This week I found a podcast episode which I am going to use to supplant my usual Calm track recommendation. I feel a bit easier about this, given the podcast episode is free to listen to and the Calm site/app requires a paid-for subscription. However, in the end I decided I would include it and details of a Calm track. So, it is a two-for-one deal this week.
This is the podcast:
Inner Safety and Sleep with Dr Nerina Ramlakhan
It’s from Action for Happiness, which, if you have not become familiar with their work by now, certainly is an organisation worthy of some familiarity. This latest is on a relevant subject – sleep. However, there are many engaging subjects worthy of listening via podcast channel or YouTube.
This is just under an hour long and, of course, has notes:
“In this enlightening episode of the Action for Happiness podcast, host Mark Williamson engages in a thought-provoking conversation with Dr. Nerina, a renowned physiologist and sleep therapist. With over 25 years of experience and several acclaimed books to her name, Dr. Nerina shares her expertise on how feeling safe can significantly improve sleep quality. The discussion explores the vital role of the autonomic nervous system, introducing listeners to concepts such as neuroception and interoception, and the science behind creating a safe internal environment.
The episode delves into practical techniques for cultivating inner safety, which not only enhance sleep but also overall well-being. Listeners are guided through exercises like the soothing Havening technique and reminded of the powerful effects of love and gratitude on the nervous system. With a focus on realistic sleep expectations and a compassionate approach to self-care, this episode provides valuable insights for anyone looking to improve their sleep and lead a more balanced, happier life.”
Hopefully you will find that it is of assistance with your sleep-related struggles.
The Calm track this week is this one:
https://www.calm.com/app/player/YEvPMJC9wh
Daily Jay
Crossroads
NARRATOR
Jay Shetty
I’m not certain that Jay is the most restful voice on Calm. I would say for me, at the moment, that is Tamara Levitt. However, Jay seems to cover such interesting material that you find yourself distracted from whatever was on your mind. I am still finding that the short Calm-daily material is more restful for me than the longer material dedicated to sleep. It would be great though, if Calm allowed you to setup a playlist of all these shorter tracks, as it would then mean you would have an advert-free playlist. Kind of like YouTube, but without the disadvantages (well other than the cost anyway).
It is less than eight minutes so isn’t going to take you very long. This one is about evaluating options and choosing the best way forwards.
I am still doing a brief foray into professional ASMR review with the following:
[ASMR] Real Person Head to Toe Physical Assessment with @ediyasmr| Soft Spoken Medical Roleplay Exam
It is from channel Semide ASMR. This channel has 341K subscribers, two hundred and ninety-three videos and eighteen playlists. Wow, this is a hard-working ASMR artist. As expected, it is also found on the ASMR Index.
The video has notes, of course, mostly given over to self-promotion (as is usual for a professional ASMR artist), so here is a brief selection from those:
“5,292,031 views 4 Jul 2020
Assessing my cousin @ediyasmr “Head To Toe” with a skin exam, scalp check, eyes, ears, nose and throat exam, respiratory, cardiac, abdominal exams and more! Enjoy and be sure to check out her channel as well! 🙏🏼🙏🏼 Some exams were adapted for Ediya’s comfort. Technique and information is not accurate so please don’t study from it! Also, please excuse my bare feet 😂 (English subtitles are available for this video)”
As you can see it has been around a long time, but for some reason only today popped up in my recommendations. Fortunately, now it’s in this blog, you know about it, and you don’t have to wait as long as I did.
Comments are permitted. Oh, such a lot of comments. They are, thankfully, predominantly positive.
The video is a little less than three quarters of an hour so reasonably extensive. There is no startup music – hurrah, but there is a fair amount of background noise. The participants are not whispering though, so they can be heard reasonably well above what must be air-conditioning noises. It is calm, measured and, as you would expect the vocal tone is more-or-less perfect.
The setting is a little odd – I would say domestic – with the “patient” on a sofa, I think, and not the variety of sofa with which Freud would have been familiar… (more the watching television variety).
The manual blood pressure bulb is a bit loud and there is a sound like passing traffic in the background which is a tad unwelcome. I’m not that keen on rubber glove noises (other ASMR listeners seem to be) and I don’t personally get any joy from hair-related noises (again, others do seem to get ASMR “triggers” from this). There are noises from equipment, from opening packaging, from the participants moving around, and the rustling of clothing. There is humour (one of the participants starts to drift off). There are loud tapping noises when the chest is percussed. Some of those maybe just what some ASMR devotees are looking for in a video.
I do like the voices however, and I can certainly see that if the focus of this blog was professional ASMR artists then this would be one ASMR channel I would come back to again.
One of the disadvantages of working for this long on blog postings is that you cannot tell where you have effectively written the same subject twice. I have had some near misses already and a few discarded articles where it just got too close. There is no trail for me to verify that that video has been covered. I rely on a file listing already published items. I’ve found that reliance on memory is not that bright a move.
I appeal to your observation skills therefore. If you do spot that I am covering the same video over and over (and there seems no logical reason why I would do so) do point it out. At the very least, I can pull the video from the playlist as I am sure it is annoying to have the same video play more than once as you are trying to sleep. I suspect with the playlist growing every week that it might take me a while to spot duplicates.
My main weeding criteria are based around noises I find irritating whilst trying to sleep, so I may never weed out duplicates. (I tend to play a randomised order using the YouTube shuffle function).
As at today’s date, I also find that YouTube has pulled twenty videos from the main Procrastination Pen playlist so some duplication is obviously self-healing. One channel disappears with all of its videos, another channel starts up, often with many of the same videos. Many of the channels list the same videos sometimes with minor tweaks – a different start image here, a different title there. Just enough to confuse the unwary.
I’ve written duplicate articles (same videos written at different times and often with quite different commentary) at least twice already, but in each case, I spotted it and removed the articles before publication.
Today’s video comes from a channel I cannot remember seeing before and so I think we are on safe ground (elderly memory permitting).
Health Assessment – Midterm check offs
It is very brief at just shy of four- and three-quarter minutes. The health professional is Patrick (a nurse) and Patrick has a lovely quiet voice – almost too quiet, the microphone seems to be struggling with volume a little here. His “patient” is not introduced. Patrick is not slow in his approach sadly; he seems very much on the hurry up. Perhaps these assessments require something in the way of time efficiency.
However, given how great his voice is and the very muted background noise I think this one is a good video for us.
The notes are informative: “10 Jul 2013
Demonstration of the Midterm check off used at Palm Beach Atlantic University School of Nursing. Covers skin, respiratory, cardiovascular, and abdomen.
http://www.patheyman.com/nursing/heal…”
The URL leads here which has links out to other relevant videos.
Palm beach of course has its own YouTube channel with thirty-four videos which might be worth a view on another occasion.
There are a few equipment noises as the “patient” changes position. There is a very loud conclusion which I’d love to cut off altogether, but I am currently unclear how.
The channel is Patrick Heyman Zhuravel with one hundred and four videos and 8.6K subscribers – so a fair amount to get through.
I suggest that in order to limit the videos covered by this one blog post, we go back to that URL and examine the videos therein. There is the video above and two more.
Health Assessment – Final Check Off – Head to Toe
This starts a bit loud and then settles down. It is a bit less than fourteen minutes and descends into laughter quite quickly. All of this does not help in its use for getting some sleep. There are a couple of false starts (which it would be great to eliminate).
However, once Patrick gets into his stride, it is a lot quieter. The angle suffers a bit if you choose to watch instead of listen, as they appear some way from the camera (unlike the first video above).
There are more equipment noises and a certain amount of presenting (presumably to a class off camera).
Health Assessment – Bed Assessment
This is just less than six and a half minutes and heck, the air conditioning has decided to have a starring part in this one. Patrick is a lot louder here.
The camera position is better than video two above but is fighting for focus. Not that I imagine many of you will be watching.
There are some quite loud equipment noises.
These three videos are covered in this playlist
(This is also linked to from the above website.)
The Patrick Zhuravel playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:
I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
Photo by DeepAI
The Procrastination Pen 