There is a now well-established relationship between getting enough sleep and the strength of your memory. I have always had a pretty poor memory and had to work very hard to retain important facts for any extended period.
I remember reading that scientists can now alter memories during sleep. It would be rather good to banish some of the more unpleasant memories, but how much more relevant is that if you have had a traumatic experience.
The links between lack of sleep and dementia is being explored. It is widely agreed though, that sleep quality gets progressively worse as you get older.
It is for this reason that the Procrastination Pen started to review restful videos some little while ago. I might be getting older but I’m not keen to join any waiting list for dementia. It is therefore important, I feel, to fight the tendency towards shorter amounts of sleep and for that sleep to be more broken. I have felt that one key part is something that will soothe you off to sleep and lull you back to sleep, should you wake up during the night.
I tend now to start with something from Calm. Only because I have a Calm subscription and I dislike putting up with adverts (Calm doesn’t have any).
This week, for a change, let’s look at a course provided by possibly my favourite voice on Calm which is Tamara Levitt.
This is a sequence of Body Scan meditations:
https://www.calm.com/app/program/whzIxMJxVR
Body Scan
Tune into physical sensations to deepen your awareness
Tamara Levitt
Head of Mindfulness at Calm
This has sessions starting at three minutes in length and ultimately building to thirty minutes. I must confess I have not yet learned to sit undistracted for thirty minutes, but it is a good goal.
This is definitely worth a listen if you have a Calm subscription.
At this stage, and for a while now, I have taken towards reviewing a professional ASMR artist – you never know this may turn out to be a great source of ASMR material! (Only half joking, some of the stuff I have reviewed has not exactly set the sleeping muscles to much exercise.)
I was attracted to this one by the title, as it is sleep related:
Chronic Insomnia Healing by Japanese Pro – ASMR
It comes from the channel ASMR Twix with 900k subscribers two hundred and eighty seven videos thirty-two playlists
There is the odd playlist which is borderline for the focus of this blog thus far such as:
and
Videos are still being posted here but the notes against the channel are over a year old:
“Original Japanese Head SPA in Progress for 2024, Spring Grand Opening in Tokyo.
“ASMR Twix” channel set the trend for Japanese Head SPA to become famous worldwide. I am honoured to be the first and biggest YouTuber in Japan to have worked with 190+ Japanese SPAs, salons, haircuts, make-up, kimono, etc. relaxing services and establishments. You can visit all of these relaxing places. Often, there are discounts or gifts just for my subscribers. Mention “ASMR Twix” at the beginning of your session. Feel free to book via Instagram in English or an online website. All places are by appointment only! From the SPA places on my playlist “Gift from Twix,” you can receive a special gift after your session, prepared specially by me (Twix).
Terahertz massage tool collections are available in 16 SPAs in Japan. You can find out more about it (https://asmrtwix.shop) and recent projects at the links below.
For business, contact via Instagram at @asmr.twix.”
(I’ve edited the notes because, as usual, they are quite long).
Today’s selected video has notes as well:
” 1,356,968 views 15 Apr 2021 #asmr #migraine #chronicinsomnia
Salon info: Mr. HEAD
address: Tokyo, Ichigaya station, Yobancho 5F
website: pls go to pinned comment!
Top 10 Frequently asked question about Me:
1. Am I Japanese or mixed?
I’m not! I have been living in Japan for several years.
2. Where Am I from?
I’m full Asian. For privacy issues, I prefer to keep my nationality, real name, age,address in private.
3. Do I get treatments every day?
No. I balance treatments schedule considering my skin and health condition. For example, once a week.
4. Why “Twix”?
Me and My sister work on creating these contents together. As you know Twix chocolate bar has 2 pieces. So, I’m not the only creating these videos. My sister👩 is behind the camera as Camerasister. So we thought that would be fair If I add my sister’s name. Of course, not directly adding her name.
5. Why my Camerasister doesn’t show up in the videos?
She prefers to work behind the camera. I hope you will respect her decision.
6. Does my Camerasister also get treatments?
Sometimes she does. I give her scalp, neck, face, shoulder massages at home😅
7. Who replies to the comments?
Me who always appears in the videos.
8. What kind of ASMR channel is this?
This channel is focused on Japanese exclusive head spa, face and head massage, aesthetics, facial and scalp treatments. In our videos, it is always “Soft spoken” in Japanese language with English subtitles. We don’t do “Whispering” and “No talking” videos.
9. Are my videos sponsored?
If I get sponsored on my videos, I’ll definitely mention about sponsorship in the videos according to YouTube sponsorship terms and conditions.
10. Do all places I visit have good result?
I always do deep research on the places before I visit. Because, I have responsibility of showing the real result and recommend it to my viewers. I always give my honest opinion about the treatment, massage and environment of the place at the end of each video.
11. Do I have any other social media?
No, I don’t. I want to focus on creating better videos on YouTube. We’re working on creating PayPal donations, Patreon page where I can connect even more with Twixes. They will come out probably on March 🥰”
ASMR artists really know how to write very long video notes.
Comments are permitted. There’s a lot of them but they are predominantly positive. So far, so good.
The video is a little over half an hour and so not the hugest we’ve seen. It starts without startup music, for which may the Lord make us truly thankful. However, it does have some pretty impressive background noise. By impressive, read loud. It sounds like a very bad 1980s recording. The video is in Japanese with subtitles in English and it is a shame about the background noise because I would say that the voice is excellent. It tends towards the whispery side with occasional breathy interludes.
The pace is wonderfully slow and relaxed. Turning down the volume a heck of a lot reduces the background noise, a bit. Of course, in consequence, you also lose some of that voice at the same time. The voice is worth holding onto because it is a good one for our purposes, I think. Because it is of such good quality I have made an exception for the advertising that crops up at the tail end of this video. Advertising by the ASMR artist themselves I regard as a no-no for this blog. See what you think, it might be that this video was/was not deserving of a review. Sadly, the normal energetic adverts decided to interpose themselves on more than one occasion (at least whilst I was listening). Of course, this is ever more motivation for me to research sounds that are not on YouTube and that people may find restful. I’ve skipped past that this week due to time constraints but I will locate some more in the very near future.
Meantime, I did not realise until this week that the Internet Archive has some of the ASMR videos we have already covered. This includes the Cate Darnell video which has already been reviewed.
This one is archived here:
I notice that the files are available for download. On that basis it would seem that you can download these, assemble your own playlist, and avoid the adverts altogether. I have not tried this yet but I am certainly giving it some serious consideration.
You may recall a previous post in which I mentioned a URL which linked to thirty two videos. The URL is this one:
It has thirty-two videos (discounting the introductory one). Last time we managed to review just four of these, so there is a fair few left to look at…
The next one in the series is this:
Knee Examination – Orthopaedics
Somewhat over nine minutes in length, the notes are: “684,941 views 28 Nov 2012 Clinical Examinations
This video – produced by students at Oxford University Medical School in conjunction with the faculty – demonstrates how to perform an Orthopaedic examination of the knee joint. It is part of a series of videos covering Orthopaedic examinations and is linked to Oxford Medical Education (www.oxfordmedicaleducation.com)
This video was produced in collaboration with Oxford Medical Illustration – a department of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust. For more information, please visit www.oxfordmi.nhs.uk”
The person narrating has a great voice, lovely and quiet. When I find a good voice like this it is often frustrating that I cannot identify whose it is (so that I could look for other videos in which that person features). In this case though, there are no clues, so reoccurrence of this voice (if ever) will be purely by chance.
Hip Examination – Orthopaedics
A little over nine and a quarter minutes long. The notes are: “938,894 views 28 Nov 2012 Clinical Examinations
This video – produced by students at Oxford University Medical School in conjunction with the faculty – demonstrates how to perform an Orthopaedic examination of the hip joint. It is part of a series of videos covering Orthopaedic examinations and is linked to Oxford Medical Education (www.oxfordmedicaleducation.com)
This video was produced in collaboration with Oxford Medical Illustration – a department of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust. For more information, please visit www.oxfordmi.nhs.uk”
The narrator has a good voice and it is nicely paced.
Trauma Assessment – Pelvic Fracture Scenario
A little less than sixteen minutes the notes are: “176,944 views 13 May 2012 Trauma Surgery
This video – produced by students at Oxford University Medical School in conjunction with the faculty – demonstrates how to perform the initial assessment of a patient with suspected traumatic injury. This scenario is of a patient with a suspected pelvic fracture and internal haemorrhage.
Videos on this channel are linked to Oxford Medical Education (www.oxfordmedicaleducation.com)
This video was produced in collaboration with Oxford Medical Illustration – a department of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust. For more information, please visit www.oxfordmi.nhs.uk”
This is introduced and, although it is a trauma situation, it is not excessively loud, but not exactly restful either.
Trauma Assessment – Teaching Scenario (with possible pathology)
Fifteen and a half minutes. The notes are: “58,225 views 13 May 2012 Trauma Surgery
This video – produced by students at Oxford University Medical School in conjunction with the faculty – demonstrates how to perform the initial assessment of a patient with suspected traumatic injury. This scenario is of an uninjured patient. It includes possible pathology to be found at each step.
Videos on this channel are linked to Oxford Medical Education (www.oxfordmedicaleducation.com)
This video was produced in collaboration with Oxford Medical Illustration – a department of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust. For more information, please visit www.oxfordmi.nhs.uk”
The narration is similar to the last one. The medical professional has a reasonable voice and the progress is methodical.
I think that I will conclude the blog post at this one and continue in another post. Failing that this blog post would become really large indeed, to the point of boredom, I imagine.
That’s it on this occasion, more next time.
The Oxford Medical Education Hospitals 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.
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The Procrastination Pen 