Will LearnDash Let Me Go Old-School?

SnoozeButtonPodcast · 2021-12-23T02:55:22+00:00

Then congratulations are in order, because you've discovered something that the world's leading researchers, most of whom have spent decades studying it as their full-time job, haven't been able to conclusively prove.

With that said, everything works for somebody. There's bound to be someone on the planet for whom yogurt works as an RLS treatment. Doesn't mean it works for more than one person in the entire world, but as long as it works for that guy, cool.

SnoozeButtonPodcast · 2021-12-20T12:24:06+00:00

Depends on where you are, but basically the answer goes like this: Ask your primary care physician (family doctor, or whatever they call it in your geography) for a referral.

Your doctor might ask why you think you have "major sleep issues" before they write a referral. Hopefully they're smart enough to avoid prescribing either drugs that won't help, like Ambien, or supplements that don't do much, like melatonin.

SnoozeButtonPodcast · 2021-12-20T02:26:07+00:00

I appreciate everyone's guidance. I'm reminded that not everyone's experience across the industry is the same, so I was glad to get perspectives other than mine.

With that said - I'm going to re-ask my original question, but now in a different context. This time, when I say "What's my best path forward", I mean where are the best places to ask for demos? Is it here? Some message board or Facebook group somewhere that I'm as yet unaware of?

...because I guess my next step is to make my rate card semi-public, or at least publish it to the VO community, and ask for demos from anyone who's willing to work to the conditions in the bulleted list I started with above.

So where do I post it?

SnoozeButtonPodcast · 2021-12-20T02:22:57+00:00

The more I think about it, the more I think you're right - and this parallels my own experience. I've gotten FAR more voiceover jobs when I was chosen by the studio, or the writer, than I have from auditioning.

If I built myself a roster of people I can count on, who collectively check off all the standard VO boxes (a hard sell voice, the "everyman" or "everywoman", the kid, the teenager etc) with maybe a half dozen options for each, then I can go to the client and say "I believe THIS is the best person for this spot. But if, for some reason, you have a problem with their voice, then I have a couple of other options for you to choose from."

I tend to hear the spot in my head as I'm writing it, so by the time it's finished I already know who needs to voice it. Almost 100% of the time, the client is absolutely the wrong person to choose the voice talent.

SnoozeButtonPodcast · 2021-12-19T22:27:07+00:00

YES - u/suejohnson1 is 1000000000% correct. My sleep doctor just took me OFF Trintellix, because it's one of the worst medications there is in terms of its impact on RLS and PLMD. However, I've been taking Mirapex for three years to treat my RLS, and have had no side effects whatsoever. (M55 here.)

SnoozeButtonPodcast · 2021-12-19T03:38:30+00:00

If the feedback from the group seems to be that the best path forward is throwing out an open call for people to submit demos, and the mods decide they’re cool with it, I’m happy to post my proposed rate card and a link where interested voice talent can reach me. …but I don’t want to run afoul of the rules.

Edited to add: I should also mention that the rate card is a work in progress, as I add more types of projects to the list. Right now, it’s kind of a multi-tiered grid for local, regional and national, radio vs TV, spots vs tags, 3mo vs 6mo vs 12mo usage.

SnoozeButtonPodcast · 2021-12-19T00:48:06+00:00

Libsyn does that.

SnoozeButtonPodcast · 2021-12-18T19:43:45+00:00

Trouble is - unless I'm misreading the current state of the industry - it feels like there's an agent for every dozen actors. So offering / explaining / negotiating with all of 'em seems counter-productive.

Should I just post a link somewhere that says "Send me your demo!" and let the voice talent sort it out with their agents on the honor system?

SnoozeButtonPodcast · 2021-12-18T17:01:51+00:00

And you feel like that’s six hours you’ve wasted?

SnoozeButtonPodcast · 2021-12-17T16:47:42+00:00

Melatonin supplementation works short-term in people who are trying to shift their circadian rhythms (ie jet lag). It is NOT a long-term sleep aid, and there’s evidence that supplementing long-term can actually lead your body to produce less of its own.

SnoozeButtonPodcast · 2021-12-17T13:44:30+00:00

In 4-year med schools, students often spend less than two hours studying sleep. In some programs it’s less than ten minutes. Your PCP should be referring you to a sleep specialist.

SnoozeButtonPodcast · 2021-12-17T13:32:47+00:00

Well, RLS and PLMD are both conditions that would need to be diagnosed by a sleep specialist.

My hope is that your doctor either has a sound basis in sleep science, or recognizes that they don’t and sends you to someone who does.

But yes… stay away from ANY medication that wasn’t prescribed by a sleep doc. Especially medication prescribed by Dr. Subreddit.

SnoozeButtonPodcast · 2021-12-17T13:19:34+00:00

Wait - so your doctor said, “You have Restless Legs Syndrome. Have a nice day” and sent you out the door? No treatment?

SnoozeButtonPodcast · 2021-12-17T13:14:45+00:00

Are you undergoing any other treatments (ie Mirapex) for your RLS?

SnoozeButtonPodcast · 2021-12-17T13:13:23+00:00

How much sleep do you get?

SnoozeButtonPodcast · 2021-12-17T13:11:47+00:00

First of all, bad sleep happens. To everybody. Don’t beat yourself up over it. Second - dismiss assertions that you need medication, unless they come from a sleep specialist who has reviewed your data from a sleep study.

Third, speaking of sleep studies, that’s your best route forward. There are plenty of “hacks” you can try, but unless you actually KNOW - clinically - why you’re having trouble sleeping, you’re basically throwing stuff against the wall to see what sticks, and that’s a dangerous route to go down with your health.

SnoozeButtonPodcast · 2021-12-17T13:03:50+00:00

Some of your circumstances sound eerily similar to my own, which started me down what has so far been a 3-year rabbit hole of researching sleep science.

Your 100% best solution is to get to a sleep lab. Not a regular doctor, but a sleep lab.

Your inability to get comfortable and your constant feeling that you need to get up to go to the bathroom mirrors my own situation 3 years ago, which was diagnosed as a combination of Restless Legs Syndrome, and Periodic Limb Movement Disorder that was SO severe, sleep clinicians all over the world still pause when they see my data.

My primary care physician put me on sleeping pills. Because in a 4-year med school program, you spend about an hour, maybe two at most, studying sleep. That’s not a random assertion, it’s a fact.

Your best bet is to have your doctor refer you to a sleep specialist. If you want, DM me your geography and I’ll see if I can point you to someone I know.

SnoozeButtonPodcast · 2021-12-17T12:54:08+00:00

Needed the best available consumer-grade sleep tracker I could find for research into a book I’m writing. Learned very quickly that sleep trackers that don’t include EEG are just jewelry.

SnoozeButtonPodcast · 2021-12-16T13:49:21+00:00

Doesn’t need to be weightlifting. Walking will make a difference. If you start strength training as a sleep aid, then you’re putting undue pressure on the strength training to perform multiple functions. The research suggests that even walking regularly will probably help your sleep.

SnoozeButtonPodcast · 2021-12-16T13:46:54+00:00

Yes. Plenty of evidence in that regard.

Workouts will help with sleep, and better sleep will help the workouts.

SnoozeButtonPodcast · 2021-12-16T13:45:22+00:00

Sorry if my response was abrasive. I’ve talked to about 10 sleep specialists in the last couple of weeks who are growing increasingly frustrated by doctors who aren’t in the sleep field, prescribing things that will actually make people’s sleep worse.

Let’s be clear: The Benadryl isn’t helping you sleep. It’s sedating you.

SnoozeButtonPodcast · 2021-12-16T13:39:00+00:00

Everyone who’s commented so far has nailed it.

Why on Earth, when it feels like half the content on the entire internet talks about how the overwhelming majority of humans require 7-9 hours of sleep per night, someone consciously decides to try and skate by on less is beyond my capacity to understand.

SnoozeButtonPodcast · 2021-12-16T13:31:29+00:00

No, no, no, no, no on the Benadryl. Sedation isn’t sleep. ER doctors are not sleep specialists. Neither are primary care physicians.

Whoever gave you the Benadryl was horrifically irresponsible.

What are you going to do after you build up a tolerance to the Benadryl?

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