Sleeping With ASMR

I notice that there is now a lot more traffic in social media sites that utilise pictures or videos than there is in sites dedicated to reading. So, it is feasible that writing a blog (to whatever level of skill) is now something of a dying art (a bit like writing thank-you letters to your aunt because you received a fountain pen for your birthday).

It seems few people write letters now other than solicitors and banks. People using fountain pens do so because they like pens, rather than it’s a thing that you just use.

I assume people still have aunts; however, I imagine any messages of thanks are now received via Signal, WhatsApp or even (the now somewhat dated) SMS.

Perhaps AI will save us by writing all these blog articles for us, however I wonder then who will be left to read them.

So, it is with a sense of some stubbornness that I write (however badly) another article on ASMR for sleep.

Today’s video comes from that very deep mine of videos which we have thoroughly excavated of late which is the video apparently produced as some kind of course work. Sadly, these always seem to be pressured efforts produced in public areas and as such the sound quality is often not quite there.

A number of these seem a great idea at first (to me at least) but have subsequently hit the Procrastination Pen archive list because they do not measure up to the competition we are seeing through continual review of the videos available.

So, it is with a triumph of optimism over experience that we come to today’s:

Head to toe

The sound is flat as if being recorded from some distance away (which may be the reality). The pace is frenetic (is someone timing the participants for some reason?)

From the introductory comments I heard that the medical professional is Carmen, a student (some kind of student but it was too fast for me to catch what).

Similarly, the “patient” could be “Charlene” (but that may well not be correct).

The date it is filmed is 03/08/2021 and they are at LIU campus Brooklyn.

LIU of course has its own YouTube channel. (This must be de rigueur for universities). However, there appear to be only fifty-nine videos here. As we have seen before these tend to be promotional videos for the university, rather than material that an ASMR-related blog can really make much use of.

The video (as is common for such videos) is in portrait mode (presumably filmed on a phone). As we have come to expect, there are various noises associated with equipment. Here, the muted nature of the volume works in our favour.

There are no comments permitted (which as has been pointed out before is probably wise). However, it does mean that I have no awareness as to whether other people have discovered this video and are using it for ASMR purposes. ASMR fans are so good at sniffing out a good video that a tracker dog would do less well. I therefore suspect quite a few have been here before me.

Once the examination-proper starts, things begin to slow down. (Thank goodness, this is supposed to be relaxing).

At nearly forty-two and a half minutes this is quite a long video. One does get the idea with such videos that in order to pass an assessment the student has to rattle through a list of certain phrases as if mentally following a checklist.

This often leads to a quite stilted presentation. (Presumably it is effective for assessment purposes, however).

Charlene (if that is her name) seems as anxious as we have come to expect in such videos. Perhaps the pace has not been relaxing for her either.

There are a number of thumps and bangs from the equipment. As pointed out before medical equipment does not seem to come with the quiet option.

Definition:

JVD: Jugular Vein Distention, bulging of veins in the neck.

Thrill: a heart murmur that can be felt.

Bursitis: a swollen and painful joint.

The channel is carmen yip which has one video and no playlists. Yet, despite this, it has two hundred and five subscribers, that is quite an achievement I think.

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

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

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

The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:

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

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

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

Until next time.

Photo by Nihal Karkala on Unsplash

Sleeping With ASMR

I was reflecting that, in the world of ASMR, it is something of a miracle that anyone takes the time to read anything.

Specifically, those people using ASMR to aid in sleep are unlikely to be the type of person who is taking a leisurely stroll around the estate with the dogs followed by a slow browse through the morning papers.

No, I suspect that they are the kind of person with a hectic day, coupled with a hectic evening and a brain that whirs away throughout that time. A brain which they are then desperate to find the “switch” for so that they can turn it off on demand and get some desperately-needed sleep.

It seems incumbent upon me to take as little of the available time of such a person. On that basis, I’ll ensure these articles stay brief and I’ll remind anybody happening upon this article that the playlist, this is dedicated to producing, can be accessed, (without reading this article in its entirety) by scrolling to the last paragraph where you will find the details.

It is simply to add that I recommend you pick up the Procrastination Pen playlist on YouTube where you can watch it using the shuffle-mode available there. This ensures the presentation is random so that you are not always watching the same material in a predictable sequence. I write the articles in the order of the channel I am investigating and the playlist is populated in the order that I write the article. This produces a playlist where videos of similar content are bunched together. That might prove a bit dull to watch if you simply watch the playlist in order.

Today’s video follows the medical examination theme we have been covering for a number of articles now.

Hand overview

It is just over sixteen minutes long so a reasonable length but unlike the majority of professional videos we have seen includes no associated notes.

Comments are permitted (bravely in my view). But at least the comments reveal to me that the ASMR community is all over this already and hence this will come as no surprise to any ASMR fans out there.

A bonus point for this video is that there is none I mean zero introductory music. I wish that many other videos were the same.

The medical professional introduces himself as Curtis Robb and that he is located at the Royal Orthopaedic hospital.

Curtis is a gift to ASMR afficionados, his voice is beautifully quiet and measured. I can imagine many presenters would give a great deal to have a voice like this.

The video quality is not great at all, it makes the straight-to-tape quality of the 1980s look great. But given no one will be watching, because they are trying to get some sleep, this should not be an obstruction.

The channel is EdwardTDavis and contains just fifteen videos. It is possible that it is the same Edward Davis who also works at the Royal Orthopaedic hospital.

Fifteen is not a huge number but perhaps a little many for our overworked relaxation seeker, so I will try to limit myself to videos in which Curtis Robb appears.

(I think we will be returning to this channel in the not-too-distant future).

There appear to be four of these including the one at the start of this article. The remaining three are as follows:

Hand run through

At just two and a half minutes this is brief even for us. (I’ve known YouTube adverts that are quite a bit longer than that).

Curtis remains on good form. Although there are no obvious ASMR-related comments there is no reason to suspect that ASMR fans are not also tuning into this one.

I notice that all the videos on this channel are dated eleven years ago as at today’s date, so I wonder what happened. This could have been a great ASMR resource, this channel (had the posting of videos continued, that is).

Foot and ankle run through

This is every bit as good as the last two and the comments that relate to them relate also to this.

The “patient” is Sarah – the same patient as in the other videos.

Foot and ankle overview

this one is a bit more substantial at eleven and a half minutes. Curtis Robb is still excellent in terms of his voice. Sarah appears again as a “patient”. The location this time seems to be a lecture theatre or conference hall rather than a hospital room.

The Edward Davis 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 Tran Mau Tri Tam ✪ on Unsplash

Sleeping With ASMR

The Procrastination Pen playlist continues to grow in length. I think soon it will be at such a length that even if you leave it playing along in the background whilst you sleep, you will wake up and find that it is still going.

I am weeding the odd video out at intervals that does not seem to be as good as when first I heard it. However, I take suggestions, if you find any of the videos in that playlist just aren’t that helpful in getting some shut eye, let me know and I might remove the ones that you do not like.

As always if you’re too tired to read (and I don’t blame you) the playlist will be at the end of this article, such that you can scroll all the way there and pick it up without reading anything else.

For those who are continuing to read, welcome, and here is the subject of today’s blog post:

Shoulder Exam (Stanford Medicine 25)

This is very brief for the kind of video we usually see on the Procrastination Pen, at only one minute twenty seconds. It is narrated and the narrators voice is not as quiet as I would like. Because it is a professional video it comes with notes: “16 Mar 2014 Stanford Medicine 25: Musculoskeletal Exam

This Stanford Medicine 25 video was created in conjunction with Stanford’s AIM lab teaching the examination of the shoulder.

The Stanford Medicine 25 is a Stanford School of Medicine initiative to teach and promote the bedside physical exam. Here you will find videos teaching bedside physical exam techniques.

Please subscribe, like and visit our websites:

Main Website: http://stanfordmedicine25.stanford.edu/

Blog: http://stanford25blog.stanford.edu/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StanfordMedi…

Twitter: https://twitter.com/StanfordMed25

Google+: http://goo.gl/UBM7SP

The notes have done most of the work for me in that is states who it is by and where you can find them.

The video has a little background noise, but strangely this does not sound like air conditioning. This time it sounds more like the audio was recorded onto tape (I guess you need to be a certain age to know what that sounds like).

The channel is Stanford Medicine 25

This has eighty-five videos at the time I am looking at it. Thankfully for the purposes of writing a blog post (of hopefully short length). The videos are organised into playlists and ours is in a suitable playlist i.e.:

Stanford Medicine 25: Musculoskeletal Exam



This playlist has eight videos in it and just for a change
they are all visible.

The one above is the first in this playlist and so we can

cover them in order.

Knee Examination (Stanford Medicine 25)

Again, this is brief at just over one and a half minutes. It
is consistent with the first – the same narrator, the same background noise. Indeed, this is often the benefit of professional videos once you have seen one, you have a good idea what it is that you’re going to get. Of course, if the first
one is a tad loud, sadly it means that there is little variability in that volume. Still, the approach is methodical and calm which is helpful.

Approach to Low Back Pain Physical Exam – Stanford Medicine 25

This is a more “usual” length at just over eight and a half minutes.

Oh dear, start music, the thing designed to strike wakefulness into the slumbering person.

This is unlike the previous two videos in this set in that the medical professional in the video is the one doing the talking.

The medical professional is Baldeep Singh MD Clinical Professor, Medicine, Stanford School of Medicine.

The professor actually has quite a reasonable voice for our purposes, although due to the instructional nature of the video he isn’t as quiet as we would like. However, he is calm, methodical and even better, the video lacks background noise.

The “patient” is Steve here, sadly, we don’t have any further info about Steve.

The examination looks like something of a torture for anyone who actually has back pain. I imagine on the days I am suffering, there would be screaming involved. Best ignore that when listening to this video and trying to get some kip.

Approach to Hip Region Pain Physical Exam – Stanford Medicine 25

Unfortunately for us, the introductory music now seems to be the standard. Farewell to videos with no introduction hello introduction which is less conducive to sleep. I have heard a great deal worse however.

At least one comment indicates that an ASMR fan has already found this one, which isn’t surprising. From the video comments I’ve seen on YouTube, ASMR fans are even more voracious than I am (and I have made it my mission to write blog articles about it).

Here we have Dr Singh again with our old chum “Steve” as “patient”. Dr Singh starts a little fast but slows right down within seconds. The volume is a little variable. At six- and three-quarter minutes it is of reasonable length for one of these instruction videos.

The best way to watch a set of these from the Procrastination Pen playlist is to watch it on YouTube (rather than use the embedded videos on the blog). Then you can use the shuffle function. Without the shuffle function you will get a number of similar videos one after the other and you may quickly tire of that.

Again, the examination appears, to me, to be designed to elicit pain. I’m sure on the days I have hip pain I would not enjoy my leg being manipulated in the way demonstrated. However, I think as a video to fall asleep to, it actually works. Mainly because of the calm, methodical presentation.

Iliotibial Band Syndrome Physical Exam – Stanford Medicine 25

Definition: Iliotibial Band a thick band of tissue running down the length of the outside of the thigh.

Again the “Noble test” seems designed to cause pain, perhaps these doctors were trained in a torture chamber. Probably wise to ignore the scope for suffering with this one as well. Dr Singh remains consistent as before and Steve remains compliant.

And now the playlist moves onto a different medical professional and a different patient so it seems a good time to end this, we can recommence in a future blog post. Stanford Medicine 25 certainly seems worthy of more attention.

The Stanford Medicine playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:

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

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

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

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

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

I 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