By Vitalijus Majorovas, co-founder of vagus nerve stimulator Pulsetto.
If you’re living with high levels of stress, you’re putting your entire well-being at risk. It narrows your ability to think clearly, function effectively, and enjoy life.
You can recover from the past accumulation of stress, be more content, and improve resiliency for future challenges by strengthening your vagal tone and you can stimulate the vagus nerve at home.
Incorporating simple practices into your daily routine will enable your vagus nerve to operate optimally to relax and activate your parasympathetic nervous system.
What is the role of the vagus nerve?
The Vagus is the longest nerve of the autonomic nervous system and the most complex of the cranial nerves. Think of it as a massive, meandering network of over 100,000 fibers. It is the body’s superhighway, connecting the brain to every internal organ. The chemicals it releases, acetylcholine, regulate and balance blood pressure, heart rate, glucose, and digestion.
Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an alternative to meditation and prescribed medication. It tells your body to slow down, take deep breaths, and, most importantly – relax. It will conserve your energy and slow your heart rate.
The cumulative, long-term effects lead to improved sleep length and quality, improved mood, lowered anxiety, and increased resilience to stress.
How to activate your vagus nerve at home?
The secrets of the vagus nerve have been known for ages, and while it can be stimulated by meditation or acupuncture, it takes time to master and involves some effort. Fortunately, there are some other options.
- Make a humming sound
- Cold-water treatments, such as putting cold water on the face and neck region
- Any breathing exercise involving breaths through your nose, like the Box breathing technique
- Neck and jaw release exercises
- The Valsalva maneuver requires breathing in, pinching the nose, and trying to breathe out for 10 seconds with the nose pinched
- Dr. Stanley Rosenberg’s vagus nerve activation exercise
What is vagus nerve stimulation?
Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is a type of neuromodulation, which is a treatment that alters the activity of nerves.
Vagus nerve stimulation involves implanting a device that sends regular, mild pulses of electrical energy to your brain stem through your vagus nerve in your neck.
After reaching your brainstem, the electrical charge is discharged to different areas of your brain to change the way brain cells work.
Vagus nerve stimulation is a treatment option that you and your healthcare professional might consider after other traditional treatments haven’t been successful.
More recently, Vagus nerve stimulation has been approved as a rehabilitation aid for select people who’ve had a stroke.
Pulsetto
The Pulsetto device is an easy-to-use, wearable piece of tech that only needs minutes to activate your Vagus nerve at home.
