Sleeping With ASMR

Last night I discovered that the shuffle function on YouTube is not exactly up to spec. For example, a specific set of adverts can stop the shuffle function in its tracks. I also discovered that some adverts cause the track not to return, but instead, it sets off a not-responding loop.

I recommend the shuffle function because the playlist is growing organically and, therefore, all of the tracks from one review appear in one place. This would mean that if there were, for example eight recommendations from one YouTube channel then these would all occur one after the other. That could make for very dull listening. However, this error in the shuffle function is quite disconcerting.

I do not regularly come across it, which seems to indicate that the problem occurs with specific video/advert combinations. It is irritating when the desire is that the playlist is kicked off and then continues without interaction until waking up the following morning. The error has proven that this is not always reliable.

Currently, I have no adequate solution. I have had the odd problem with YouTube which regular readers will have come across. Alternatives do exist (for example, I often listen to Calm). Some of these would make for less interactive blog posts. However, I am considering widening the scope of these articles to cover some of these alternatives.

Today’s though returns us to YouTube, as has been habitual for a long time now. However, it differs from the usual approach in that, in fact, it is a playlist.

Draping (How to Drape)

by Blackriver & Bootsma Education

It consists of four videos, which is actually a rather good number of videos to cover in one blog post.

The playlist occurs on the Blackriver & Bootsma Education channel. Whilst I am looking at it, I notice it has two hundred and ninety-six videos, as at today’s date, and a quite whopping 52.9K subscribers. I would have little doubt that some of them are going to be ASMR fans as well.

As I have pointed out before ASMR fans can spot a great video in the dark at fifty paces whilst wearing a blindfold.

There are thirteen playlists (The longest having one hundred and forty-two videos) but none seem to be of as such a convenient length for review as this playlist.

However, I have little doubt we will be back to take another look-see at this channel.

How to Drape – Prone (Face Down) [Upper Body, Lower Body, High Glute] Massage Position

This is nearly twenty-one minutes in length, so sizeable in comparison to some we have recently looked at. It starts without start up music and that is very welcome. It has notes and comments and for a change, none of the comments are unhelpful. The medical professional though is quite loud and I had to turn the volume way down. Once I had done that though, the presentation was excellent with none of the equipment noises we have sadly become so used to. The associated noises include movement of sheets which some ASMR fans seem to rather enjoy. At the time I am looking at it, YouTube took every opportunity to insert adverts (every few minutes) and a number of those adverts were really quite distracting. This now seems to be a standard thing – see the comments above about alternatives shortly being included in these blog posts.

Despite the volume, the presenting professional has a great and measured voice. It is very easy to listen to and definitely calming without any jarring unexpected noises.

It was sufficiently calming that the advert breaks come as an unpleasant surprise.

I’m not really expecting that anyone will pay much attention to the subject matter, it being mainly a source of relaxation for sleep. However, it is quite an interesting subject in itself. I would not have known there was so much to it and the number of considerations that need to be taken into account.

How to Drape – Supine (Face Up) [Upper Body, Lower Body, Abdominal, Chest, V Shape] Massage Position

This commences in the same way as the previous one, no startup music, a calm presentation, a very good start. Yet again I kept the volume button on the low side and you might experience inter-video volume issues on the playlist with some of those with a quieter presentation. In an ideal world, I could normalise the volumes so that as one video ended and another began but that option does not appear to be available.

The process is quite careful and a great deal of thought has obviously gone into it.

I notice however that the floor is floorboards, there are wooden cabinets there is a rug. This has the feel of domestic rather than a medical establishment. (I’m sure most medical establishments opt for wipe-clean surfaces simply on the basis of being more hygienic).

How to Drape – Supine to Sidelying (High Glute) Massage Position

This one is short by comparison with those we have just seen, at just over seven and a half minutes. However, it is very similar to what has gone before. This time, one person in the comments is seeking medical advice. People seem to do this elsewhere in YouTube and on the Internet. I suspect when the developers of AI technologies cotton onto this tendency for people to trust almost any location on the Internet for medical advice (more than say an actual medical professional) there will be a large number of medical bots stood up which for a small fee will diagnose and recommend…

The consistency of the video presentation is a great sign and is an indication that this is a professionally prepared video (we have seen the kind of variety in presentation that occurs in student assessment videos, for example).

There really is little to choose between the ones reviewed so far, and this means that we can push all of them forwards into the Procrastination Pen playlist.

The Blackriver & Bootsma 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 Shona Macrae

Sleeping With ASMR

I am mulling over the idea of making this available in audio. I have seen other blogs where the authors have done this.

I have a PC, a microphone and a copy of Audacity (which is moderately up to date). How hard can it be?

However, I am evaluating videos with the occasional critical air about people’s voices. I can hardly compare myself to Morgan Freeman. Hence, I could be opening myself up to a set of (justified) criticism.

Whilst I consider that as a future option, let’s take a look at today’s video.

We return to Moran CORE which has been a favourite of ours on more than one occasion.

Today’s video is this one:

Basic B scan Examination Techniques 1

And for once I am content that I have not reviewed this video previously.

As always, in our peruse of this channel, we find a professionally produced video. When we find a professionally produced video, it usually includes notes:

“8 Feb 2018

Title:  Basic B scan Examination Techniques 1

Author:

Date: 9/15/2016

From Moran CORE Collection: http://morancore.utah.edu”

Reasonably succinct notes in this case which, of course, leaves us thirsty for more understanding. (Oh, just me then).

It is just over six and a half minutes and so positively a glimmer in comparison to some we have reviewed.

Comments are not permitted. (usually a great idea) however the upshot of which is that we have no clue as to whether other ASMR fans have found this one. (In all likelihood they have).

Definition:

A “B scan” turns out to be ultrasound.

The video’s introduction is without music (wahey). But also, without any details of the participants (boo). The medical professional has an excellent voice and there is little obtrusive background noise. (Heaven be praised). Even the habitual air-conditioning noise seems to have been given instructions to “keep it down a bit”.

The exam proceeds at a measured pace and there is no hint of elevated voices, such as when talking to a classroom. This is quite a surprising combination and one which marks this video as suitable for the Procrastination Pen playlist.

Given the video is at this standard, it seems sensible to locate other videos with the same participants. However, given we do not know for certain who they are, there is the need to identify another technique.

In this case, I searched the channel for “B Scan” and there are a number of such videos. I then filtered visually to include only those with visually the same participants. This gives us:

Basic B Scan Examination Techniques 2

As for the previous video, so for this one. Perhaps the volume is a little increased. Possibly the air conditioning has decided to up its participation a little. But otherwise, much the same. Even down to the lack of start-up music. The notes are similar and I think, therefore, no longer worthy of reviewing.

The video is another short one at a bit over five and a half minutes. The participants are the same but, again, they are unidentified. There are no comments permitted.

The medical professional still has a calm voice but is now a bit more “projecting to a room”, which is sad given the standard of the previous video.

I still think it is worthy of inclusion in the Procrastination Pen playlist. However, as regular readers will know, it may still get despatched to the archive list if after a while it turns out to be more irritating than I first thought. (Some videos do not stand up well to repeated listening).

Basic B Scan Examination Techniques 3

The more alert amongst you will have noticed a theme to the titles so far. This does not persist, so don’t take it for granted. A little less than three and a half minutes. It isn’t around for long. I’m not a fan of artificially combining videos. However, in this case, I think I would make an exception. If I had some dispensation, I would combine videos 1, 2 and 3 into one video as it would be more helpful for people drifting off, and to delay the inevitable YouTube advert interference for as long as it is feasible to do so.

This one is more like the last video than the first one. It is a little louder than the first video and the air conditioning is certainly more noticeable. However, I still think it makes it into the Procrastination Pen playlist. Let me know if you disagree.

Immersion Techniques

The titles no longer follow a theme and neither does the length of the videos which seemed to be reducing. Now we have a video at just less than four and a quarter minutes in length. The same participants, the same noise levels, the same absence of music of any variety.

I think that the medical professional has decided that the virtual audience isn’t quite paying the level of attention that she would like and so, on occasion, raises her voice quite a bit. However, the examination is still nicely paced. I am still of a mind to put this in the Procrastination Pen playlist, but I keep the entire list under review.

Biometry

The starting image is startling (even alarming) as if the patient has recently been liberated from the Borg ship and needs eye implants removing. The video is brief at less than 3 minutes and shares the characteristics of videos that have gone before. So, if you can get past that first image, there is nothing scary in it.

That’s it for this week. Hopefully you found at least one video here that you enjoyed.

The Moran Core 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 Shona Macrae

Sleeping With ASMR

If you find yourself tired in front of the TV, but by the time you’ve got into bed somehow circumstances have conspired to leave you wide awake, it can mean that you lie there looking at the ceiling and feeling a sense of frustration and panic as the minutes and hours pass and still you are not getting the rest you hoped for.

In these circumstances I find it useful to distract myself with some other activity and of late, the restful video has proven to be relatively useful. Not a panacea, but one tool in the toolbox to help get off to sleep.

Today’s video comes from a channel we have explored before of which more in a minute.

The video is this one:

Respiratory Examination – OSCE Guide (Latest)

and at nine and a half minutes definitely not the longest such video we have reviewed.

As a professionally produced video it has notes (oh, what a lot of notes)

“26 Feb 2018 Clinical Examination (OSCE) Guides

We’ve just released a collection of 500+ OSCE Stations! 🙌 https://geekymedics.com/osce-stations/ See the written guide alongside the video here https://geekymedics.com/respiratory-e…

This video provides a guide to respiratory examination, including real-time auscultation sounds of common pathology such as:

– Coarse crackles

– Fine crackles

– Wheeze

– Stridor

The ability to carry out a thorough respiratory examination is something every medic needs to master. This video aims to give you an idea of what’s required in the OSCE and you can then customise the examination to suit your own personal style.

Special thanks to http://www.easyauscultation.com and Andy Howes for providing some of the respiratory sounds.

Always adhere to your medical school/local hospital guidelines when performing examinations or clinical procedures. DO NOT perform any examination or procedure on patients based purely upon the content of these videos. Geeky Medics accepts no liability for loss of any kind incurred as a result of reliance upon the information provided in this video.

Some people have found this video useful for ASMR purposes.”

In fact, I edited the notes down a bit or they would comprise a fair amount of the entire blog article.

Interesting that a channel dedicated to medical examination tuition should mention ASMR in that way and quite unusual. The comments indicate that ASMR fans are just lapping this up, so it all bodes well.

Fortunately, the start-up music is very muted. The participants are Andrew, a final year medical student and James Alexander D.o.B. 13/12/1989 (that’s December if you use a dating system other than that used in the UK).

Straight away, Andrew has a very good voice and has a relaxing style of presentation. The pace is measured (unlike the frenetic approach of some nursing student videos). Sadly, this means that YouTube gets the opportunity to slot in a few of its noisier and more obtrusive adverts which hopefully will not be happening to you as you’re watching/listening to this.

There are some rather unpleasant lung-related sounds which are unwelcome for our purposes, but may well be useful in the educational context which, let’s face it, is what this video is intended for.

The channel (as you suspected, I bet) is:

Geeky Medics https://www.youtube.com/@geekymedics.

This has two hundred and eighteen videos as at the date I am checking it and I will not be reviewing all of those anytime soon. It appears that the Andrew and James combination appear in a fair subset of them as well.

In this case, I decided to explore the channel using the term “respiratory” to determine what else we could find. We start out with some YouTube shorts, which by their nature don’t run for long, and so I am a little averse to them for the purpose which we are attempting to put them to. It won’t stop me using a really good one though.

Respiratory Exam OSCE Tips

This sounds a bit like Sammy in “Over the Hedge”, it is at two hundred miles per hour. I’m sure it is designed to get a ton of information into a tiny amount of time but heck it is as restful as Piccadilly Circus. It’s a shame too, because the participant would appear to have a good voice.

Respiratory Exam OSCE Tips

The same participant, the same format and the same comments as for the previous video.

Respiratory Examination Signs in COPD – OSCE Guide

Oh no background music, in fact entirely background music. The comments are presented on the screen rather than spoken. This makes this video not desperately useful for our purposes.

Lung sounds (respiratory auscultation sounds)

At under one and one quarter minutes this is not hanging about and it contains some very unpleasant sounds as well. Not one I’m going to use in the Procrastination Pen playlist.

Respiratory History Taking – OSCE Guide

This time a bit over eighteen minutes so a more substantial video. No obvious ASMR related comments (which might be bad news). Very brief startup music (thankfully). It is narrated by Dr Chris Jefferies who has a good voice.

Sadly, it does not include a medical examination as such and so it is a bit marginal for our purposes.

It is a bit of a presentation-format and as such not that fascinating I suspect for anyone not directly studying this subject area.

It is probably tolerable for the Procrastination Pen playlist but may suffer a future weeding activity.

Lung sounds made easy

Back to another YouTube short which includes some rather unpleasant sounds on it. I don’t think this one is much use to us.

Percussion & Auscultation of the Lungs – OSCE Guide | Clip

This one is four minutes long, so not huge by any means. It has the brief startup music still and has the slow measured approach of the first video we considered in this blog article. However, it also includes all the unpleasant lung-related noises so I am going to discount this from the Procrastination Pen playlist.

Respiratory Examination – OSCE Guide (Old Version)

This is just under eight and a half minutes. Posted nine years ago at the time I am looking at it. Andrew Pugh features again. There is startup music which is way too funky. The “patient” this time is Dan Page (I believe.) I’m sure I get the names wrong a good deal of the time when relying upon listening alone). His D.o.B is 01/01/1995 (which is January whichever dating system you’re currently using).

Andrew continues to have a good voice although this has a distinct echoey sound as if they have not yet ironed out the microphone approach for the recording.

Dan looks like he needed much more sleep recently than he apparently got but as he does not get to say much those people listening are unlikely to notice. The ward area where the recording is taking place is utterly deserted. How they managed to achieve this I do not know. Perhaps the clue is in Dan’s tiredness, 4am on a Sunday recording possibly.

Respiratory Examination – OSCE Guide (Old Version)

This one is a little less than ten minutes. More of the funky music to start. I’m not sure why people consider this a great idea. Andrew Pugh returns. Alan Johnson is the “patient”. Twelve years ago (when the video was posted) Alan was apparently thirty seven although he looks about nineteen.

Andrew remains on form voice wise. In fact, where the video lacks intrusive noises, they have all been good where they feature Andrew (rather like videos featuring Dr James Gill).

Andrew has on a badge which seems to indicate that this is at Newcastle University.

He appears to have studied here 2007-2012 and then again 2014-2015.

Newcastle as expected has its own YouTube channel. The crest associated with that channel looks very like the one on Andrew’s badge which I think confirms this.

Interestingly the closing credits state that Colin Brewster is the patient so Alan Johnson may well not exist.

The Geeky Medics 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 Juan Gomez on Unsplash