Stimulating the vagus nerve is a popular biohack, having been shown to reduce depression, anxiety and produce a relaxing effect in the body.
The vagus nerve is an extensive network of fibers located throughout your body that transmit neuronal messages between the brain and major metabolic organs, including those responsible for inflammation response, metabolism and more. It plays an integral part in shaping these systems’ responses as well.
1. Deep Breathing
Deep breathing is one of the easiest and most straightforward ways to biohack your vagus nerve. Just one session can reduce stress levels, enhance mood and even lower risk for Alzheimer’s. Deep breathing releases neurotransmitters such as serotonin and norepinephrine which act as relaxation agents in both mind and body.
A healthy vagus nerve can assist with regulating many vital organs such as the digestive tract, stomach and intestines, lungs, heart, liver and kidneys. Additionally, it regulates hormone release that affects emotions and feelings of well-being; when overstimulated however, this could contribute to symptoms of depression, anxiety, obesity or chronic health conditions like cardiovascular disease.
Your vagus nerve sends signals to both your gastrointestinal tract and lungs that regulate how much air you take in and out. In order to stimulate this nerve and make your lungs more efficient, taking deeper and slower breaths is key for stimulating it and strengthening it further. Neuroscientist Mara Mather discussed in an episode of “The Science of Sleep,” deep breathing could help combat anxiety and depression because it activates parasympathetic nervous system while teaching your lungs relaxation techniques.
Music can also help stimulate the vagus nerve by using rhythmic, soothing music. Studies have demonstrated that listening to soothing tunes can increase HRV and encourage vagal tone; simply switching on an upbeat playlist or investing in special headphones such as Neuvana’s Xen model are great ways to activate vagal nerve activity.
The vagus nerve plays an integral part in our emotional and physical wellbeing. It regulates gut microbiome composition, heart rate and blood sugar levels, creating “gut feelings”, encouraging social interactions to promote overall mental and emotional health, encouraging gut feeling experiences and supporting social interactions that boost overall mental and emotional wellness. While there are other things you can do to boost its health – like including probiotic-rich food in your diet and taking daily vitamin D supplements – deep breathing offers an easy, affordable solution.
2. Cold Immersion
Cold exposure is an effective means of activating the vagus nerve and improving mental clarity, and is widely practiced among biohackers (including Dave Asprey, the creator of Bulletproof Coffee and 4x New York Times best-selling author). Cold showers or dunking your head in cold water may provide this stimulus; cryo therapy is another option, though more expensive and inaccessible to most.
The vagus nerve is at the core of your parasympathetic nervous system, which regulates involuntary functions like digestion and heart rate. Immersion of cold water stimulates this nerve and prompts a “rest and digest” response which helps relieve stress while improving mental clarity.
Cold exposure can help boost your metabolism and maintain a healthy weight by using energy from within to produce heat in order to generate heat – this allows the body to use this process of thermogenesis to promote weight loss and ensure you achieve peak physical performance faster. Cold immersion may also speed recovery post exercise sessions for enhanced physical fitness levels.
Regular cold immersion can train your nervous system to handle high levels of stress more effectively, according to research findings from one recent study. Cold water immersion enhances neural adaptation, helping the brain manage emotions more effectively.
Cold exposure has many health benefits beyond emotional regulation and stress tolerance; it may even boost memory and learning capabilities. This is due to stimulating the vagus nerve, which controls norepinephrine production for increased alertness and stress tolerance.
Huberman Lab podcast episode #66 details how intentional exposure to cold temperatures can positively impact body and brain health. Tuning your vagus nerve to relax your mind and body is a great way to increase cognitive function; simply taking a cold shower or watching an entertaining video may suffice! Listen here.
3. BrainTap
BrainTap is a brain wellness tool that uses neuro-entrainment, light therapy and vagus nerve stimulation to help your body relax and reset. Furthermore, BrainTap strengthens mental focus and mindfulness so you can achieve more in life.
This headset utilizes proven science and technology to activate your natural relaxation response, relieving stress, increasing energy levels, and improving sleep quality. By employing frequency following response – a form of brainwave entrainment known as frequency matching response – the headset produces specific frequencies to match up with what states you desire for your mind to be in; each audio session guides you toward deeper relaxation or meditative awareness states.
It can help your brain shift from an overly stressful, self-critical state into one that’s open, creative and empathic – helping break through mental blocks to reach goals faster.
Each session helps your brain produce a healthy equilibrium of its five primary brainwaves: alpha, beta, delta and theta. These waves are key in controlling the parasympathetic nervous system (relaxation response), which reduces cortisol, reduces stress levels and enhances mood, sleep quality and recovery.
BrainTap goes beyond other wearables that monitor your heart rate variability by training your body to relax through guided breathwork exercises that help slow breathing and activate parasympathetic nervous system activity. With various series available for anxiety, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as cognitive enhancement such as focus memory and more; you can select which is right for you.
Sensate Neurostim is another device that combines vagus nerve stimulation with brainwave entrainment; you can wear it like a necklace and it sits over your sternum vibrating at precisely the frequency required to stimulate vagus nerve through bone conduction and activate parasympathetic nervous response. It comes equipped with an app offering 10- 30 minute sessions ranging from meditation to deep sleep activation; its vibrating stimulator is combined with audio track instructions so you can easily and conveniently biohack your vagus nerve at home
4. Vagus Nerve Stimulation
The vagus nerve acts like an intrabody phone line that connects your brain with your lungs via your heart and digestive tract, with stops at various other organs to facilitate communication between organs along its course. It serves as the main communication conduit for the parasympathetic nervous system – the relax-digest branch of autonomic nervous systems which works opposite to fight-or-flight responses and allows your body to heal, regenerate and process more easily.
Stimulating the vagus nerve is one of the best ways to harness your nervous system, and can be achieved in an easy, non-invasive manner with Xen by Neuvana technology. Through earbuds, gentle electrical signals from Xen are sent directly to your vagus nerve, stimulating it with gentle electrical signals for relaxation and stress relief – something particularly helpful for high achievers or people living with chronic pain.
Studies have demonstrated that stimulating the vagus nerve can increase secretion of acetylcholine, associated with improved mood. Studies have also indicated that using an electronic stimulation device on the vagus nerve can help to alleviate depression as well as improve sleep quality in those living with fibromyalgia, or treat refractory depression when antidepressant drugs don’t work effectively.
More recently, researchers have demonstrated that stimulating the vagus nerve can effectively reduce inflammation. This discovery holds great promise for treating rheumatic conditions; earlier this year researchers from SetPoint Medical implanted vagus nerve stimulators into patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and saw significant reduction in symptoms and progression.
Neuromodulatory therapy may become increasingly popular over time. Already used to treat refractory epilepsy cases, more and more studies are being performed on it as an option in treating other mood disorders including treatment-resistant depression.
Bryan Johnson is a billionaire biohacker who has explored various methods to prolong his lifespan and increase physical performance. He believes it may be possible to reverse aging by stimulating the vagus nerve. For this project, Bryan has assembled a team of specialists, such as researchers from Jefferson Health as well as engineers worldwide; their research includes studying how ketogenic diet affects it as well as ways exercise, meditation and yoga can stimulate it for improved mood management and reduced stress levels.
