Given the furore in the media one would imagine that I’ve abandoned writing altogether and that this is now being written by some variant of AI. There is almost a fevered excitement about these engines of productivity, even amongst those who, from an objective viewpoint, will ultimately be replaced by them.
After all, if an AI ever gets to the stage of producing reliable, readable copy, then what would be the need for bloggers, writers, journalists and so on.
Anyway, I write this blog because I want to write. I did not write the blog to ask something else to do the writing for me. So sadly, you are unlikely to see much in the way of AI-derived content here (although I’m told one should never say never).
This far, the blog is not a business and so the mechanisms involved in writing this are part of the process, not an obstacle on the way to deriving higher amounts of income. Should that change (I’m sure there is an ASMR millionaire out there who wants to pay me huge amounts to write for them) then perhaps ChatGPT (alternative AIs exist) will form a major part of the process and I’ll be on a Seychelles beach. In the more prosaic world, I’ll keep on pressing one key, and then another one to see what emerges and post it up onto the blog in the hope someone would like to read it.
Today’s is another diversion from the norm. I contend it is still ASMR, but it isn’t a video. In fact it is a podcast and it isn’t on YouTube, it is on Greater Good Magazine. A site which the sleepless may wish to attend at intervals as there are occasionally features on managing stress and anxiety. Although, quite often, it focuses on how to be reasonable to one another, which cannot hurt.
But I think that you may find the voice to be worth it.
Ayesha Mattu has a voice like cotton wool and chocolate in a warm room. A really calming quiet backdrop for relaxation. I hope that they do not take this audio down.
It is just over twenty-one minutes. Sadly I can’t add this into any playlist without uploading to YouTube and I do not own the audio.
However, I hope you agree that it is worth just kicking back and listening for a few minutes to Ayesha who is a proper audio find.
You can catch Ayesha on Amazon (she is an author).
Given how great her voice is and that she is in the public eye I thought it worthwhile to search for material (videos) featuring Ayesha on YouTube.
The voice is not quite so amazing as on the above podcast but still good enough for a playlist, I think. Part of the problem is the consistent background music which detracts from the experience for me. It is way off message for this blog, of course, because it does not feature any kind of medical examination.
I think following up with other blog items on Ayesha will be a definite future for this blog. I hope that you enjoy this one.
The Procrastination Pen playlist (which remains the same as last week) is found here:
I listen to that playlist most nights and I have removed some videos that no longer seem as excellent as when first reviewed. 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 the occasional loud clang from medical equipment.
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.
Habitually I am reviewing inadvertent ASMR videos i.e. those videos made for one purpose (usually medical examinations) but which are relaxing enough to produce ASMR effects in those lucky enough to have them.
Recently though I seem to have meandered more into the world of ASMR YouTube channels. It will not be a permanent move however. My intention is to get right back to genuine medical videos.
Today’s channel is “ASMR Sandwich Breath”, as mentioned before “sandwich breath” is a bit of an insider ASMR joke. People either know of the sandwich breath video or they do not. Afficionados of ASMR videos are expected to understand the inside jokes. (I only get a few of them as there are a great many such videos).
Today’s blog article is about this video:
Physical Medical Exam Unintentional ASMR
The video starts with the title “PE for TOPE Student Demonstration”.
Ross, here the “patient”, Jessica the medical professional. She states this is the University of Washington and that she is a registered nurse. The comments state that the original of this video has now been deleted. Assuming that we can trust those comments, this is possibly the only place we will encounter this video.
The University of Washington has its own channel of course.
There are seven hundred and fifty-seven videos on that channel and twelve playlists. The upshot of which is that some of those playlists are composed of over one hundred videos.
Jessica’s video does not seem to be there.
UDUB is apparently a shortening for the University of Washington to those in the know.
Ross does not seem the happiest patient or, taking a more positive view, he could be half asleep.
Jessica enunciates the medical terms here in such a clear way, possibly the best I have heard so far.
I also notice a great deal of time taken to explain what is coming next. Perhaps this thoroughness explains why the video is in excess of thirty-four minutes.
This is very quiet. Jessica at intervals is on a par with Vicky Scott which is quite a statement. The result is a video which is a good Procrastination Pen playlist candidate.
The video concludes with a healthy amount of information Jessica Burke-Lazarus BSN, RN Midwifery-DNP student was the medical professional Jessica it turns out graduated in 2013 and now works in Seattle.
The “patient” was Rosson Wiebe PMHNP-DNP Student Ross also graduated in 2013 and went on to work in Florida.
It also tells us that it was filmed December 9 2011 in the Center for Excellence I Nursing Education at the University of Washington.
ASMR Sandwich Breath has forty-eight videos as at today’s date. That is a fair-few videos to attempt to motor through. A quick scan of them reveals some old favourites which we have covered before.
The usual approach is to reduce the number to be covered by selecting a suitable playlist from the channel.
There are five playlists on here but some of them are a little on the long side.
As with the above video, I will cover this one in a future review of the video in its proper home.
Gastrointestinal Exam Unintentional ASMR
We’ve covered Mark Pepin and Corey Duke before so I won’t repeat it here.
Only one video made it to the Procrastination Playlist this time so there will be no Jessica Burke-Lazarus playlist on the Procrastination Pen. (Great though this video proved to be).
The Procrastination Pen playlist (which is no-doubt what you have all been reading this in order to locate) is found here:
I have been listening to that playlist most nights and some of the videos that were members have now been removed. If any of your favourites are missing from that main playlist you can find them here in the archive list:
Quite often the videos getting removed have no faults other than occasional intrusive noises. The playlist of items that are great for ASMR (but contain an age verification function), usually a great way to interrupt your listening in the middle of the night, is here:
I hope that you find the playlists restful and that you get a good night’s sleep.
Hope to see you again back here for the next blog article.
If you liked this blog item why not subscribe to this blog.
Recently, I am finding some variability around the efficacy of using just the ASMR videos to get some sleep. Some nights very effective, some nights a distraction, and some nights just not effective at all.
On such nights, I tend to lie on the sofa and tune into the dreariness that is late night television (dreariness is probably advisable as really compelling television is only going to keep you awake for longer).
However, there are other things to try, for example, there are free online meditation resources. Some people I am told find the discipline of meditation really diverting. I have until recently found focusing on meditation to be one more thing I do not want to do when I am tired and I want to sleep.
However, never say never, I recently have received a gift subscription to Calm and I am giving some of the meditations a try. So far without positive outcome, but you never know.
Meantime I am back to finding more ASMR videos. I am trying to stay ahead as I notice that some of my blog posts already have blank spaces where videos used to be. Videos are obviously being taken down.
Previously, we have dealt with the Sterling Freeman part of this partnership.
Now we have Olivia Rabone and, as we saw in that previous blog post, this looks like it is a video designed as part of an assessment.
Head-to-toe physical assessment-Olivia Rabone and Sterling Freeman
As we have heard before, the ever-present air conditioning to provide an audio background for us. In this, Sterling Freeman is the “patient”.
Olivia Rabone attended Howard College Texas until 2022
Howard College has (as we’ve come to expect) has its own channel.
However, the badge on the shoulder of Sterling does not look anything like that on the Howard College Channel.
Sterling also studied at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.
This college also has a YouTube channel. However, the badge is not like that on the uniform.
Sterling early in the video confirms that they are both at Howard College, Big Spring Texas. (Perhaps the college has subsequently changed its branding).
We also get the confirmation that this is 2019, which was very likely Sterling’s final year there (although Olivia appears to have attended for longer than that).
I always find it amusing that in these videos the students provide privacy by drawing an invisible curtain. We have seen this before of course.
I’ve seen a few applications of a blood pressure cuff in these videos. Given how far Olivia has to wrap that cuff around Sterling’s arm I think it might be bit on the large side.
The assessment proceeds at the pace of an express train. This makes me wonder if trainee health professionals are under the cosh to get things accomplished in the smallest amount of time possible.
Olivia seems to be reciting from a mental script as the empathy quotient in this video is not obviously high.
Against that, the tone is really pleasant; it is not excessively loud. It makes a good Procrastination Pen playlist candidate.
The channel, unsurprisingly, is called Olivia Rabone. It has eight videos on it, which is a number I think I can cover here without over stretching your attention. (The Procrastination Pen playlist is at the end of this article if you want to skip to that point, simply scroll down to find it).
Although Olivia hosts this one on her channel the medical professional here is Sunny and the “patient” is Olivia.
Sunny has her own channel which might be worthy of a future review.
Judging by Sunny’s shoulder badge (which is the same as Sterling’s in the previous video) this is also filmed at Howard College.
We have the constant drone of force-driven air to keep the ears entertained. In this case the medical professional’s volume is not aligned with this background noise. It is quite difficult to hear what Sunny is actually saying. This might be ok if the air conditioning noise was more restful but I do not find that it is.
The camera appears to be a huge distance from the two participants. This is unusual for videos of this type. However, given we are mainly here for the listening experience I cannot judge this video solely on that basis.
Sunny at intervals seems to be distracted. Potentially she is trying to follow some standard assessment checklist.
This does make it a little difficult to relax into the experience (and fall asleep to it for example).
Overall, I think the sound quality discounts this video from the Procrastination Pen playlist.
This continues in the vein of the last video, with a high background noise in relation to the main spoken audio track.
Stacy Kuykendall is a remarkably common name in Texas it turns out (including one woman whose children were killed). The upshot of which is that I have been unable to determine if Stacy has a YouTube channel.
To be honest given this is set up exactly like the last one it didn’t stand a chance from the outset so I will not be adding it to the Procrastination Pen playlist.
The background noise on this is really intrusive, including what sounds like a whole flock of rock doves trying to outcompete one another.
There are a number of non-medical and non-ASMR comments with this video. But none of these have any interest to us.
There is the noise of overflying planes. At one point Olivia starts laughing, which given the challenges involved in filming here, is probably unsurprising.
If you’re watching as well as listening, there are also some strange artefacts coming from sunlight across the lens.
As before, there are occasional gaps as Olivia consults a checklist so it is a little staccato in approach.
It just isn’t there in terms of ASMR, so it will not be into the Procrastination Pen playlist.
CN’s & Musculoskeletal-Olivia Rabone and Sterling Freeman
Here we are straight back to the partnership that we started this blog item with. Although the partnership is the same, it appears that someone stuck the microphone actually inside the air conditioning outlet.
The audio track is nearly completely occluded by the constant whirr that is going on.
It is a shame because in all other respects this is the equal of the video that we started with in this article, but I don’t think it can really go through to the Procrastination Pen playlist.
Respiratory & Cardiac assessment-Olivia Rabone and Sterling Freeman
Yet again the background noise is high. However, I think this is just acceptable. It is very calm and considerably more methodical than some others featured in this blog post. However, it may well suffer an early weeding if it proves to be distracting on subsequent review.
A louder vocal track would have compensated for the air conditioning. Perhaps YouTube videos of the future will incorporate an air conditioning filter designed to eliminate all that excess noise.
HEENT assessment-Olivia Rabone and Sterling Freeman
This seems to start a bit louder, but so does the air conditioning. I could probably provide a good service to listeners if I could somehow process all the sound tracks to eliminate background noise. Sadly, however I am no sound engineer.
There are relatively few comments but just shy of seven and a half thousand views, which sounds remarkable.
To be honest, I’m not certain it is a great Procrastination Pen playlist candidate.
NG tube/EN/PN discussion
This is so much quieter than the others which must be down to the change of venue. This is filmed inside someone’s house. The start of the video though is not restful. It is almost in the format of a lecture with the delivery a tad hesitant.
Someone off camera starts coughing and Olivia is merely reading from a script.
This one isn’t for the Procrastination Pen playlist either.
The Olivia Rabone playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The Procrastination Pen playlist (which is no-doubt what you have all been reading this in order to locate) is found here:
I have been listening to that playlist most nights and some of the videos that were members have now been removed. If any of your favourites are missing from that main playlist you can find them here in the archive list:
Quite often the videos getting removed have no faults other than occasional intrusive noises.
The playlist of items that are great for ASMR (but contain an age verification function), usually a great way to interrupt your listening in the middle of the night, is here:
I hope that you find the playlists restful and that you get a good night’s sleep.
Hope to see you again back here for the next blog article.
If you liked this blog item why not subscribe to this blog.
We came across Michael Koller in a previous blog post.
At the time I pointed out that he had a page dedicated to videos i.e. this one.
So far I have not tried reviewing videos which have been linked to from a web page. This is a venture into the unknown. It is not possible to add them into a playlist so this entire blog post will buck the trend of all previous blog posts on ASMR and ASMR-related videos.
The organisation of the page is impeccable, a series of links in a table. I’d guess that they are designed for education purposes.
The first video is:
Head to Toe: Male; Dr Michael Koller
There is a link to the main video entitled “Complete Video”. The video has also been divided into four parts (I’m not sure what the point of that is).
There is also a link called “Text”, this turns out to be a fourteen-page checklist. Students have a much greater memory than I have if they can memorise and utilise all of that.
The quality doesn’t improve just because they are a component of the main video above. These are also quite loud for what we want.
If the tone was a bit quieter, then these might have been ideal.
I was considering asking Dr Michael Koller if he would permit me to upload the videos to YouTube so that they could be enjoyed in the normal way. However sadly he has died so I am unable to do that. As such I cannot upload them to YouTube and therefore, I cannot add them to the Procrastination Pen playlist.
I very much suspect that this is a lost branch of a website which will one day be rediscovered by the Stritch school of medicine and taken down.
For that reason, if you want to see the videos, now is probably the time to do that.
Head to Toe: Female; Dr Michael Koller
For these the only videos available are the Part1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 videos rather than a complete video.
Parts 1, 2 and 3 are secured by a Stritch logon leaving only part 4 for us to see. There is no associated text file as there is for the Head-to-Toe Male video. The reason is not obvious.
This video is much better than any of the Head-to-Toe Male videos in that it is substantially quieter. If this video was on YouTube, it would be in the playlist. I suspect that one cannot just take other people’s videos and upload them to YouTube so I’m sorry for ASMR video fans out there who would like this to be in the Procrastination Pen playlist.
In contrast to the above this video does not come in parts -only the complete video is available. In addition, the above video does not have a “Text” link but for this video a link to the text file is provided.
The text file is four pages long and is again a checklist to go with the video.
At least the music used to start this is gentle, a bit of classic guitar music. Dr Koller introduces Nancy Grecko (assuming that is how you spell that).
The sound for the video is not great – a constant background noise. It is as if the sound track had been lifted from an ancient cassette tape. We have heard background noise like this before.
Given the track is not on YouTube it will not be in a playlist, however I may have considered it if it had been.
I have made an email request to a general contact address at Stritch to see if permission will be granted for me to upload these videos to YouTube. Assuming permission is granted I will upload the videos to my channel in the future and create a playlist as I would normally do. If no such list appears you can assume no such permission was given.
At intervals there are brief snatches of narration which do not have the background noise and this is distracting in that the noise is only emphasised as a consequence.
Thorax; Dr Michael Koller
There is an associated text file, which is again a four-page checklist. There is a bit of a theme developing.
The complete video has funky start music (thanks but no thanks). The background noise is still there but just less pronounced than with the “Head and Neck” Video.
Dr Koller refers to this being a composite video composed of videos that are found elsewhere – my apologies if you notice some overlap (I have not done so).
This is a reasonable video. It is not truly quiet, but it could be said to be quite calm and methodical, not as good as Dr James Gill however.
Part way through, though, Dr Koller starts whacking a tambour which cannot be said to be properly restful.
The outro indicates the “patient” was Thad, assuming that is how you spell that.
A review of the “part” videos indicates that, as expected, they replicate the content of the complete video.
Pulmonary; Dr Michael Koller
Having established with reasonable assurance what the expected behaviour is i.e., the “part” videos are just bits of the complete video, I’m going to limit myself to reviewing the complete video in each case.
We are back to the classical guitar music approach to video introductions although it seems to be a bit louder than before, the inter-video volume problem reasserting itself
Dr Koller and Thad appear again. (Apologies to Thad if I am misspelling your name, happy to correct this if you let me know).
The sound is strange like there is a slight metallic tone to the voice (as if the microphone was inside a metal box). Thankfully we lack that awful background noise in this video though.
There is a set of breathing sounds on the track but (to me) these were not excessively loud and did not distract from the track in anyway. Your mileage may vary.
Again, we see the definition of egophony which we have seen before.
Heart; Dr Michael Koller
The obligatory text file (which I think we can assume now is a checklist) and the complete video supplemented with 2 “part” videos.
The complete video starts with the classical guitar music again (a bit loud this time). This video still features Dr Koller and Thad. Again, we have a slightly metallic edge to the sound.
This is very much of the quality of the previous video.
Towards the end there are various heart beat sounds but I did not find then distracting. You may have a different reaction.
Abdomen; Dr Michael Koller
This video begins with far-too-loud start music, no restful guitar music this time. It has the metallic sounding vocal track, Dr Koller and Thad as we have heard in previous videos. This really needs a better microphone, I think. If it wasn’t for this aggravating metallic echo I think this would have been quite a good video.
This is the last Dr Michael Koller video on the site. However, there are a lot more videos with other participants.
I’ll return here in a future blog post to review the others assuming the page stays up.
Sadly, I have not created a playlist this time (I may get permission to create one in the future from Stritch perhaps).
The overall playlist of videos covered so far in this blog is here:
The archive playlist (videos which were in the overall playlist but after repeated playings it turns out that was a mistake) is here:
The playlist of items that are great for ASMR (but contain an age verification function) – usually a great way to interrupt your listening in the middle of the night is here:
I hope that you find them restful
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If you’ve wandered into the blog via a search engine then you may not have read any other articles in this series. A brief background to explain what this blog is about. The plan is to review videos for their potential for ASMR or at the very least the ability to soothe you off to sleep.
The main output is an ever-growing playlist and my unwritten contract is that this will always appear at the end of each article. The assumption is that if you just want to hear the playlist you can scroll completely through the article and take up the link at the end.
Today’s video comes from a channel that we have seen before.
The channel is MDforAll, it contains no playlists. I use playlists habitually for filtering down content (i.e., limiting the number of videos covered in any one blog post). The channel also has a large number of videos, at today’s date sixty-seven videos in fact.
In the previous blog article I decided to adopt the mechanism of featuring only those videos which all contained the same medical professional and patient together in each one. On that occasion it resulted in nine videos which was a more workable number for you to read about in that one post.
This is therefore a sensible mechanism for arriving at a sensible length blog post on this occasion as well.
A scan through the videos on this channel indicates that a number of them are way too loud for our purposes. They are designed as instruction videos and the participating medical professionals are obviously trying to project themselves. Fair enough, the videos were not designed for the purpose to which we are putting them.
Eye, Ear, Nose, & Throat Examination
In contrast this video is a nice fit. The person presenting (unnamed) is quiet throughout. The patient has little to say. The video quality isn’t exactly HD but, given we’re using it to sleep, then it is probably of little consequence. The sound is pretty good but of course accompanied by air conditioning noise. This is something we expect by now.
The video has notes but they do not tell us very much we don’t already know: “Physical Examination of The Eyes, Ears, Nose, And Throat.”
The comments reveal that other people have happened across this video for ASMR purposes, so we are certainly not the first here.
Having selected this medical professional, the number of videos featuring this person (on this channel) is now limited, to just three videos in fact.
Neck & Cardiac Examination
This continues in the same vein as the previous video. It is equally quiet and the background noise (which we are probably getting used to by now) is limited to air conditioning noises.
One of the comments indicates that this is from MSU CHM. Assuming this is accurate, this refers to Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. This has a channel on YouTube with forty-five videos in it. This channel might be worthy of future review.
At least the medical professional asks the “patient” to hold his breath rather than “stop breathing” which we have seen before this. As I commented previously slavish obedience to this instruction (if it were possible) could have very final consequences.
The heart sounds at one point in the video might prove to be a little distracting. Not least, that I think my heart beats a bit faster than this guy and yours might as well.
On balance though, I think this video is worthy of inclusion in The Procrastination Pen playlist.
Lymph Nodes & Thyroid Examination
This video is slightly louder at the start but that still does not exclude it from the Procrastination Pen playlist. The notes tell us nothing we didn’t know: “Examination of the lymph nodes”. But at least there are notes. The video fades out even as the medical professional is talking. This makes me think there was/is a longer version of this video out there somewhere.
Again, there is no identity for the medical professional listed so there is no way to check where this originated. For all we know there could be more of these. Unless a random YouTube search turns them up though, I’m afraid that this is it.
These videos have been consistent. They all belong in The Procrastination Pen playlist.
These are the only ones on the channel that feature this medical professional and this patient. From the review, I think this channel might be getting mined-out for ASMR related content but I may review it one more time to be certain.
The playlist for MDForAll (On The Procrastination Pen channel) is here:
The playlist which contains every video reviewed so far on the blog is here: (less any that have subsequently been weeded)
The playlist of videos that initially made the above playlist but after much review it was determined they didn’t really make the grade is here:
(I’ve kept them in that list in case you still find them helpful)
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop listening to log on, this interrupts the flow. You may not find this to be the case in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
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Following on from the previous blog post, there were a number of videos that I had not had the time to review in that article. I did promise (ish) that we might revisit the videos to see if any might be potential ASMR-generating or at the least restful and possibly sleep-inducing.
There remains a huge great list of videos still to review and so one extra post on this subject just isn’t going to cover it. Since then, I’ve also found that shorter posts seem to be more appreciated than longer ones such that it isn’t a fantastic idea to just plough on and subject you to page after page of video review.
In any case I suspect the driver for attending this blog at all is the output, which in this case is the playlist. In which case, stroll straight to the end where you will find it in all its splendidness.
So we return to ASMR Exams (the channel on YouTube).
By my back-of-the-envelope calculations, I think we had twenty videos which were neither reviewed nor added to any playlist (assuming they were any good ASMR-wise). I think five will do for this post, assuming that we find even one in those five worthy of addition to The Procrastination Pen playlist.
Let’s dive straight in:
Abdomen Exam (ASMR)
The professional’s voice is a little high-pitched to be truly restful. But at least it is quiet. A number of commentators dismiss this one as about as ASMR-y (potential official term) as a smack in the face with a wet cloth. However, the fact that the professional is a bit dithery does not (to me) discount this video. Although I suspect that the professional here may have struggled with whichever assessment, they were involved in.
At just shy of twenty-six minutes this is thorough indeed (although not excessively long in terms of videos that we have already seen on the blog).
The embroidery near to the left shoulder on the uniform of the medical professional states that the person is Maureen Bolmgren RN. In which case, given this is a quite tentative medical assessment this could have been when Maureen attended Middle Georgia State University. There is a channel for Middle Georgia State University with One Hundred and Four videos at the time I’m looking at it. This might be worthy of a future review.
Given a cuckoo clock kicks in at 18:24, I would guess that the examination is occurring in a domestic setting and so this is also indicative of a student assessment rather than a professional one. Incidentally that cuckoo clock is not at all restful. However, I will give the video the benefit of the doubt for the moment. It may get weeded out to the Procrastination Pen Archive at some future point.
If you search YouTube for Maureen Bolmgren you find this:
on a channel called MGA Nursing. This channel has forty-three videos and seems worthy of a future review.
Physical Assessment (ASMR)
Marina Bolshinsky introduces herself as the medical professional at the beginning.
Marina has a channel as well but it does not contain this video. The patient is Amber Rosenthal who it turns out is also a medical professional.
So this could well be an assessment video of the kind that we have seen before.
At 38:39 the video is a tad long and for me a tad loud. Other commentators have reflected the same.
We know the president is Barack Obama so it was filmed between 2009 and 2017. It appears that Amber and Marina would have been at Long Island University doing a Master’s degree at that time. Long Island University also has a channel which might be worthy of a future review.
This video also gets a bit dithery at intervals also a bit wordy with lots of nervous over-talking.
All told, this is not a great ASMR video and I won’t be adding it to The Procrastination Pen playlist.
Physical Assessment (ASMR)
There’s a helpful intro which states “Physical Assessment Head to Toe Examination Jamee Boutilier”. The “patient” is introduced as Jana. The university is also introduced but I can’t catch it. However, the shoulder badge reveals it to be Cape Breton University. which as we expect also has a YouTube channel (I might even review it at some point).
The video is chopped up into sections which when half asleep I doubt you will notice.
In fact, it isn’t startling in terms of ASMR but still worthy of The Procrastination Pen playlist I think. Future weeding might dispatch it, we’ll see how it settles in.
Physical Assessment (ASMR)
The health professional is Amy and the “patient” Tara (I think). They are in Missouri and it looks like a standard assessment video of the type we have covered before.
They have a YouTube channel (as you would expect) with three hundred and ninety-six videos at the time I am looking at it.
Physical Assessment (ASMR)
Reading the comments on YouTube regularly as I do, I get the feeling that some people add one because they feel they have to, they don’t contribute anything worthwhile.
The medical professional is Kelly Lomack (I’m guessing the spelling again). She kindly tells us that she is a paediatric nurse at the University of Texas El Paso. The patient is Regan.
As expected UTEP has its own channel, Seven Hundred and Sixteen videos as at the time I’m looking at it – it’s a possible for a future review.
Kelly also has her own channel which may also be suitable for a future review.
It is considerably quieter than the previous one, thankfully. The patient appears to be as delighted at the activity as if she had a sack of coal for Christmas rather than the Ferrari she’d been dreaming of.
Right up to the point that she has to stand on one leg with her eyes closed, whereupon she loses balance. I have never seen this test before and it looks a tough one. At least it raised smiles all round.
This one belongs in the Procrastination Pen playlist.
If you’ve been following the blog for a while, I am hopeful that you have quite a lot of material to make your night hours more restful.
I’m still continuing with the medical examination theme because it appears to have been an effective one. However, I realise that having a playlist of ASMR videos that stays focused on the same subject might be dull, so I am open to new ideas. Indeed, I may explore a few side avenues independently.
If you’re new to the blog well, welcome. The idea is that I keep finding new videos that may have some ASMR effects. So far, predominantly videos which were not created for their ASMR effects but were devised for another purpose. This has mostly been videos covering some variety of medical examination.
These unintentional ASMR videos may produce ASMR effects (assuming you are a person who is lucky enough to feel such effects) or they may just be restful enough to gentle you off to sleep. Either way I hope that they are of use to you and I am open to suggestions if there is other material which you have found effective.
Today we are exploring more material in terms of eye examination. We have covered this area before with Moran Core where we encountered Megan, who had a very good ASMR voice (but got somewhat limited air time).
Today’s video is this one:
HEINE Direct Ophthalmoscopy — How to perform Ophthalmoscopy
This is very different in that it is an out-and-out instruction video. It is distinguished for our purposes in that the narrator has an excellent voice. It is a very calming voice and unlike material we have recently seen it is not afflicted by horrendous background noise.
This strikes me as a great one to keep in the playlist for this blog (if you want to see that playlist scroll to the end of this article).
As is usual for articles in this blog, when I find one video which has potential ASMR effects I take a chance to explore the channel in which it is found.
Here we have the channel HEINE Optotechnik. This channel has one hundred and twelve videos as at the date I’m looking at it. Even with superman fingers I do not think I will be doing a blog post on that many videos.
The standard approach I have adopted in these circumstances is to look for a playlist. I have assumed up to ten videos is enough without you losing the will to live.
There are twenty playlists in this channel with contents ranging from four to seventeen videos.
Our video (above) appears in a playlist entitled How-To: Opthalmology (indeed, it is the last video in that playlist).
The other two are:
HEINE Indirect Ophthalmoscopy — The Binocular Indirect Ophthalmoscope (Part 1)
This has exactly the same narrator as our first video. Looking at the comments it appears that there are none at all from the ASMR community (well they have not made themselves known in any case). It is possibly not a popular category with them.
I think however that this is a relaxing video – not a Dr James Gill standard but good enough for the Procrastination Pen playlist.
The notes inform us that the narrator is a Mr Brian Little, sadly that is not a rare enough name for me to determine whether he has narrated any other material which might be of interest to us.
The next (and last from this playlist) video is this:
HEINE Indirect Ophthalmoscopy — The Binocular Indirect Ophthalmoscope (Part 2)
There are over four thousand subscribers, so this is no passing fancy of a channel. It is very likely a channel to which I will return in future blog items.
This is unusual for an item on this blog, in that all of the videos reviewed deserve membership in the Procrastination Pen playlist of ASMR videos.
The overall playlist of videos covered so far in this blog is here:
The archive playlist (videos which were in the overall playlist but after repeated playings it turns out that was a mistake) is here:
The playlist of items that are great for ASMR (but contain an age verification function) – usually a great way to interrupt your listening in the middle of the night is here:
I hope that you find them restful
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Continuing in our search for medical videos which may induce ASMR in some listeners (or at the very least induce enough relaxation to see you napping) we have today’s video:
Hip Extension and Hip Abduction MMT
This one is from the channel Dominican College which has just seven hundred and three subscribers as at today’s date (this seems a little low for a college). There are one hundred and ninety-four videos at the time I’m looking at it. This is a tad too many for any single blog post. There are seven playlists but many of these have a high number of videos in them. So in this case using playlists to narrow the field may not be effective. This is thirty-eighth in a thirty-nine video playlist “PT541 Basics of PT (2022)”
I do not think that we will be covering thirty-nine videos in any single blog post even though some of them are quite short.
Today’s video is obviously filmed in a classroom setting, there is a general hubbub happening as for people chatting in the background. The sound is quite muted and the background noise is prevalent (I’d guess air conditioning again). It ends rather abruptly as well which might be off-putting.
It is marginal in terms of the purpose that we wish to put it to (engendering restfulness). This is no Hollie Berry or Vicki Scott. I’ll let it sneak into the Procrastination Pen playlist but it might be subject to future weeding.
The channel tells me very little about the college itself – merely that the channel was established in 2018.
Checking for Dominican College online I find that it has been rebranded to Dominican University now. I think I’ve found the correct one as it offers a PT programme (which is the subject of the playlist).
It is located in New York and has an interesting history.
Whilst we’re in the playlist let’s see if there are any others worthy of examination.
Given the large number of videos in this playlist I think we’ll need to arbitrarily cut the number. I’m going to choose five and then revisit on another occasion.
Gross UE ROM Screen
I wonder if the small number of subscribers is because it was posted for a specific reason, say a class during a time of Covid or something similar.
The tutor is Justine Ward. Sadly there is no channel for Justine, there might have been a chance to find something with better audio quality.
The sound quality is no better on this video and given it is less than three minutes it isn’t worth adding to The Procrastination Pen playlist.
Assessment of knee flexion end feel
A short video at just over a minute. Sadly the sound quality does not improve, the teaching professional really needs a lapel mic. Given it is so short, again, I don’t see the point in adding it to The Procrastination Pen playlist (it might have sneaked in had the sound quality been better).
The theme of these videos is they all seem to end abruptly which is even less great given it gives the opportunity for a loud YouTube advert to kick in immediately afterwards.
UE strength screen
This is two minutes long and the sound quality is not great. There is however no classroom banter in this one which helps. Someone does clear his throat part way through (I assume the person holding the camera).
There is a repeat of the “don’t let me move you” phrase we’ve encountered before. Again, I don’t think this will make it to The Procrastination Pen playlist.
Assessing ankle DF and elbow ext end feel
This is very short at just over one and a half minutes and the noise quality is not the greatest here. It’s noisy to begin with, slightly better as it settles down later on.
It’s also unnerving in places. I’m sure if some of the manipulations were tried on my elbow for example, I’d be nursing it for a long time afterwards.
It doesn’t belong in The Procrastination Pen playlist.
There is only one candidate video this time. As a consequence I will not create a playlist on The Procrastination Pen for Dominican College.
However, the playlist for all videos covered on The Procrastination Pen so far is here:
I recommend you view it on YouTube (rather than on this blog) then you will be able to use the shuffle function so that the videos play in a random order.
The archive playlist of videos that were in the above playlist but found after repeated review not to make the grade, is here:
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 trying to relax in order to log on, this interrupts the listening experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article why not follow this blog.
I hope you find the playlist relaxing, any feedback is welcome.
It came to me today that this series has been going on so long that I should provide an ongoing introduction to these articles, so that any newcomers will know what is happening. This needs to be brief enough though, so that the stalwart reader doesn’t get bored.
The aim of this particular blog series is to explore the use of ASMR videos for sleep. Specifically, to be helpful in the getting off to sleep and getting back to sleep when you awake in the middle of the night.
I’m assuming you have a device that can attach to the Internet somewhere near to your bed. On this device that you can open YouTube, browse to The Procrastination Pen playlist, click on shuffle, lie back and listen to the rest in peace. (This might require some kind of sleep-friendly headphones or similar).
My focus so far has mainly been on ASMR videos which have ASMR effects despite being designed for something else (most commonly medical exams so far). These are so-called “unintentional ASMR” videos. There are quite a number of these so I doubt we are going to run out of these any time soon. However, I do occasionally stray into the professional ASMR arena and select one of those videos that appeals.
Each article reviews a video or videos that came up on YouTube. These frequently are found through recommendation by YouTube. I then determine whether the ongoing playlist needs to be enhanced by addition of the reviewed video or that the video needs to be rejected. (In which case the video will still be clickable from the article itself – if you decide you rather like it).
You are free to recommend videos that you feel fit the bill or to disagree with my choices (I may even change the playlist in response to contributions).
At intervals, I review the playlist and pull out the less-successful videos into an archive list of those that seemed to make the grade but over time have not proven to be quite so restful. I use the Procrastination Pen playlist myself so I have a reasonably constant interaction with it.
Today’s video appears to have once been on YouTube on a different channel but was taken down for some reason. The comments indicate that it is a very welcome restoration.
The channel is ASMR Archivist and the notes state that its mission is “an archive for lost AMSR videos” (I assume that’s ASMR). This seems like the kind of place that we could enjoy.
That said, on exploring ASMR Archivist we find just one video (today’s video) and zero playlists.
So today’s article is going to feature just the one video.
Cate Darnell – Head to Toe Assessment
It is so popular that we find that it has an entry in the Internet Archive.
This indicates that it was deleted in 2020, but sadly not where it was deleted from – i.e. where its original home was.
As a consequence of being so popular we find that a similar thing has happened to this video as for the Vicki Scott video covered previously That is, the video is now posted in several places on YouTube. For example here:
On a channel called Sleep ASMR (which seems appropriate)
Our video is just shy of twenty-six minutes long so not the longest we’ve seen. It seems to start with “Miss Spagboll” (I’m sure I heard that incorrectly).
The badge on the patient is just not discernible enough to make it out however it could be Honors College which resolves as The University of Alabama in Huntsville. This has a channel UAH Admissions. This channel has forty-three videos and seven playlists but it appears this is all about marketing the university rather than medical examinations.
Possibly the Cate Darnell video once came from a Cate Darnell channel which has now gone.
Our video looks like an assessment video for a nursing university. We’ve seen these before of course. There is the normal level of background noise, air conditioning again, I think.
Cate has a brilliant accent and talks very quietly, just the sort of thing we are looking for in a video.
As usual the odd definition may help (well they do me – as I have no medical background) in this case bruit is an abnormal sound generated by a turbulent flow of blood.
I have no idea what Cate did next but for our purposes it is a shame that she did not produce a whole wealth of videos à la Dr James Gill.
The comments as usual are very helpful, one points out that details of Cate are online and that the video is over a decade old.
As many commentators state this is an excellent ASMR video. Definitely one for the playlist.
Sadly there will be no playlist for ASMR Archivist on the Procrastination Pen (there is only one video)
However, the overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:
(and now it includes the Cate Darnell video).
The archive playlist of videos that were in the above playlist but found after repeated review not to make the grade, is here:
I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop my listening experience to log on, this interrupts the listening experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article why not follow this blog.
In writing this it is all too easy to assume that you have made the journey thus far with me and have some idea what this blog is for. However, it is to be hoped that people are meandering into the blog, from some search engine or other, all the time. If you have done that, this article may be your point of entry.
If so welcome.
I hope that those who have been reading (and subscribing) for a period of time will have patience whilst I tell you what you’re looking at.
The purpose is to generate a playlist – simply that. A great long playlist of videos from YouTube. Videos which, after careful listening and review have been found good for ASMR (or at the very least to be restful and relaxing, sufficient to nestle a person off to sleep when they have a stressful day to come and desperately need the rest).
The writing is actually the review process and I assume that a lot of people will just scroll to the end of the article and pick up the playlist.
Some people may take an interest in the review and take a moment to read and reflect on it or to vehemently disagree and to leave comments.
At intervals I will further edit the playlist to try to ensure that only the more restful videos are included.
This time we are starting with a video on a much more official sounding channel than some of our recent dalliances have been. No professional ASMR curation here.
The Exam for Shoulder Pain – Stanford Medicine 25
A rather nice piece of introductory music this time, although what it will sound like once you’ve heard it a few dozen times in the dead of night and you’re tired, irritable and have an important meeting in the morning, I’m afraid I can’t predict.
The medical professional this time is properly announced in the video Dr. Brinda Christopher Sports Medicine Physician FFSEM MRCP BSc MBBS. A rather dazzling array of qualifications there. The patient isn’t introduced.
But how does her voice sound and is the video very relaxing is what we have come to find out (well I have and I assume you have too as you’re reading this).
Certainly, Brinda has a very quiet voice, sufficiently quiet that the background aircon is quite apparent in this video.
The comments are quite enlightening with some comments from people seeking instruction for exams and some from those coming to this channel for ASMR videos. (I am not the first to find this video for ASMR purposes).
Although it is quiet it isn’t tops for ASMR with me. It is worthy of a review though and probably worthy of the Procrastination Pen playlist. (It might fall victim to a subsequent weeding, we’ll see).
The channel is Stanford Medicine 25. There are two hundred and forty-four subscribers at the time I’m looking at it. There are eighty-five videos as at today’s date and thirteen playlists. This video occurs in a playlist called Stanford Medicine 25: Musculoskeletal Exam.
This playlist consists of eight videos of which the above one is the very last in the set. Dr Christopher only features in three (of which the above is one).
The other two featuring Dr Christopher are:
The Exam for Knee Pain – Stanford Medicine 25
As usual with institutional videos (see the ones from Warwick) these are of a brand i.e. the same introductory images and the same image bottom right-hand side. (This last presumably in an attempt to preserve copyright of the entire video).
You might be intrigued (as I was) by the term crepitus, which is a noise coming from the joints on movement.
I’m not sure what the “patient” is called here, I thought that Brinda thanked “Chad” but it might just be my ears.
The last video with Dr Christopher in this playlist is:
The Exam for Ankle & Foot Pain – Stanford Medicine 25
In this we establish that the patient here is “Chad” the same patient in all three videos covered in this article. From the accent I would guess Chad is an American person. That’s in keeping with the institution location but is in quite a contrast to the more English accent of Dr Christopher.
These three videos obviously belong together, the same medical professional, the same “patient” the other five in the set (contained in the Musculoskeletal Exam playlist) less so.
Therefore, I think I’ll call this article at an end here and resolve to follow on with the rest of that playlist (and the channel) in future blog items.
The Stanford Medicine playlist on The Procrastination Pen is here:
The overall playlist of items covered so far on The Procrastination Pen 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 subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I dislike these as they expect me to login to verify my age. This interrupts the listening experience in my view. You may be happy with this interruption in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article why not follow this blog.
The Procrastination Pen 