Sleeping With ASMR

By this point in the blogging process, the amount of research in pursuit of possible ASMR videos far exceeds the number of articles that have been produced. One finding has been that medical students produce a great huge amount of video output in connection with their courses. Unfortunately, the majority of that output is just not going to be of much use to us.

Sadly, it appears that students just do not have access to the recording facilities needed to reliably produce a relaxing video. Many of these videos suffer from excessive background noise, strange behind the camera noises, and loud extraneous sounds from the medical equipment that they are using.

It is without much expectation, therefore, that I take a look at today’s video which is this one:

General survey

This features Sandra who initially seems a bit loud for the standard relaxing video. As is usual, there is fake input – sanitising of the hands in this case. The patient appears to be “Avery” (although that is almost certainly a misspelling). The sound is not terrible in terms of one of these videos. But you can tell that the microphone is some distance from the medical professional.

The patient tells us it is 23rd September 2016, Avery also tells us which hospital, although I can’t make out what she says. In any case the surroundings lead me to suspect that this is more domestic than professional medical (flat screen TV on chimney breast, pot plants on a raised piece of furniture, painting on wall behind).

It is quite brief at just over two-and-a-quarter minutes and is marginal in terms of inclusion in the Procrastination Pen playlist.

The channel is MGA Nursing. This has forty-three videos at the time I am looking at it and forty subscribers. The notes against the channel tell me “These are videos for assignments in the course.” This tells me it is for college consumption only, after all, how would anyone else know which course we are talking about.

Middle George State University appears to have a nursing programme at the MGA campus. It is potentially possible this is the course that is being referred to.

They (of course) have a YouTube Channel with one hundred and eleven videos.

From the forty-three videos on the MGA nursing channel there is the usual need to refine down the number such that this does not turn into a huge blog article. Some of the videos include the participant’s names in the title but I notice some do not and yet, by appearance, the same people are participating. Therefore, I’m going to select videos by the apparent participants involved.

I selected the following video thinking that it might also feature Avery, but it turns out not so much.

Peripheral Vascular System

Maureen Bolmgren RN is the medical professional, the “patient” here is Margaret (I can’t hear the surname). We find that she is born 28th January 1996, but the advantage (for this article) is that there appear to be a few videos in which Margaret appears. We should be able to make those the focus of this blog article therefore.

Maureen has a tunic on with Maureen Bolmgren, RN embroidered on it. Maureen attended MGA, graduating in 2017, which fits as the video was posted in 2017.

The setting appears to be domestic as with the previous video in this article.

The strange thing I notice in this video is that Maureen appears to be reading from a pre-prepared script. That’s something I have not seen before.

Maureen seems a little loud initially for a true ASMR video. Margaret has a better voice but of course she gets to have a lot less to say.

Maureen seems quite hesitant, probably unsurprising given this is an assessment video. The advantage for us is that she settles down, becomes a lot calmer and quieter.

Heart and Neck Vessels

From this it is feasible to hear that Margaret is Margaret Taylor. It is otherwise consistent with the last one. Maureen reads from a script again. The sound isn’t as great as a professional video but at least it lacks background noises. The setting is the same as for the last video.

Again, Margaret seems to have the better voice but it might be because she does not say a lot.

Maureen seems to be looking at a prompt off camera for some of the video. Not that you’ll notice if you are using this to get to sleep. The approach is quite gentle but as before Maureen does not have your typical ASMR voice. It is quiet enough to be restful though, I think.

Neurologic Assessment-Maureen Bolmgren

As I said before, some of the videos include the participant’s names in the title, in this case of the medical professional. But there is no consistency in this naming convention so I cannot rely on it.

This is the Maureen – Margaret partnership again. By now the location and process are quite familiar. I’m not sure if I am now used to her voice, but Maureen seems less loud to me in this one. Margaret still seems to have a better voice.

One more Maureen – Margaret combo video remains. However, the MGA Nursing channel may be worth another visit to sample some of the remaining videos.

Last, but by no means least, we have this one:

thorax and lungs-Maureen B.

This seems familiar as if I have reviewed it before, so it is to be hoped I have not entered a duplicate video. I’m sure regular readers will let me know pretty swiftly if so.

There is the odd intrusive noise (including what sounds like a clock at one stage) but I think this is still worthy of inclusion.

The Procrastination Pen playlist is reviewed frequently so some of the less worthy videos get dropped to the archive list at intervals. Those with intrusive noises are ones that are most likely to get chosen for this “demotion”. The archive list only exists in case I remove somebody’s favourite.

The MGA Nursing 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

If you’ve wandered into the blog via a search engine then you may not have read any other articles in this series. A brief background to explain what this blog is about. The plan is to review videos for their potential for ASMR or at the very least the ability to soothe you off to sleep.

The main output is an ever-growing playlist and my unwritten contract is that this will always appear at the end of each article. The assumption is that if you just want to hear the playlist you can scroll completely through the article and take up the link at the end.

Today’s video comes from a channel that we have seen before.

The channel is MDforAll, it contains no playlists. I use playlists habitually for filtering down content (i.e., limiting the number of videos covered in any one blog post). The channel also has a large number of videos, at today’s date sixty-seven videos in fact.

In the previous blog article I decided to adopt the mechanism of featuring only those videos which all contained the same medical professional and patient together in each one. On that occasion it resulted in nine videos which was a more workable number for you to read about in that one post.

This is therefore a sensible mechanism for arriving at a sensible length blog post on this occasion as well.

A scan through the videos on this channel indicates that a number of them are way too loud for our purposes. They are designed as instruction videos and the participating medical professionals are obviously trying to project themselves. Fair enough, the videos were not designed for the purpose to which we are putting them.

Eye, Ear, Nose, & Throat Examination

In contrast this video is a nice fit. The person presenting (unnamed) is quiet throughout. The patient has little to say. The video quality isn’t exactly HD but, given we’re using it to sleep, then it is probably of little consequence. The sound is pretty good but of course accompanied by air conditioning noise. This is something we expect by now.

The video has notes but they do not tell us very much we don’t already know: “Physical Examination of The Eyes, Ears, Nose, And Throat.”

The comments reveal that other people have happened across this video for ASMR purposes, so we are certainly not the first here.

Having selected this medical professional, the number of videos featuring this person (on this channel) is now limited, to just three videos in fact.

Neck & Cardiac Examination

This continues in the same vein as the previous video. It is equally quiet and the background noise (which we are probably getting used to by now) is limited to air conditioning noises.

One of the comments indicates that this is from MSU CHM. Assuming this is accurate, this refers to Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. This has a channel on YouTube with forty-five videos in it. This channel might be worthy of future review.

At least the medical professional asks the “patient” to hold his breath rather than “stop breathing” which we have seen before this. As I commented previously slavish obedience to this instruction (if it were possible) could have very final consequences.

The heart sounds at one point in the video might prove to be a little distracting. Not least, that I think my heart beats a bit faster than this guy and yours might as well.

On balance though, I think this video is worthy of inclusion in The Procrastination Pen playlist.

Lymph Nodes & Thyroid Examination

This video is slightly louder at the start but that still does not exclude it from the Procrastination Pen playlist. The notes tell us nothing we didn’t know: “Examination of the lymph nodes”. But at least there are notes. The video fades out even as the medical professional is talking. This makes me think there was/is a longer version of this video out there somewhere.

Again, there is no identity for the medical professional listed so there is no way to check where this originated. For all we know there could be more of these. Unless a random YouTube search turns them up though, I’m afraid that this is it.

These videos have been consistent. They all belong in The Procrastination Pen playlist.

These are the only ones on the channel that feature this medical professional and this patient. From the review, I think this channel might be getting mined-out for ASMR related content but I may review it one more time to be certain.

The playlist for MDForAll (On The Procrastination Pen channel) is here:

The playlist which contains every video reviewed so far on the blog is here: (less any that have subsequently been weeded)

The playlist of videos that initially made the above playlist but after much review it was determined they didn’t really make the grade is here:

(I’ve kept them in that list in case you still find them helpful)

The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:

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

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

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

Any feedback is welcome.

Until next time.

Photo by Shona Macrae

Sleeping With ASMR

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.

There is a University of Missouri offering nursing training in a number of locations.

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.

The ASMR Exams playlist is here:

The overall playlist for items featured in this blog is here:

The videos which failed the grade after much listening are now in this archive list here:

I only keep the archive list in case I am removing some people’s favourites.

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 for me. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.

I hope that you find these playlists relaxing

If you like this article why not follow this blog.

Photo by Shona Macrae