a great Procrastination Pen playlist candidate.

The Solomon System- NeuroPACES

This time the medical professional is flagged at the beginning Professor Tom Solomon PhD. FRCP of the Walton Neuro Centre NHS Foundation Trust & University of Liverpool

The “patient” is quite quickly introduced as Simon.

This is a longer video at eight minutes fifty seconds (though that is still not long in terms of the many videos we’ve reviewed in the past).

Professor Solomon has not got quite such a calm voice as Dr Michael sadly. I think again the problem is that he is presenting to a wider audience so his voice is louder. But at least there isn’t the background hubbub in this video.

There is quite a good description as to why some of the tests are actually performed and how to do these tests in the minimal time.

I’m not going to add this one to the Procrastination Pen playlist though.

NeuroPACES: The Walton Centre Neurology MRCP PACES Course

Another calm start, however it is just an intro video to the neuro PACES course. We get promotional material including funky music. This is not the kind of thing you want when you’re attempting to doze off.

This one is not going into the Procrastination Pen playlist.

The NeuroPaces playlist on the Procrastination Pen channel is here:

The overall Procrastination Pen Checklist (featuring all videos covered in the blog so far) is here:

The archive playlist of videos that were in the above playlist but found after lengthy review not to make the grade, is here:

I keep this in case people have personal favourites that they want to hear.

The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:

I dislike these as they require me to stop listening and login to verify my age. You may find that you have more patience than I do in which case this list is for you.

I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of relaxation as a result.

If you liked this blog article why not follow this blog.

Till next time.

Photo by Shona Macrae

Sleeping With ASMR

As before, I should provide a brief introduction for those who do not know anything about:

a) this blog

b) this subject.

I’ve written on this before and it might be worthwhile reviewing that post for details.

In brief though, this section of the blog involves reviewing ASMR videos, or indeed any video that could be relaxing enough that when you are desperate for sleep it might encourage you to get some.

The result is a playlist of such videos and the opportunity to feedback as to whether my choices were appropriate that week.

The YouTube Channel this time does not have many subscribers two hundred and seventy subscribers in fact, so it is almost an unknown channel. Is this an ASMR find? Possibly…

The video is:

Head to Toe

This has a reasonably high level of background noise, possibly an open space perhaps (although the part we get to see is enclosed by curtains). The nurse is Keisha whose channel this is (more of that in a moment). The “patient” does announce her name which I think is “Mallory Myers” – that looks wrong to me but it is what it sounds like.

The comments as usual are a bit off the wall, even brutal, but fortunately if you came for the sleep then you will not be reading those (or even watching the video). It is all about the sound.

The video has the hallmarks of one of those we’ve seen previously i.e. created as part of an assessment process. For example this one includes the fake washing of hands and the insistence on drawing curtains for privacy that are already drawn.

I’ve concluded that somewhere there is a checklist that student assessment videos are unthinkingly adhering to.

These videos have a feeling of being “busy” i.e. trying to cram everything in that the assessor wants to see. This includes a number of technical terms I imagine very few patients would be bothered to hear about.

There’s also a long period of more-or-less nothing at the end when Keisha is doing the paperwork, presumably this is again a requirement.

The examination is lovely and calm, the background noise quickly stops being distracting. There are moments of shared humour and there seems to be reasonable rapport. This is a good Procrastination Pen playlist candidate.

It may have been recorded at Valdosta State University – the nurse’s shoulder badge at one stage appears to indicate this location. This university of course has a YouTube channel, with three hundred and four videos as at today’s date but it does not include any of those listed on Keisha’s channel.

The channel is Keisha CoxKelly.

There are seven videos as at today’s date with the above one being the most obvious candidate for ASMR. There are no playlists. However, with only seven videos we can probably take the time to review them all. (Well I can, and you can scroll to the end to listen to the playlist).

There are no videos posted more recently than eight years ago presumably that is how long ago Keisha was a student.

NG Tube

One thing that we can be absolutely clear about here is that there will be zero patient interaction. The patient appears to be plastic.

There is background noise, more insistence on fake privacy and cleanliness measures.

It is quite surreal watching the one-sided interactions in this video.

The notes state it is VSU college of nursing which seems to confirm my earlier guess about the location.

Nonetheless Keisha retains the quiet voice of the previous video and the procedures appear calm and measured. Even if it is apparent that a plastic model cannot actually swallow a tube.

There’s also an amusing point where the person videoing films their own fingers.

This video is a bit borderline. I’ll add it to the Procrastination Pen playlist but it may fall victim to a future weeding process.

FOLEY Cath insertion/removal

This time the video notes confirm that it is Valdosta State University College of Nursing. There was no need to go investigating shoulder badges after all.

The background noise seems worse because Keisha seems very quiet on this. The microphone is presumably not fully up to the task.

The “patient” has no legs which is almost as distracting as people talking and laughing in the background. The patient is plastic, which is a bit of a relief given the subject area. (I’d probably get some kind of YouTube content warning otherwise).

The camera-holding person is a bit of a fidget but given we’re here to listen (and to sleep) that is not such a concern. The sound isn’t amazing but it is unlikely to cause you to wake up in a hurry at 3am (unlike some YouTube adverts I can mention). Therefore, on-balance I think we can include it in the Procrastination Pen playlist (with the emphasis on potential future weeding activity).

Insulin Mixing

This also suffers from low volume. However, I am not so clear this will matter late at night when, necessarily, the volume will be way down in any case. (To ensure that you are not woken by the very playlist you were using to fall asleep in the first place). There is no patient in this video so it does not really qualify as an exam as such.

Keisha seems to be admirably measured in approach. I’m sure there must be classes on Zen meditation or something similar happening in the background to generate so many medical trainees this calm.

I’ll put this one in the Procrastination Pen playlist (even if only temporarily).

Wound Care

The one-sided conversation is nearly as surreal as the virtual door which you can neither knock upon nor close to “provide privacy”. The sound is slightly better apart from the traffic noise which makes itself felt. Once again this includes a plastic “patient”. At least he/she isn’t loud.

The snapping gloves noises are a bit of a wake-up though.

At nearly thirteen minutes it is amazingly long for a one-way interaction but I suppose the great thing about it is that it is quiet. Another video that’s on the Procrastination Pen playlist (possibly pending a future cull).

IM and SQ injections

I would guess this features two student nurses, our favourite, Keisha, and what sounds like “Sky Voss” but probably isn’t. This is filmed in a public area with minimal screening. So far so normal student assessment video.

At just over seven minutes it doesn’t hang around. As injections are not my favourite thing I’ll be watching from behind the sofa.

There is fake privacy and cleanliness again. There is also quite a lot of technical terminology, (as we saw previously). I’m presuming no standard patient would comprehend, let alone request this.

Fracturing the ampule was a bit of a shock (it is loud) but not as bad as the gloves snapping in the previous video. I’ll feature this video on the Procrastination Pen playlist for now.

I’ll schedule a playlist review shortly and remove any that no longer seem up to the desired quality.

IV administration

This is positively whacky; on this occasion the “patient” is a plastic arm.

The sound quality starts bad and seems to get a lot worse. It is like someone is trying to record the video with the microphone actually inside their pocket. There is almost no reception of what Keisha is saying. The presentation could be excellent but sadly it can’t be heard.

Hence this one needs to be rejected from the Procrastination Pen playlist.

The playlist for Keisha is here:

The overall playlist of every video that made the grade after a review on this blog is here:

The archive playlist of videos that were in the above playlist but found after lengthy review not to make the grade, is here:

I keep this in case people have personal favourites that they want to hear.

The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:

I dislike these as they require me to stop and login to verify my age. You may find that you have more patience than I do and so are prepared to give it a listen.

I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep as a result.

If you liked this blog article why not follow this blog.

Till next time.

Photo by Shona Macrae