This week I wondered if the fact that ASMR fans get ASMR feelings meant that they were more susceptible to other feelings than average. Sadly, it would seem the work has not been done. I did find that people high on the neuroticism scale are more likely to be able to feel ASMR. Not only that, but if you are high on the neuroticism scale and you can feel ASMR symptoms that ASMR might be effective in reducing some of the symptoms.
So, I am going to take that as a positive.
You must be overdue another review of ASMR.
For a long time now, I have been trying to find material that is not on YouTube on the assumption that readers of this blog also get distracted (not to say annoyed) by the choice of adverts that YouTube choose to insert between (or sometimes during) relaxing videos. (Read, loud, energetic and sleep-disturbing).
During lock down I did listen to the odd track by Ghylian Bell. Ghylian, of course, has her own YouTube channel (not exactly helpful in finding a source of non-You-tube material). I did find one on the mindful.org site. I think that this will give you an idea as to why I like Ghylian’s voice.
Usually after I poke around outside of YouTube, I drone on about Calm for a few minutes for no reason other than the fact that I am lucky enough to have a Calm subscription. I know that does not extend to many people reading this article so I will keep this part brief.
To find out what you are, start out by describing what you’re not.
I like Jay, his is probably not the best ASMR voice on Calm – I suspect that is Tamara Levitt. But the material that he covers is so fascinating and insightful. This is not the Calm marketing department however, so I will move right along.
At this stage of the article, for a number of months, I have made it a habit to review a professional ASMR artist. This was really to contrast with the inadvertent ASMR material that has been the purpose of this blog for so long. I did at one stage feel that this would be totally unfair. Surely a professional ASMR artist who set out to calm their audience and thereby to attract subscribers would have to be streets ahead of any inadvertent ASMR material that could be located. I have not found this to be the case.
This week I am back in nostalgia-land as I am again reviewing a video that I used to listen to a long time ago (the posting date of the video will be a strong clue). I am deviating from the medical theme for a while. I’ve been doing this in the hope that I can present some quality ASMR from an ASMR professional so that you can hear what attracted me to it in the first place. However, I am aware that this blog has been medical-ASMR themed for some time and so I will revert to that in due course.
Today’s is from the channel Tingting ASMR. This has 2.57m subscribers, eight hundred and ninety one videos, thirteen playlists of which this playlist would seem to be on the medical theme which this blog has explored for a while now:
The channel, of course, has notes: “Tingting ASMR
Description
Hello, my name is Tingting, welcome to my ASMR channel! I will be creating videos to help you relax, tingle, and sleep. There’s a lot of stress in this world, I hope I can help you reduce some of it. New video every Tuesday and a new short Sunday so check back often!
Links
Find ALL My Socials Here!linktr.ee/tingtingasmr
Patreonpatreon.com/tingting
Merchandiseteespring.com/stores/tingting
Instagraminstagram.com/tingting57live
Twittertwitter.com/tingting57live
Facebookfacebook.com/tingting57live”
Refreshingly brief for an ASMR artist, as regular readers of this blog will already know.
The chosen video is this one:
[ASMR] Chinese Zodiac Calligraphy & Brush Sounds
This is just a fraction less than thirty six and a half minutes – a reasonable length therefore. It too has notes: “462,394 views 11 Jul 2017
These are getting towards the length we might expect from a professional ASMR artist. Comments are permitted. There are a lot of these. As we have come to expect, some of these comments border on the surreal. There are a fair number of positive ASMR comments though, so let’s take that as a good sign.
This video is properly quiet. Definitely one where you will be rolling over and thumbing the volume up a bit. It is on the whispery side of whispery, which is quite typical of a professional ASMR artist I find.
I prefer a non-whispery presentation just because whispery gets a bit samey once I have listened to a few videos. There are a number of non-vocal sounds: clicking, tapping, grinding, brushing, paper sounds, a light background noise (perhaps air conditioning), the odd equipment-related noise. It is one of those videos where nail clicking features strongly, which is great if that is a “trigger” that you like. The pace is delightfully slow, if you want to watch rather than just listen, I suspect you will almost feel your mind slowing down to match the progress.
I decided to try taking my blood pressure before watching the video and then take it again as the video was playing, and found it had dropped almost ten points. Perhaps ASMR videos should be prescribed.
Of course, we are looking for videos to assist in dropping off. I suspect in isolation this will be fantastic; however, the volume is set so low that at thirty-six and a half minutes a stupendously loud and frenetic YouTube advert will have you achieve orbit unassisted.
That said, I think this is a very good video and I can now remember why I used to listen to it so frequently.
This week’s inadvertent ASMR is brief in the extreme. It comes from the channel: Arthritis Research Canada this has 16k subscribers, three hundred and thirty-seven videos, twenty playlists. Not unexpectedly a number of these are on a medical theme, however, it is unlikely that a great many are good for ASMR.
The video is:
Effusion Test
and it has notes: “162,903 views 2 Jun 2011
Discover a systematic approach to diagnosing knee osteoarthritis years and make a difference in your patient’s care. This video demonstrates how to perform three standardized knee examinations to diagnose knee osteoarthritis and demonstrates 18 other knee examination techniques commonly used in practice for in-depth knee examination. The content is not provided as a form of self-diagnosis. To learn more visit www.arthritisresearch.ca“
Which, in common with a number of inadvertent ASMR videos are not whoppingly long. Comments are permitted. There are not a great number and there are none from ASMR fans. That is habitually a bad sign. ASMR fans are like ants to spilled jam as far as great ASMR material goes.
The video starts without music – hip-hip hurrah. The voice is not your classical ASMR voice but it is calm and nicely paced in presentation. The video features the same medical professional throughout but different patients, quite an achievement in a video that is only this length.
And there it was gone. I think worthy of inclusion in the playlist; in fact, I think I will be back to this site in future.
On that basis, just one, video this time.
That’s it on this occasion, more next time.
See you again next week.
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.
I was watching in amazement this week as a colleague edited together a video for use on Instagram using only his phone. I was recognising why the age of the blog has truly sailed. Although it was obvious that the video editing took skill, and it took time, the output was so easy to consume. I could recognise, instantly, why thousands of followers migrate towards channels which produce video content.
It is quite easy to understand why people who, at one time,
would have read a manual or would have looked at a diagram, are now watching a YouTube video to try and get the same information. However, I cannot see myself producing YouTube material reviewing material which is also on YouTube.
Luddite I maybe, but I am not yet ready to give up on the idea that there is value in writing things down. Even if by so doing I am missing out on the more skilful operation of my mobile phone.
I hope, if you are reading this, you agree.
I have not changed the format of these posts for a while now (perhaps it is overdue for a change). This week, again, I recommend something from Calm for no better reason than I have a subscription to Calm and I listen with reasonable frequency.
(You should be aware that relatively limited free material exists on Calm and the following isn’t part of that).
The tendency to want to re-live perfect memories, attempts to recreate the experience never quite measure up. Comparison of the new experience with the previous one tends to make it less enjoyable. Resisting the urge to compare can improve the involvement in the present by leaving the past behind.
For some time, I have been on the lookout for material outside of YouTube because I would rather like the ability to leave adverts far behind. In practice I have found the results a bit variable. In some ways paying up for a service to get an advert-free experience may be the better approach. But, assuming for whatever reason you do not wish to do that, I remembered that during lockdown I came across a track by Rhonda Magee who I recall had a good voice. However, of course, I could not remember where I had come across Rhonda.
It turns out that Rhonda has a website and that there is a part of the site dedicated to meditations. But sadly, this just redirects to YouTube: https://rhondavmagee.com/meditations/
However, I did find a podcast page with a recording which is quite open to a listen for free:
There is a small amount of hiss on the track but I think there is enough material here to get an idea of the quality of the voice.
Recently when I have been reviewing professional YouTube ASMR artists, I have been going back into the past to re-listen to some tracks that I used to listen to years ago. At the time I was not sticking to a medical theme. The idea of reviewing ASMR videos had not even occurred, so the odd one has cropped up which is not even distantly medical. Today’s is like that:
ASMR Back Tracing w/ Scratch, Brushing, Buds & Oil Massage
So not even remotely medical then. Normal service will resume fairly soon.
It is from the channel WhispersRed ASMR. This has 1.12m subscribers, nine hundred and one videos, twenty nine playlists of which none at all seem to be on a medical theme. This could be the reason that WhispersRed has not appeared previously on this blog.
The video has notes (of course it does) and as usual (for a professional ASMR artist) these are extensive:
“10,592,056 views 3 Jun 2018 #whispersred #asmr
An ASMR Back treatment with nail tracing, a back scratch, brushing and oil massage.
Uploaded with love, Emma
Other back pampering videos –
• Childhood ASMR Triggers – #1 Back Tracing …
• ASMR Back Pampering | Brushing, Oil, Massa…
—————————————————————————————————————- 📚My ASMR Book – Unwind Your Mind: The Life-changing power of ASMR https://campsite.bio/whispersredasmr Published by Ebury/PenguinRandomHouse in the UK and Harper One in the US and Canada.
🎧 ASMR albums are available to download or stream on all services worldwide Search – WhispersRed ASMR 🎧
🌟Please LIKE if you do and SUBSCRIBE if you’d like to! This makes sure that new videos show up in your feed. Click the bell if you would like notifications for new uploads🌟
Disclaimer – This video is not intended to replace any medical care, therapy or counselling that might be needed. The benefits of ASMR in terms of a therapy is so far anecdotal and in the early stages of published research. This video is intended for a mature audience for the purposes of mindfulness, relaxation and entertainment.
Product links – These are usually affiliate links. Anything you purchase through them will help in the running of my YouTube channels. However, I only link items I bought myself and/or use regularly.
#asmr #whispersred”
So, we have now discovered that WhispersRed is called Emma. Later on (whilst watching the video) we find that her subject is called Stephanie. Comments are permitted, and there are literally thousands of these. One that stands out for me is one that asks for YouTube to ensure that ASMR videos are not accompanied by loud adverts. A drum which I have been banging for a considerable time now.
The video is in excess of forty three minutes which is long for one we have reviewed of late.
It starts in full-on whisper mode accompanied by that strange mouth clicking sound that ASMR artists love so much. It is not off-putting though. At intervals it does get a little breathy for me.
There are of course noises not associated with the voice – nail clicking (these seem to go on a bit), hand rubbing, liquid noises, the sound of skin being brushed, squelching noises (I am not a great fan of these in ASMR videos, but I read comments that indicate some ASMR fans come to YouTube for just such content). This comes back to my theory that artists are hammering in every ASMR “trigger” that they have managed to think of in the hope of gathering more fans. I still feel that a video focusing on the gentle voice tone only would be more appealing but 1.12m subscribers seems to indicate that I am in a group of one…
The voice (as we might expect) is properly relaxing and I can hear why it was that I used to listen to this all those years ago. The pace is lovely, even slow in places; the volume is spot on. It is quite old-school now, in that there are not artificial breaks in the video to permit an (objectionably loud) advert to butt-in part way through. For me this makes the experience far more calming.
Around the half hour mark I did feel that I was ready to listen to something else, but then I was reviewing the video rather than trying to fall asleep to it. I’m sure if you’re reviewing it as a sleep aid you will find it is absolutely ideal.
Following the theme of recent blog posts, I will now turn to inadvertent ASMR (which has been the theme of this blog for some while now).
It probably should not be unexpected, but to me is still surprising, when people post medical videos some of the comments are from people who are really looking for a medical diagnosis. Perhaps this points to an area that people could home in on. A whole audience of people whose needs are not being satisfied and I doubt that they can be satisfied by those persons who are posting videos.
As you can probably tell from the above, we are back in the professional medical video category i.e. videos created with a purpose which is unrelated to ASMR. Historically some of these are quite good for ASMR purposes, some are barely adequate, and some are just awful.
But that is the reason this blog exists, to try and identify the odd diamond in all that refuse. Regular readers will have seen videos reviewed, videos trialled in the main Procrastination Pen playlist and videos retired into the Procrastination Pen archive list.
At the same time the video content is itself dynamic. We have seen videos, lauded by ASMR fans, removed on copyright grounds. Channels, apparently with thousands of fans, which disappear and some videos so popular that they disappear (often with their respective channel) only to appear again on another channel sometime later.
This blog will attempt to navigate these changes by maintaining a list of videos that can be played prior to sleep with the intention of allowing you to relax and minimising, as much as is feasible, jarring noises that might disturb that restful state.
Today’s video is listed in the order found, however, it is obvious from the title that it is the third in the series:
Neurology – Topic 3 – Sensory aspects of gait including Romberg’s test
This is a short video at less than four minutes. We seem to have arrived at the point in this review process where short videos have become the norm but I never know what I will find next, so you may find an hour-long video in the next review.
In common with the majority of professional videos we have seen recently this one has some notes: “20 Dec 2012
Sensory aspects of gait including Romberg’s test”
Not the most comprehensive notes but notes, nonetheless.
The comments, as usual, are a bit variable; I have previously concluded that permitting comments with a video is a brave move indeed.
The video is from University College Dublin and, as we expect, they have a YouTube channel eight hundred and twenty eight videos as at the time of review which is rather too many to examine in one sitting. Habitually such channels are university promotional vehicles which is exactly what we would expect.
Sadly, the video has startup music. Startup music is the bane of any ASMR video research. In this case it is not as offensive as some. I have, in the past, weeded out videos purely on startup music. I am hoping that in the future YouTube will introduce a function which allows me to add parts of videos to the playlist; in which case a great many will be subjected to top and tail behaviour. i.e., removing any funky music inclusions from these videos.
Professor Niall has a great voice; there is minimal background noise, not your classic ASMR but it should be calm enough to be relaxing (funky startup music allowing). Sadly, there are periods where it gets louder as if Professor Niall is presenting to a lecture theatre. It is quite fascinating, which is not the reason we are here, but causes me to stick with it.
Thankfully there is no tail end music to this particular video. Good enough for the Procrastination Pen playlist I think, although I aways reserve the right to weed it out if after a few reviews it doesn’t stand the test of time. There’s a couple in there right now that I am mulling over with a view to foisting them out.
The channel is UCD Medicine which has one hundred and sixty-three videos. That is a few I’m sure you will agree. Small wonder then that the channel has 52.7K subscribers.
There are five playlists and none of those seem to be connected with Professor Niall or with Neurology.
However, scanning the list of videos there are at least thirty-one videos on this subject and probably a great many more than that. I’m not sure I would feature thirty-one videos at one time in a single blog post even if they were all to feature Hollie Berry. On that basis therefore I’ll select the first five (including number three, which we just reviewed) and the later videos can form the basis of subsequent blog posts.
We are now into classic cranial nerve examination – which has been the subject of several blog posts previously
This is less than three minutes and yet again with the startup music – grr.
This time Professor Niall seems a bit on the loud side. I have the sense that this video captures a presentation to a class.
The location does not seem to assist in this respect I suspect a large room with a slight echo via the microphone. I always wonder why lapel mics are not more frequently in use. But I imagine additional microphones=additional cost.
A much more substantial video in that it is nearly nine minutes but still short in terms of some of the videos reviewed previously.
I think we can now take it that all of these will share the irritating startup music. Here again we encounter Professor Niall at his best in terms of his voice. We discover that the patient is “Peter”.
Unfortunately, Professor Niall gets louder. It’s a shame because at the start the video is lovely and quiet. If only I felt empowered to take the video and edit it down but I have no doubt a number of solicitors would be delighted if I tried that and the Procrastination Pen would be added to the channels on YouTube that disappear without trace.
However, there are long periods where Professor Niall settles into what must be his default which is a lovely voice to listen to. Perhaps in the future I will look for other material by Professor Niall as there might be the odd one which is properly quiet throughout.
Now, the assurance that we would cover up to video five was made without understanding how the videos progress on this channel, whilst videos one to four were individual videos there is now video 5a to 5j with some of the videos appearing both with and without notes.
I feel it is fair therefore to split the approach to video 5 I think your attention muscles probably will have had enough if I push too far so I think as far as 5c in this blog item and then pick up a future blog item at 5d.
Neurology – Topic 05a Cranial Nerve 1
Here Professor Niall is obviously presenting to a class, it is loud. Again, there are moments where the voice is excellent. Each one of these videos is tantalising in that it is not quite excellent for ASMR but has the potential to be so.
Neurology – Topic 5a Cranial Nerve 1 with notes
A duplicate of the above video – with notes included.
Neurology – Topic 5b – Cranial Nerve 2
A truly substantial video in excess of eighteen minutes. It starts loud and continues loud. Fair doos, the guy at the back of the class needs to hear what you are saying but it makes it less than gorgeous from an ASMR perspective.
Here the patient, in fact has a better intonation for the purposes of ASMR (well he is quieter). I think his name might be Donnacha (with apologies to Irish readers if I messed that name up).
It is even possible that Donnacha may have a channel all of his own but that is for a future blog item if so.
Neurology – Topic 05b – Cranial Nerve 2 with notes
As before a duplicate video to allow for the addition of notes.
Neurology – Topic 5c – Cranial Nerve 3,4,6
A little over seven minutes in length but sadly no quieter. Shame about that classroom setting. I suppose we can take succour from the fact that there are no infernal air conditioning noises.
Neurology – Topic 5c – Cranial Nerve 3,4,6 with notes
With notes
And that’s it this time, I think I’ll come back and give it another try Professor Niall probably has a few gems to offer.
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.
This week I came across an article that indicates that I can eliminate startup music altogether (I have yet to formally test it). The article is https://www.wikihow.com/Link-to-a-Certain-Time-in-a-YouTube-Video and it indicates that I can start a video at a specific point in time. Theoretically those videos with intrusive music at commencement I can therefore simply start just after that intrusive music, such that the entire playlist will hang together in a much more consistent (not to mention) quiet fashion. I cannot wait to try it. I hope that it is as easy as the article makes out.
I have been editing the main Procrastination Pen playlist of late and most of those edits have been connected with removing excessively loud material. It is a shame after such a long period of reviewing videos that I am now finding some of them just do not stand the test of time (the Procrastination Pen archive list continues to grow). The only upside is that the pace of reviews cannot slow, if it did so then the playlist would very swiftly empty.
For a while now I have been looking for material outside of YouTube. It was a rash promise that I made on this blog some time back, and was predominantly connected with gaining access to material that did not require the prospective snoozer to accept loud and intrusive adverts as a fact of life. I have actually found the process filled with inconsistencies and disappointments. To be honest, in many cases, I feel it is probably better to buy a subscription from a reliable service. However, the hunt goes on.
One of the heroes of all quiet voice fans has to be Thich Nhat Hanh who is, sadly, no longer with us. I can well remember listening on YouTube to one of the Plum Village videos and loving what I heard.
I have found that I am not alone in my starry-eyed fandom in this respect indeed now a whole archive of talks exists: https://tnhaudio.org/. There is so much material here that I will not provide you with a more in-depth review but leave you to select those you like.
I am also continuing to listen to material on Calm reasonably regularly. However, I may need a few lifetimes to become a consistent meditator. My mind is more like a roller-coaster of distracting thoughts. The material in the Calm dailies I find quite restful and not uncommonly instructive as well. However, you will need to buy a subscription if you want to listen to it.
Today’s Calm recommendation comes from Jeff Warren, who whilst not my favourite voice on Calm, is the person I most consistently feel a lot in common with, in that he relates experiences that I also feel.
Those who read this blog a lot will realise that once I have done with a Calm recommendation, I need to find one, on YouTube, from a professional ASMR artist. This week another one that is flagged as “unintentional”, so is a bit of a cheat. Although the channel may be professionally curating the videos (and no doubt adjusting them to present them in the best light) it does not feature a professional ASMR artist as such.
Today’s video has notes which are thankfully brief:
“126,358 views 30 Jul 2021
Relax and enjoy unintentional ASMR. 3 medical assessments for you. New uploads every Friday. Thanks for watching! Please subscribe! Peace to all
Original links –
Assessment 1: • Toy ANeuroExam
Assessment 2: • Streifert_T:NeuroExam
Assessment 3: • Splinting EMT 21-58 “
The original links given there are:
and
and
I think I will find a moment in the future to review each of those videos and hear for myself.
So, the clue is that these have been glued together into one video, this is not a favourite for me. Most often videos wedged together like this perform less well than each of the videos would have done separately, but I have started so I’ll finish.
The assembled video is a little less than thirty-three minutes long. It starts in silence but as soon as the sound initiates it has the echoing effect of something recorded in a large room. The medical professional seems, to me, to be a tad on the loud side. The examination itself, though, is quite well paced and the tone, whilst the exam is being performed, is far better than when the medical professional presents to camera. Many students make this mistake. There is a microphone, it is not necessary to project in the manner of an opera singer, not in the twenty first century in any case. Actually, some lecturers seem to make the same error.
I would say it is a little too loud for me, and I am not convinced that the moments of quiet appropriately compensate. However, your mileage may vary. The people feeding back in the comments, associated with this video, are not showing the normal level of ASMR sycophancy. This makes me think it may not be a favourite for ASMR fans either. (Not that I often agree with ASMR fans as I seem to set more demanding requirements in a number of cases). I just want a quiet voice. Whilst I am not averse to a whispered voice, a voice that stays away from whispering is often more interesting. This voice is one step away from a shout, I would say, and I do not think volume adjustment is going to help here.
The video is no doubt a student demonstrating their learning in a specific area and for this purpose it seems adequate. Probably not a great sleep aid though, sadly.
At fifteen minutes the second of the videos commences and, as expected, the sound level is completely different. The echoing is much more pronounced. The medical professional is not yelling to camera but is still loud. Not the calm quiet voice I was hoping for. Here the patient is considerably easier on the ear (at least they seem to be talking and not projecting into the room vocally). However, the sound is a bit off (probably the best that can be achieved when recording in a lecture theatre using a remote microphone). It is a better paced examination but for me just not quite quiet enough.
At thirty minutes the video changes over to the third in the series and this one seems way quieter. It shows that this video does not belong here. No echoey large halls but a small domestic setting. No projecting to a distant microphone. In fact, much more the kind of thing that I hope to find.
The medical professional has a good voice and has a measured delivery. In this case the “patient” has a good voice as well (not that common to find both participants have good voices for our purposes). There is background noise (possibly air conditioning) which is not excessively obtrusive. It is nicely paced and talking is not excessive in it either. My gut feel is that if I were reviewing the videos separately that only the last one would stand a chance in the Procrastination Pen playlist.
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:
Guedel Airway Insertion
Just over a minute so don’t blink, notes are: “192,205 views 17 Feb 2012 Trauma Surgery
This video – produced by students at Oxford University Medical School in conjunction with the faculty – demonstrates how to size and insert a Geudel Airway. It is part of a series of videos on the Initial Assessment of a Trauma Patient.
All 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”
It is presented by the medical professional and is reasonably quiet.
C-Spine Immobilisation in Trauma
just over two minutes so again it is not hanging about, the notes are: “146,839 views 17 Feb 2012 Trauma Surgery
This video – produced by students at Oxford University Medical School in conjunction with the faculty – demonstrates how to immobilise a patient’s C-spine using collar, bags and tape. It is part of a series of videos on the Initial Assessment of a Trauma Patient.
All 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”
Again, it is announced by the medical professional participating rather than a narrator. It is not quite as quiet but it is still not excessively loud for our purposes. For some reason part way through the volume becomes very distant as if the microphone was transported way down a corridor.
C-Spine Collar Application in Trauma
Less than one and a half minutes, so none of these latter videos will keep you waiting for long.
The notes are: “93,033 views 17 Feb 2012 Trauma Surgery
This video – produced by students at Oxford University Medical School in conjunction with the faculty – demonstrates how to size and fit a C-spine collar. It is part of a series of videos on the Initial Assessment of a Trauma Patient.
All 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 announced by the same medical professional and has some quite similar content to the previous one.
Nasoendoscopy (Nose Examination) – ENT
Just less than three minutes, the notes are “598,759 views 17 Feb 2012 ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) Examinations
This video – produced by students at Oxford University Medical School in conjunction with the ENT faculty – demonstrates how to perform an examination of the nose, including use of a nasoendoscope.
All 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 medical professional is narrating and has a good voice for us initially, but later becomes slightly louder.
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.
I recently came across a question that seems straightforward, but, in the manner of such questions, swiftly becomes a rabbit hole for the mind. I mention it only on the reflection that the things that affect your sleep may not be as intrinsically you as at first sight.
The question was how much of you is actually you and how much comes from others. Initially, on thinking about this, I concluded that actually I am all me. But on breaking it down further, I understand the influence over time of parents, teachers, lecturers, employers, work colleagues, friends, famous figures, intellectuals and so on.
Taking aside people for a while, I find the influence of the media, the television, the newspapers, social media, the Internet. Until, in the end, I reach the conclusion that nothing is really me at all. There is zero of me that is intrinsic.
That being the case, the aspects of life that have negative connotations one would think are optional. If one cannot sleep worrying over something or other. In fact, this is outside of one’s self. Socialising to ensure that behaviour was in line with society norms. Expectations of others. Influences absorbed over the years from all communication mechanisms to which one has been exposed.
Similarly, expectations about appropriate times to sleep. The manner in which one sleeps. The things that one wears for bed. The chemicals one should take to assist with sleep and those that one should avoid. Every single one of these (and more I have not thought of) have come from outside of oneself. They must, all, therefore, be optional.
On some level one can decide to reject each and every one of them (in some cases, it would require a lot of work admittedly). I believe that a thought exercise like this is highly valuable. If you are struggling to sleep, perhaps, one of the aspects that you regard as critical is, in fact, up for debate.
Do you actually need to sleep when other people say that you do? Do you actually need to eat, exercise, drink, behave in the fashions that have been laid out for you? Is it worthwhile experimenting to find something that works for you in a better way? Even where such experimentation takes you into areas that others would find peculiar or at the least “different”.
The process requires more work than I have given it, but perhaps expanding ones thinking to embrace options that normally one would disregard without thought, may contain the seeds of a practical solution.
I notice that it is now established (as I had already concluded on this blog) that sleep gets more difficult as we age. Whenever I read articles like this, I always find the explanation of the problem to be far more compelling than the solutions. In fact, after a while, if you spend time reading a number of sleep articles, the solutions seem to come down to the same things.
One would never tend to find any solutions that would require changes that affect the ability to make money. (In fact, solutions like that tend not to occur in any media-based article I notice). For example, if you found that you could get a great amount of sleep by getting up at 3AM and going back to bed again at 11AM this would not be recommended. It would require a restructure to the way that the day tends to operate in the current working world. As far as I can tell it would be feasible to reorientate a day to fit around how a person’s body clock actually works and get the same amount of work done.
However, it would be difficult. Difficult equates to costly, and costly is an option that will never be suggested. I am not suggesting it is the correct approach. However, when you are considering how much of you is you and how much is the influence of others take into account the solutions that are never mentioned. Some of them maybe as powerful as the ones that you consistently see. There will be very good reasons that you do not see them. Some of those reasons may not be a good fit for you.
Of course, if you have found your way to the Procrastination Pen, it is probably because you have got used to using sound to distract you from all the whirring, buzzing and grinding that happens between your temples whenever you try to lay down your head. I have tried for many-many months to lay out auditory solutions. Many of these have derived from publicly available sources. I review one, I determine if it is suitably relaxing, I put it up for you to consider. Some of these have been more successful than others.
Of late, I have looked for sources outside of YouTube and out of sheer laziness, no doubt, I have found that the Internet Archive delivers a resource to which I continue to return. However, it is variable to say the least and today’s offering is no different.
Blink and you will miss it. The video is less than ten minutes in length and it starts off immediately with strong background noise, which could be air conditioning. The participants are so quiet that noises from adjacent cubicles can be equally clearly heard (this is a definite “turn the volume up” video).
I would say that the patient describes himself as “Ryan Parnell” but the sound track for vocals is so indistinct I cannot be certain (even with the volume turned up to eleven). Turning it up in this way made the drawing of curtains for privacy frankly deafening and I needed the modern version of a graphic equaliser to amplify the vocal track whilst muting everything else (I do not have such a device).
The extraneous noises are very distracting; I would make a guess that the recording equipment (such as it is) was really not up to the job.
At this volume the use of a blood pressure cuff is enough to cause you to tear off the headphones in self-defence. At one point, the sound of the person breathing is actually louder than the sound of the person talking. That is, to say the least, unusual. It is a shame because the pace of the examination is well measured and what I can hear of the participants’ voices sounds very calming. The sad thing is that the intrusive noises are louder than the voices here. Not a video I would review again, but as I constantly comment, there are so many varieties of ASMR fan out there. I’m pretty certain there is at least one who will rate this highly.
I tend to spend a little while each day listening to some content from Calm. Today I thought I would recommend one that I heard some time ago:
Calm is not free. If you want to listen to this material you are going to need a subscription. I feel suitably guilty about mentioning a paid-for option that I linger for only the briefest moment on this section and move swiftly on – to the section where I review a professional ASMR artist.
Today I am looking at one which is something of a cheat, given that it is peripheral to the core medical theme that I have focused on for a great many months.
British Doctor Hand Examination | Real Medical ASMR for Sleep
Firstly, it is unintentional ASMR content so is not specifically from a professional ASMR artist, as such. Secondly, it is from a channel dedicated to Unintentional ASMR, the clue is in the name: Unintentional ASMR Sketches. This channel has one hundred and thirty six videos, five playlists, of which the odd one seems on theme for us:
and
and
Here, therefore, we have a video originally created for one purpose, now employed to kick off some ASMR triggers. (More or less the kind of thing I try to find but here curated into ready-to-wear easy to consume packages).
Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.
The video is in excess of thirty-three minutes and so not the shortest we have seen. It has notes: “136,639 views 19 Aug 2024
Welcome everybody! Everyone reading this will share a common love of ASMR, specifically Unintentional ASMR. So, this channel is dedicated to finding the best unintentional ASMR videos around, from medical exams, clinical demonstrations, soft spoken instructionals, psychics, spiritual healers and all other unintentional ASMR triggers to help give the tingles.
Simply put this channel is unintentional ASMR. Plain and simple.
Each video takes time; I do significantly edit these videos both the visual parts and audio in order to maximise their ASMR effects so if you enjoy this content then please give the video a like and consider subscribing for more unintentional ASMR content.
One of the best things about the ASMR community is the comments section, so please WRITE A COMMENT (especially if it’s humorous)
Hope you enjoy the ASMR!”
The notes indicate that comments will be permitted and, boy, are there a few of those. Mostly they appear to be ASMR afficionados trying to prove how in the know they are about ASMR. This is rather sad. Rather than a community of people loving calm voices, this is something more of a clique. No matter, we can ignore such things and draw conclusions about the quality of this video for sleep purposes.
It starts loud, with pronounced background noise. The professional’s title is across the screen: Mr Steve Turner, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon and College Examiner …
Although the video is loud, Steve has a great voice. He introduces the patient as John. John does not get to say anything. The video quality is poor, hazy in fact, and appearing out of focus. I assume it has been captured from somewhere and along the way some quality has been lost. Perhaps that also explains the hiss in the background.
I turned the volume down and everything was much more palatable (rather the opposite to the volume needed for that first video).
The pace is excellent, methodical, measured in approach. Just the sort of thing that we want to hear. There is relatively little extraneous noise. Such equipment as is employed is introduced without excessive noise. However, at 10:20, music commences. It is loud, louder than the vocal track; it is distracting. Given the person providing the channel purports to be editing the videos for palatability why is it included at all? Fortunately, it lasts for a mere moment and we are back to the voice again. At 20:13 we see a University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire banner in the video (possibly a clue as to where we might find the full version of this video). Fortunately, this is not an excuse to introduce yet more music. It is at this point that we recognise that very likely this video is an assemblage of many shorter videos punctuated by those banners.
I executed a search after reviewing this and found that the original video(s) have been taken down. So it is highly likely that this is the only version that you will ever see/hear. In which case it is well worthy of a review.
Todays’ video is a little less than seven minutes, so it will not keep us long. It will be interesting to see if it fits in with a theory I had some time back in this blog i.e. that adults speak much more quietly and empathetically when dealing with children than they do when dealing with adults. I wonder if that says something about the origins of ASMR itself.
This video, thankfully, starts without music. However, it commences quite loudly with a presentation towards camera (I’ll assume that it is a camera). There is quite substantial background noise – an ongoing hiss which probably speaks to the quality of the recording mechanism employed here. There is the odd thunk (presumably of equipment being moved off camera). After a brief introduction the young person (Molly) is introduced and as if by magic, the medical professional’s voice becomes more gentle and more measured.
The medical professional is humorous; the presentation is, dare I say it, kind and considerate. In fact, it is exactly the pace and volume which I have been looking for in a video. Despite the hiss, I would say this one is a good video. However, the length is perhaps a little shorter than is properly ideal. Not least because YouTube is going to slot in a bouncy advert straight afterwards.
For the patient she appears to be relaxed, even entertained, which must be quite a skill to create, I would imagine. I thought this one rather good, probably worth giving a review. In any case, I’ll trial it in the Procrastination Pen playlist for a while to see how it beds in.
On that basis, just one, video on this occasion.
That’s it on this occasion, more next time.
See you again next week.
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.
I am so happy that even professional journalistic accounts are now documenting distraction as a valid approach towards dealing with insomnia. Regular readers of the Procrastination Pen know that I have been banging this particular drum for over a year now. The distraction that I choose is sound.
I find that a particular kind of sound is restful. A low calm voice in an empathetic tone is absolutely ideal. It does not even matter to me, particularly, if the adopted tone is a whisper.
Regular listeners to ASMR artists will notice that the whisper is the go-to level in many of these videos and it does all get a bit samey. You will have noticed that I refer to videos and this is because I have been using YouTube as my source of ASMR material, for sleep, for much of the period in which I write about ASMR on this blog.
However, I have made the promise that I will also explore alternatives. This promise is also self-serving since YouTube is financed by advertising and much of that advertising is so noisy it undoes the good work done by the video itself. I lose count of the times I’ve spent forty-five minutes dozing to a relaxing track only to be shocked awake by an advertisement for some undesirable tat.
Unfortunately, money maketh the world go around, so this kind of thing is unavoidable where the website in use depends upon advertising for its revenue. I have therefore been looking at other sites. Of late I have had some success finding material in the Internet Archive. This week I am listening to this one:
It is from Lasmren ASMR Archive by Lasmren ASMR and straight away I can tell this video is extremely quiet. I had the volume up to eleven and it was still hard to hear it. (Advanced age and encroaching deafness notwithstanding.).
The video is a little over sixteen minutes and is dedicated to someone by the name of “Randy” – if you find the idea of a video dedicated to someone else distracting, I would avoid this one. On the upside there is no startup music. The tone does not involve whispering but on the downside, this is not what I would call my favourite voice.
There are some loud noises that occur in the background (neighbours, I think). There are other noises of course (apart from the loud ones). There are nail clicking noises, rattling noises, movement of a blanket, pill dispensing noises, plastic tapping noises, liquid noises, glove noises, objects being slammed down onto the desk surface, noises from the ASMR artist moving around. Some of these are unwelcome. There are various sounds where devices appear to be knocked against the microphone which, given the rest of the video is quiet, are quite disturbing to any relaxation. I would say that given this the recording level is probably off, and a bit more amplification to the voice was probably required.
Lasmren sounds quite bored; borderline fed up in this, perhaps it is just something in the vocal tone. The presentation seems a bit random, definitely not scripted. I am not certain that it hangs together that well. However, as I have mentioned before, there are as many ASMR preferences as there are ASMR fans, so I am guessing that someone out there will love this.
For a long time now, I have been recommending a track on Calm. I have a Calm subscription and the requirement to subscribe also ensures that you do not need to listen to noisy adverts. The requirement to subscribe also means, of course, that this is not for everyone. Today’s recommendation is this one:
Which is about making decisions on the basis of fear and when this is not the correct approach. He suggests that the best approach is that will always enable us to grow. He points out that you need to be clear about why you are making decisions; could it be that the decisions you are making are because of fear.
If that doesn’t sound very sleep orientated, this is because I frequently find the Calm dailies more restful than the Calm material that is actually supposed to gentle me off to sleep. A lot of that material involves music or other noises that I do not find restful.
At this stage, and for a while now in this blog, I tend to review a professional ASMR artist. I have tried various techniques to avoid choosing just the latest video that pops up in the YouTube recommendations. Sometimes this has even been successful.
Today it is this one:
the ent exam you didn’t know you needed 🥼 (asmr doctor role play)
There are not many comments on the day I am looking at it but those that there are seem to be predominantly positive. The channel is ASMR Viella with 27.8k subscribers, three hundred and five videos and three playlists. The roleplay playlist has a number of medical videos in it but is not predominantly medical themed:
There are, of course, notes, and in this case, these are, thankfully, brief:
“9 Feb 2026 ✪ Members first on 6 February 2026 #asmrsounds #sleepaid #asmrroleplay
This ASMR role play includes medical personal attention, questions and note-taking, physical exam, tympanometry (yes that one), a hearing test, and ear massage / care. hope you enjoy~!
new upload every Sunday at 8PM ET~! ✨ thank you so much for liking and subscribing. ʚ♡ɞ
become a channel member here ❤️:
/ @asmrviella
#asmrsounds #sleepaid #asmrroleplay”
Today’s video is a little over thirty-four minutes in length and so is reasonable compared to some we have looked at recently, but it should not over face you if you simply want to listen to just the one video whilst you drift off. There is no startup music (Heaven be praised) and straight away we are back to the predominantly whispering style of presentation. This means we are on familiar ground (a lot of professional ASMR artists seem to do this). The voice is not unpleasant, but I do like it when ASMR artists ring the changes, i.e. do not opt for a whispering style of presentation.
As we have heard before there are occasional mouth click/cluck noises (I suspect because they are an ASMR “trigger” for someone). Of course, the voice is not the only noise. We have pen clicking, scribbling/writing noises, fingernails clicking against a surface, there are noises which seem to be something dragged across the microphone (these are quite loud), plastic clicking noises, equipment noise including items being placed (quite loudly) on a desk surface, beeping noises, rattling noises, mobile phone alerts, liquid sloshing noises, even the distant sound of aircraft/traffic.
I get the sense, as I have before, that a number of professional ASMR artists try to cram every type of known ASMR trigger into the one video. I think this might not be the best approach. I, for example, like a calm voice, so I find nail clicking and liquid sloshing distracting. If you are the type of person that rather likes liquid sloshing, it might be that you’re not so keen on the whispering, for example.
This one certainly has quite an amount of nail clicking and so if this is not the trigger for you, I’m not sure I’d review it. If it is your thing though, this video should be a good fit (the occasional loud sound notwithstanding). It was not, I have to say, my favourite video to date so I do not think this will be a channel I’ll spend a great deal of extra time reviewing for alternative videos. Your mileage may vary.
Now the ultimate section of the blog article of late. At one time the only section in the article but things have expanded a little over the past few months. This is where I seek out a (normally medical) video and review it to determine if it is suitably relaxing. Given the video is designed for a purpose other than relaxation, these are inadvertent ASMR videos. Some of them turn out to be better than others.
The channel this time is Joy McLaughlin which has only seven videos and yet has 13.8K subscribers. Blimey. There are zero playlists so no point trying to evaluate any to see if they’re suitable for us.
The video is:
Pulmonary Exam
It is only a little over seven minutes so blink and it’ll be gone. Comments are permitted and a number are from ASMR fans, that is frequently a good sign (but sadly not always). The notes are: “598,514 views 6 Dec 2017
Lauren Daley is simply “breathtaking” in her latest short film, “The Pulmonary Exam”– audiences everywhere will be gasping to see how it all turns out.”
Checking the channel, all of the material on it is eight years old so watch this one while ye may before someone takes the whole thing down.
The video starts in silence and then is a little loud, including the voice of the medical professional. I would say that the “patient” here has a better voice. The medical professional introduces herself as “Lauren Daley” who states that she is a first-year medical student at “FAU”, at least that is how I heard it. Assuming I have heard it correctly it is conceivable that this is “Florida Atlantic University” this institution seems to have a nursing programme and it is possible this is where Lauren is attending in 2017.
There is reasonably strong air-conditioning noise, which might be why Lauren feels that she has to speak up here. There is occasional humour, which I did not find distracting. The examination is nicely calm, although never truly quiet. There is an interruption from a person off-camera, potentially the person doing the filming. However, it is not excessively loud.
I think I’ll try this in the Procrastination Pen playlist for a while but it may eventually get booted out. I am doing a great deal of weeding from the playlist into the archive list of late as I would swear, I am getting pickier. (Hopefully that will turn out to be a good thing in terms of the eventual overall quality of the playlist).
On that basis, just one video on this occasion.
That’s it for this review, more next time.
See you again next week.
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.
I recently read some recommendations around the use of magnesium to aid sleep. Personally, I was sceptical. I consider my diet has quite enough healthy attributes. So why would I need a supplement. I decided to go with cheap and minimal to give it a try. I located some 375mg magnesium and vitamin B6 from Tesco. I figured if the bargain basement variety was effective, then there was something in this magnesium supplement solution.
I also wanted the lowest mg I could find as I had been warned that strong supplements of magnesium can act as a laxative, and I was not too keen on that.
In any case, I now find it slightly easier initially to fall asleep. I have found that it has zero effect on the nights when I am already stressed – so far nothing available off prescription does. It also seems to have no, to negligible, effect on waking up during the night. Taking it, I find I still wake up around 4AM and it is still a struggle to get back off to sleep again.
Of course, this is anecdotal. A sample size of one could hardly be called a scientific sample size. There is also a strong possibility it is all placebo effect. However, if so, I’m all for the placebo effect. It might be worth giving magnesium a try if you haven’t already.
So, again, welcome to the Procrastination Pen, the home of restful material to aid in distraction of the sleepless and, on a good night, towards gentling them off to sleep.
Of late I have been trying to find material that is not on YouTube to give you the option of avoiding some pretty sleep-disturbing adverts. One of the people who is more famous than most is Jack Kornfield. Who, unsurprisingly, has a truly excellent voice and one, which, in the past, I listened to very frequently.
Surely meditation royalty like this would not have material out there in internet land that is free of charge?
We also find the odd content in the Internet Archive including this one:
I’m beginning to understand that, with all this information available, one really does not have to put up with YouTube at all.
Following the structure that was established a few months ago, at this point I tend to recommend something from Calm. I have a Calm subscription and so I am in the fortunate position that I can listen to the content there. I recognise that only a subset of the people reading this will be in that position, so I will keep this section brief:
This is about becoming a more extraordinary version of yourself. In it Jay explores this letter. I often find that Jay has some of the more interesting content on Calm, although not usually the most restful. I assume most people want to become the best possible version of themselves and so this may appeal.
Following on from the Calm recommendation, regular readers will know that at this point I now turn to YouTube and look for a professional ASMR artist. I am now not clear whether this is to recommend them. Many of my articles have found problems with content from professional ASMR artists. However, at the same time I have found the same artists with positive legion fans leaving sycophantic comments. I have to conclude therefore, that there are many different ears in the world and they all like to hear something different. For this reason, I persist, in the hope that at least one person who happens across this blog will like the content.
This one is unusual in that it has no notes and very few comments. That does not usually bode well, so my expectations are not high from commencement.
ASMR | Nurses Station 1: Nurse on Cranial Nerve Exam 🩺
It is from ALBERTSVOICE ASMR, which is a channel that has 16.8K subscribers, 3.4K videos, eleven playlists with some playlists quite obviously on theme for our medical – related ASMR reviews, such as:
and
and
and
This is such a huge number of videos I can only assume that the person is doing this as a full-time job. In which case all power to him.
Today’s video is a little over twenty-three minutes. It starts very loud for an ASMR video including a ringing tone, loud speech, and loud keyboard sounds. The phone gets a good clattering and the video continues in the same loud manner. This is certainly not your classical ASMR video. Although we have heard videos with excessively loud keyboards before, this is quite possibly the loudest yet.
There seem to be very loud equipment-related sounds every time a piece of equipment is selected. On the upside, there is no sign of whispering or breathy presentations. There are no mouth clucking sounds or any of those other sounds we have associated with a number of professional ASMR artists. In fact, it is so loud, I do wonder if it is in fact a parody of ASMR videos rather than an ASMR video as such. Although we have encountered videos with loud noises in them, I have rather assumed that this was a mistake rather than by conscious choice. Here it would appear that it is by design. I suspect that unless you give the volume control a healthy downwards turn you are not going to get much rest whilst listening to this one.
It is odd, when I started to review professional ASMR artists I was convinced that the content would be so good that very soon all the inadvertent material I had initially focused on would be shown to be excessively lacking. Actually, the more reviews I do, the more I find that much of this inadvertent material stands up rather well.
Perhaps I made the correct choice, quite by accident, when I started writing this review series of blog articles all those months ago.
As to that, this week’s inadvertent ASMR video is this one:
Neurological assessment video
It has no notes and comments are denied – so reassuringly quite unlike a professional ASMR artist then. It comes from the channel Lila Kalman, which has 1.08K subscribers. This is quite an achievement given there are only sixteen videos and no playlists.
The posts to this channel start three years ago, conclude two years ago and have all the appearance of student assessment videos. Today’s video is not going to break the bank timewise given it is less than eight minutes long. Other parts of the channel look worthy of investigation however, so I will most likely be returning for a further look in the future.
It starts with the typical student video pantomime knock. Usually this precedes attempts at privacy using thin air, which fortunately does not happen here. The medical professional introduces herself as Lila, so I am guessing the owner of this channel. The “patient” seems to be Lauren Hager (assuming I heard that correctly). There is no excessive background noise (somewhat of a miracle for videos of this nature). Lila seems to have an excellent voice. Lauren’s is almost as good. If I happen across Lauren’s channel in my travels I may give it a review. (Assuming that she was a nurse in the same year as Lila, which is by no means a given).
The video continues quiet, and the approach is methodical. Would that we had seen many more such videos. There are occasional equipment noises, none of which seem to me to be excessive. If anything, the recording seems a little on the muted side. One of the rare occasions in which you will be rolling over and turning the volume control up. (Whereas more usually you’ll be turning it down, often quite a long way down). There is occasional noise, which sounds like it might be traffic noise, outside of the building. In which case the building could probably do with some more insulation as it sounds unusually noisy.
There’s the odd pregnant pause, I assume while Lila attempts to recall what it is should come next in the process. So far, so typical student assessment video. There is occasional speech from an adjacent room, which is also the kind of thing that we have heard before.
All told I think a rather good video for us and it is going into the Procrastination Pen playlist.
On that basis, just one video on this occasion.
That’s it on this occasion, more next time.
See you again next week.
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.
YouTube has intermittently started to require me to log on. This only seems to happen on the tablet; it does not seem to happen on the laptop. The upshot is that whilst I am reviewing the videos (on the laptop), I can play what I like and I can write these articles. However, when I go to bed, I try to play the playlist and I get stopped and asked to log on. My password is a lengthy one; I am not at all interested in raising myself from a partially sleepy state to start typing in passwords. I’m sure it is possible, I just don’t value the change in requirements, and I have alternatives that do not dictate to me in this fashion. (Not least a number of videos I have found on the Internet Archive – some of which I have featured of late).
Sadly, it is in a language I do not understand. The person is listed as “Emma Smith” but the content sounds Russian to me. I only worry in case I recommend something which contains language that I wouldn’t recommend if I did understand it. If anyone understands this content and finds it to be filled with undesirable language, let me know and I’ll delete the recommendation. It references a channel, I tried that for further details but found it did not exist. So not a lot of help.
The voice is not what I would call tip-top, but the video does lack background noise, startup (and tail end) music. It is an odd one in that I have seen a few head-to-tail videos (usually by medical students), and this content does not look like any I have seen so far. It is possible that it was extracted from a much longer video. Have a listen and see what you think.
For this week’s Calm recommendation, I am back with Jeff:
As Calm dailies go this is quite a long one. It is close on 11 minutes, possibly even enough to drop off to. However, the thing I love about Jeff is how often he comes up with something which reflects some of the things I have either dealt with or am dealing with. Even where he doesn’t do that, I find the subjects that he brings up to be fascinating in any case. This one is about being able to welcome anything that happens to you in your life. This, to me, sounds like a rather daunting expectation. Even where what has happened will last for the rest of your life. As I get older, I begin to understand there are a number of changes that are just not going to go away. In which case, I think practices like this may increase in relevance.
For this week’s professional ASMR video I have been looking at this one:
Removing a foreign object from your Arm | ASMR Medical role play
It is odd for a professional ASMR video, in that it does not have a description. There are comments but they are decidedly on the surreal side – very normal YouTube then. It comes from the channel sillystarASMR. This channel has six hundred and fifty-seven videos and 7.63K subscribers. There are seven playlists none of which obviously fit with the medical theme which we have been following for a while now.
The video is just less than seventeen minutes in length; it starts without music and straight away we hear that this is not classical ASMR. For a start there is no whispering involved and definitely no breathy moments. There is some mouth clucking noises and some background keyboarding happening. There are, of course, other noises: equipment noises, hand sanitiser noises, plastic sheet noises, beeping noises, Velcro noises, rustling noises, clicking noises, even the occasional clunk.
I would say that the voice isn’t high on empathy (this is in common with a number of student videos we have seen). Which shows how valuable a person who has some empathy in their voice actually is. At one stage there is even some sighing going on, as if the person is tired of the whole thing.
For the inadvertent ASMR this week I’m looking at this one:
Health Assessment
It is from the channel Dylan McCollough. This has four videos, 1.54K subscribers and no playlists. That seems a fair few subscribers for so few videos. Hopefully this bodes well for us.
Today’s video has no notes (usually a sign that it is not a professional ASMR video). Comments are permitted. There are a number of these and quite a few are uncomplimentary. That does not sound good for us.
The video is just less than twenty-two minutes. It starts without music but does have some strong background noise – almost certainly air conditioning. Unlike some of the commentators I rather like the voice. Some parts of the presentation are a mite hesitant so it strikes me as one of the student assessment videos which we are so familiar with. The voice then gets very quiet indeed and personally I was straining to make out much. The auto subtitles seem quite good for that if you really want to watch (I assume you’ll just be listening). Fortunately, it becomes a lot more listenable quite swiftly.
There are noises from other people (presumably in adjacent rooms in the medical establishment). These are unwelcome and quite loud. There’s the occasional clunk from equipment and slamming of doors sufficiently nearby to be quite loud. There is the sound of water running at one point in an adjacent room. There are noises from the patient moving around when requested. I would say that the patient does not have such a great voice and he is a bit louder than the medical professional here as well. However, he is very respectful in his responses so I was quite taken with that. Whoever is operating the recording equipment occasional thumbs the microphone, fortunately that isn’t too loud. The examination is methodical, even gentle, shame about that air conditioning and those extraneous noises, but it is often thus with student assessment videos. I can see why people take videos and edit them to retain only the quiet bits, but how they get over the copyright issues I have no idea.
On that basis, just one, video on this occasion.
That’s it on this occasion, more next time.
See you again next week.
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.
I occasionally listen to a podcast by “Getting Things Done” guru and productivity expert David Allen. I always aspire to be a productivity God but find myself more in the “rushing around trying to get a lot of things done at once” category. Still, I do find his material inspirational in a “if only I was that organised…” kind of way.
It also reinforces to me how important the subject of focus for the Procrastination Pen blog is, and has been. Given that the drive of these articles is to get more and better-quality sleep using distraction as a technique.
Distraction mainly by making use of restful, calming sounds, that soothe a racing mind and make it ready for some rest (where it might not have been before listening).
I have found that there are as many calming sounds as there are people prepared to listen to them. Personally, I like a quiet, peaceful sounding voice. If I can find one that sounds even a little empathetic so much the better. For this reason, for a very long time, I have been focused on YouTube videos with some medical content. (I found that medical professionals often have the better voices, but sadly, not always).
However, the longer I stayed with YouTube, the louder and more frenetic the adverts have become. Also, the more often I seem to have problems with it like a recent iterative logon prompt which went away by itself after twenty-four hours, indicating, to my mind, that the problem wasn’t mine.
On that basis I have started to cast around for material that does not rely upon YouTube, and I have found that some of the video content seems to have been archived onto the Internet Archive.
For example, this one, it is only eight minutes but the voice is excellent. It is also available as a physical file
This seems to be the advantage of this site. Ostensibly you could download the files and assemble them into a playlist offline, without needing to listen to those adverts. Sadly, there do not appear to be a huge number of these in the Internet Archive so it isn’t any YouTube replacement. However, it maybe sufficient to assemble a few videos from various sources and that maybe enough to drop off to.
For some time now I have been reviewing Calm material. I’m making the assumption that at least some of the people that happen across this blog one way or another can access Calm. (Calm requires a subscription). I like it because I have a subscription and more importantly it does not have adverts. I will readily admit that the content is a bit on the variable side and the ones I feature here are just the ones I have got on with the best (so far anyway).
I’ve often reflected that I like most of the artists that record the Calm dailies on Calm (well their voices anyway) but perhaps Tamara has my favourite voice.
This is ten minutes on the value of silence. Including doing everything that you can to preserve silence when you find it.
I have reflected that it is a fortunate person who can find much silence in the modern world. I also recognise that some people with conditions such as tinnitus might find absolute silence to be too distracting. Where you both have and want silence what a privilege it is, and in some cases an asset to sleep as well.
For this week’s ASMR professional I came across a video from an artist who I first discovered by visiting a forum where someone was saying that this person was their favourite ASMR artist. The forum entry seems to be lost now and in my brief reviews of the videos (at that time) I did not find this to be my favourite artist.
I also discovered that all the original YouTube material for this channel was removed some time ago. It is therefore only where someone has reposted a video that you will even get the chance to listen:
It seems that some personal information was leaked and ASMRaurette left YouTube for keeps.
However, there is some content on the Internet Archive.
Including
and
and
and
So, plenty of opportunity to try out the odd video and see if you like the sound.
Today’s video is a little less than seventeen minutes long. The notes are incredibly brief: “712,958 views 23 Jul 2014
20121010″
Comments are denied (perhaps wisely). There is no startup music but there is some background noise. The voice is very muted and almost childlike in fact (perhaps ASMRaurette was very young when she recorded this). The background noise seems to rise and fall which makes me wonder if it is the fan on the computer this was recorded on or similar. The visual quality is poor which may reflect the fact that this has probably been recorded from somewhere and not that well… (such as a piece of software used to stream and record a YouTube video, for example). Although not my favourite voice, this is still a very good voice and if someone caused this artist to leave YouTube then it was a sad day for ASMR fans, I fear. Perhaps a good opportunity to celebrate the videos that we still have.
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:
Airway Adjuncts – NPA, Guedel, BVM
Just less than eight minutes. The notes are: “272,764 views 13 May 2012
This video – produced by students at Oxford University Medical School in conjunction with the faculty – demonstrates the safe and correct use of airway adjuncts in maintaining an open airway.
It is part of a series of videos covering Respiratory Medicine skills 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 reasonable voice; there is a small amount of hiss on the track, however. As before there is no music (hurray) and the approach is nicely measured.
The actual examination is silent, and so rather useful for us.
Oxygen Therapy and Delivery – How to Prescribe Oxygen
it is seven and a quarter minutes and the notes are: “695,126 views 13 May 2012 Nursing Skills
This video – produced by students at Oxford University Medical School in conjunction with the faculty – demonstrates how to deliver oxygen therapy through various devices, as well as the prescribing of oxygen. It is part of a series of videos covering Respiratory Medicine skills and is linked to Oxford Medical Education (www.oxfordmedicaleducation.com)
Please see the BTS guidelines for more information:
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 the background noise consists merely of a muted hiss whenever the narrator speaks. The actual medical procedure is conducted in silence – which is quite useful in this context as we only have the narrator’s voice to attend to.
Inhaler and Nebuliser Explanation – Asthma
Just over five minutes and the notes are: “183,310 views 13 May 2012 Nursing Skills
This video – produced by students at Oxford University Medical School in conjunction with the faculty – demonstrates how to use a nebuliser and explain correct inhaler technique to a patient. It is part of a series of videos covering Respiratory Medicine skills and is linked to Oxford Medical Education (www.oxfordmedicaleducation.com)
Please see the BTS guidelines for more information:
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 is not as good as the last video but still reasonably quiet. Background noise is absent as is startup music. The lack of startup music really distinguishes this set of videos from a number of others that we have reviewed.
The medical process is initially silent and so we only have to attend to the narrator which is rather good. However subsequently we realise that the narrator and the medical professional have either the same or similar voices (i.e. it is more than likely it is the same person) which makes for great continuity.
Peak Flow and Spirometry – Lung Function Tests
A little less than seven and a half minutes, the notes are: “464,178 views 13 May 2012 Nursing Skills
This video – produced by students at Oxford University Medical School in conjunction with the faculty – demonstrates how to perform the basic lung function tests of spirometry and peak flow.
It is part of a series of videos covering Respiratory Medicine skills.”
The narrator has a reasonable voice (not the best we’ve heard in this blog article) but it is adequate for us. The actual medical procedure is actually better than the narration in this one. However, the breathing exercises are too loud for this to belong in the Procrastination Pen playlist.
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.
I suppose it is material like this which encourages me to resist some of the effects of aging like declining sleep quality, and to try to do something about it. Who knows, I might suddenly take up something amazingly fulfilling in later life which I would have missed out on if I’d allowed my sleep to just continue to get worse.
I hope that because I mention advancing years this will not dissuade any young people with sleep issues from reading further. Assuming such a person found this blog, I think the relaxing material which is featured here is very likely to be applicable both to young and old.
By all means, feedback if you disagree.
I think I kicked off Calm recommendations in this blog greater than six months ago. Such that regular readers will recognise what comes next. I have a Calm subscription and I make use of it reasonably frequently because I can guarantee that it is not going to have a loud, unpleasant advert kick in sometime during the track. That said, much of the content is variable, and some of it I do not find as calming as the name would suggest. The one thing I am finding out however, through listening to different ASMR tracks is that everyone is different, and some of the ones that I feel are marginal may turn out to be your favourites.
One of the tracks dedicated to sleep is the Calm Nighttime Wind Down, it is a little less than seven minutes:
As such, personally, I do not think it is long enough to get me off to sleep, particularly on one of my more wakeful evenings.
It is also music-based and as I have commented before, I do not actually find music that restful or at least not restful enough to fall asleep to. So, I doubt I’d do much more than lie awake listening. The other problem, for me, is that it isn’t the quietest. I have had more restful moments listening to ITV in the early hours, to be honest. But I guarantee that there will be someone out there who will love it.
Give it a try and see what you think, assuming that you have a Calm subscription in any case.
I have been looking at resources that are not on YouTube (as I wish to avoid the adverts). I came across this one which seems to me a tad surreal:
Collections: Mirrortube: Mirrored YouTube Videos, Social Media Videos, Additional Collections – Video
Ready for your medical check-up? I’m nurse pillow, here to take good care of you and help you get nice sleep! ════ ⋆♡⋆ ════ If you’re thinking about donating, please consider doing it through the link below!!! All tips “
It is animated, it is somewhat peculiar, and the voice is not the greatest. However, it does lack adverts. I’m not sure that you can download it sadly, I could not see a mechanism for doing that. It starts with music – grr. However, it isn’t the loudest music that you ever heard.
The video is in excess of two hours in length! Certainly, long enough to drop off to.
Why not take a listen.
For several months now I have been reviewing just one professional ASMR video per blog article. I have now concluded that if I just review the latest stuff in my YouTube feed it is probably not as useful as picking out a YouTube video at random from the past.
Those of you who do not spend your time reviewing YouTube videos I suspect would not be trawling the historic entries for something that just might be worthwhile. That said I have found a number of professional ASMR videos are not as scintillating as one might otherwise expect and that doesn’t seem to change no matter how long ago, I look back.
Today I am looking at the channel Alleviate ASMR which does seem to be doing the job that I would like to do myself. It would seem that the channel is nicking other people’s ASMR videos and assembling them into a playlist. I shudder to think what copyright implications there might be. It is my lack of awareness in this area that causes me to shy away from similar behaviour. I tend to review original videos where I can find them and keep the videos in the location and in the state that the originator intended. This often results, in my opinion, in a less successful video than might have been the case had they been heavily truncated (notably to remove any branding music from the start and end of some videos). However, I do not want to disturb anyone who can charge a fortune simply for writing a letter. Especially if they are the kind of person who takes to wearing a frighteningly expensive suit.
The channel has 6.9K subscribers and only eleven videos so goAlleviate ASMR for achieving so many subscribers from so little material. There are two playlists one of which is right on theme for us and one of which is not:
and
The channel seems to have been very active a couple of years ago and then swiftly to have fallen into abeyance. I do not have any idea why that should be.
Today’s selected video is as follows:
Cranial Nerve Exams for Unintentional ASMR
As a welcome change this has very brief notes (rather than the lengthy ones we are more used to): “1,167,336 views 2 May 2023 #unintentionalasmr #compilation #cranialnerveexam
A compilation of three incredibly relaxing cranial nerve examinations to fulfil your Unintentional ASMR needs, perfect for relaxation, study and sleep. All credit goes to the owners of these clips. Check out my other Unintentional ASMR videos on my channel 🙂
Check out more Unintentional ASMR medical videos here – • Unintentional ASMR Medical Videos
Be sure to Like and Subscribe for more! Sweet Dreams 🙂
There are quite a few comments, and many are either strange or for ASMR afficionados in the know. If you have been reading this blog for a while you will swiftly appreciate what I mean by this as at one time or another I have tried to translate such comments.
The video is less than twenty minutes long. It breaks the rules of this section as, although this has been professionally assembled, it is not by a professional ASMR artist as such. I hope that you will give me some latitude. Normal service will be resumed with the next blog post.
It starts with some background noise – probably air conditioning. Then the medical professional introduces herself possibly as Dr Pitford. Two other medical professionals are in attendance and are making notes. It is possible this is an example of one of our favourites the student assessment video. I am used to these coming from a number of the nursing establishments in the US but this person has a resolutely English accent so I assume a UK offering instead.
I would say that this person has a very good voice for our purposes. I have no idea how extensively the video was edited (I’m certain that this is not its usual home) but if I do happen upon the original version, I will review the whole thing for the blog. (I do try to find original videos where I can do that).
There are equipment noises, clunking against metallic objects. None of these is excessively distracting.
Around six minutes in, the video segues without warning to a brand-new medical professional, Vicky, who informs us that she is at the Swindon Academy. As I have mentioned before, I do not like videos that have been crammed together like this. By all means use a playlist, but assembling them into one whole is, I find, jarring when you flit from one place to another, one person to another, and in many cases have changes in sound to go with it.
If anything, Vicky has a slightly better voice than Dr Pitford. A shame that we are not starting a new video. I’ll go with the “I’ve started so I’ll finish” philosophy and plough onwards. However, if I was reviewing this for the Procrastination Pen playlist this would disinclude it. In fact, if I was as brave as Alleviate ASMR I’d take ownership of the video and divide it back into individual videos again. At eleven and a half minutes the video segues again, this time to Tom Sutton who (at the time this was recorded) was a final year medical student. The background noise hikes up a bit and the sound recording is somewhat less successful. Tom sounds a little distant and muted to me in comparison to the two that went before. I would say he has a good voice but by this stage we have been spoiled by the two voices that we have just heard and, in my opinion, both of them are superior voices. Another argument for not gluing these videos together like this.
At this stage in a normal blog post (and since the ASMR part of this blog started) I have been reviewing inadvertent ASMR videos on YouTube. These are videos, ostensibly established for one purpose, but which turn out to be relaxing, possibly even giving ASMR-effects (to those that can feel them).
I don’t give guarantees on the ASMR-yness of the videos because one thing I seem to have established is that one person’s ASMR is another person’s annoying video.
For me, I really like a calm voice. It is hard to define what tone is best, as I have listened to a number, but I would like (I’m sure) a tone that was empathetic even supportive. I’m making a guess that many other people would find such a voice restful and might find my reviews of such material to be helpful.
This week, I have chosen this video which is a little off-centre from the usual medical material that I have chosen to review for months now.
SCEHResources ElkinsHypnotizabilityScaleEHS 2014
This is a professional video so, of course, it comes with notes: ” 487,753 views 17 May 2018
The Elkins Hypnotizability Scale (EHS) is a measure that correlates at 0.86 with the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, and can be administered in 30 minutes. Find this and other Hypnosis Clinical Resources on the SCEH website.
This video demonstrates the Elkins Hypnotizability Scale. For more information, see Hypnotic Relaxation Therapy: Principles and Applications by Gary Elkins Ph.D., ABPP, ABPH. Copyright 2013, Reproduced with the permission of Springer Publishing Company, LLC ISBN: 9780826199393.”
Which, fortuitously, are refreshingly-brief. Given the title, it seems to have been recorded in 2014 but not posted until 2018. There is no obvious explanation for the delay.
No comments are permitted, which, given the nature of a number of comments we have seen, is probably the safe option, to be honest.
There are just four playlists with only one looking a good fit for us, I think:
Today’s video is in excess of forty-three minutes in length. That is not bad at all, in terms of videos we have reviewed of late. A video of two hours in length, so far, being an uncommon thing to find.
There is a fair amount of background noise, an ongoing hiss that could be in the recording technology used perhaps. The voices of both participants turn out to be rather good, calm and nicely paced. I can understand why the professional is good at hypnosis if the voice is anything to go by.
There are paper shuffling noises. These are not excessively distracting and are the only extraneous noises apart from the background hiss.
At thirty-five Minutes the video changes over to a presentation by Dr Gary Elkins at Baylor University. Although a presentation, his voice remains calm.
Many people when presenting seem tempted to project, as if they didn’t have a microphone. The upshot is that presentations tend to be louder. Thankfully this is avoided here. That said, I would not say that this part of the video was the most fascinating thing I’ve listened to. However, given I am reviewing material for its usefulness in driving someone into sleep, I would say this is nigh ideal.
On that basis, just one, video on this occasion.
That’s it on this occasion, more next time.
See you again next week.
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.
As life rushes onwards and time disappears, there come little points at which one starts to re-evaluate whether the activities one has been engaged in were ever worthwhile. Occasionally I get enlivening feedback. More usually not. I am not clear how many people I have reached and if any of them had better sleep as a consequence. It is also clear that the amount of time to deliver content is slowly disappearing.
In the present, I continue to try and evaluate sources of restful content and give you my opinion of it. I hope that it may help on the evenings when your mind will just not be quiet. If only as a distraction regarding the hours that are passing, and in which you would have preferred to have been sleeping.
A little while ago, rather foolishly, I did mention that I would look for resources that were outside of YouTube and did not require payment (such as the Calm subscription that I keep banging on about). The time for locating new sources is at a premium so in a bid to satisfy this statement I am falling back on material that I have used in the past (pre-YouTube playlist) most notably during lockdown. One name that I recall was Gil Fronsdal. I have no idea how I first came across him but I do recall that he had a splendid voice.
Of course he appears on YouTube for example:
and
but the point is to find material that is outside of YouTube and subject to less of the godawful advertising that dogs the heels of each and every video.
Gil has a beautiful, relaxing voice. As we would expect, the content has a definite Buddhism leaning. You may find that off-putting. In which case this review will probably stand to put you off. I am not particularly worried that it has a religious focus as long as the content is relaxing. I would say almost anything from Gil is likely to fit the bill. Some people may miss the video aspect of YouTube (I can understand that). However, this might be compensated for by the fact that you are not likely to be ripped from your sleep by some objectionable advert.
I may return to Gil. Re-acquainting myself with some of his material today I remembered how much I used to like it.
Those who read this blog reasonably often will know that I have been reviewing material from Calm.com for a little while, with the understanding that some people will not have (nor want) to have a subscription to Calm. This is reasonable, in which case after this brief overview of something from Jay Shetty we’ll get back to some YouTube content.
It is from Jay Shetty and I have found that whilst Jay does not have the voice I most like on Calm, he quite often has the most interesting content.
This is quite short (it is less than eight minutes). It considers what happens when you are lost or adrift in the world (and who isn’t). It reflects how temporary everything is and how facing that successfully requires humility and curiosity. (The world is interesting, not threatening).
At this stage, for quite a while in this blog now, I have been reviewing a professional ASMR artist. The results have been a little so-so. Not actually disappointing, but I have had to ratchet my expectations down a little. I am sure that people in YouTube videos are universally attractive but they do not universally have attractive voices. They do not always know how to create a consistently restful video. In this way, my original decision to focus on inadvertent ASMR does not look as crazy as perhaps at one time it might have done.
This week’s is a little left field in that it is only vaguely to do with examinations (medical or otherwise). I saw the title and I was intrigued…
It is from a channel called gumoochie. This channel has 192K subscribers and one hundred and thirty-two videos, so a pretty respectable subscriber per video created ratio. To be honest though, I have not always found that translates towards high quality content. I am not certain why that is, but it does seem to be a valid finding.
This is the first time I have encountered a channel from a professional ASMR artist where there are plenty of videos but no playlists. I’m guessing there is a reason, I do not know what it is.
The video is:
iq test but you’re an idiot (asmr)
a little less than twenty three minutes, the setting appears to be domestic – probably a bedroom from the background, not that I expect you’ll be watching, but listening instead. The video-associated notes are refreshingly brief: “430,120 views 24 Apr 2025
if you want a non-idiot ver, check out the bonus vid on my patreon!!
The comments are suitably off the wall, with a low count of dedicated sycophancy. That, in itself, is unusual for a professional ASMR artist.
The voice, as you would expect, is relaxing. There is no introductory music. The participant does engage in that strange clucking behaviour which ASMR artists believe is a trigger for someone. In which case they are probably right. Just not me. I would be happier with just the voice. This voice does not dwell on whispering, which is refreshing, although some ASMR afficionados no doubt will disagree with me. Not to say that there is no whispering because there is some but it does not predominate.
There are no offensively loud noises. People who enjoy pencil on paper noises or mouth-clicking noises are well served here. There is no tail-end music and no content dedicated to sponsors.
I’m not sure I am up to IQ tests any longer (assuming that I ever was) but I do recommend the video as being worthy of review.
At this point I review a video that is inadvertent ASMR. Since I have been looking at non-YouTube content, these blog posts have got rather long. I am conscious that perhaps I soon need to start dropping something.
This time, however, I am going to limit myself to just the one video and that one being a very brief one at that.
Assessment of abdomen & blood vessels
It is a bit over ten and a half minutes in length. There are no notes and relatively few comments. The Channel is Cassidy George which has 1.07k subscribers but only eight videos – that seems a very high performance for so few videos but perhaps there is a reason for that. The video seems to be one of the student assessment videos which is a type of video that has been reviewed on this blog multiple times previously.
The video was posted on 12 Apr 2023 but already has 30, 786 views. Cassidy seems to me a bit loud to be honest, and the background noise similarly. If it is air conditioning it is really working hard. I am not sure that those views were by ASMR fans. I am thinking not. The presentation is as if presenting to a huge room and yet I would think the recording equipment was nearby and this would have been unnecessary. As the examination is performed, the voice does get quieter but, if anything, this just demonstrates how loud the air conditioning is. The setting is domestic, as far as I can tell it is someone’s front room and examination is performed on their sofa.
I tried turning down the air conditioning noise (which also muted the vocal track) and found that the whole thing was a great deal more palatable. As one of the people commented, there is a regular beep which could be a low battery warning for example from a smoke alarm.
This appears to be another situation in which any listener will be reaching for the volume control in a disgruntled fashion. It is a shame about that air conditioning (how many times have I said that on this blog).
So, not startling. However, I notice the channel has eight videos. If I had not used up so much space reviewing Gil at the start of this article I would have reviewed some more. I think I will be returning to this channel in the future.
On that basis, just one, video today.
That’s it on this occasion, more next time.
See you again next week.
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.
The Procrastination Pen 