A common question I get around the vagus nerve is “what can I use to stimulate my vagus nerve?”. And I want to start by highlighting that it is my personal opinion that your vagus nerve SHOULD work naturally, on it’s own. If you’re looking for a silver bullet, you might not find it in any of these products.

In saying that, I find using additional products can be really helpful to:

1. reinforce to your nervous system that you’re wanting to move further towards regulation, and

2. get you over that hump when you feel like nothing you do seems to shift the stress dial back down again, so you’re stuck on a chronic stress cycle and can’t get off.

Vagus nerve hacking

The concept behind any device that stimulates your vagus nerve, is that it will trigger an increase in activity. The vagus nerve is the largest cranial nerve in the body, largely involved in our stress response, and how safe we feel in our environment.

I always like to clarify that our environment is both internal and external, and the nervous system doesn’t discriminate. Meaning a mineral deficiency (eg. low zinc), vs being chased by a tiger can both trigger the same ‘threat’ responses and behaviours in our nervous system.

The issue when you have low vagal tone is that once the stress response has been activated, the vagus nerve struggles to pull you back out of that stress response. And next thing? You’re in a chronic stress pattern that can be self-perpetuating, getting harder and harder to put the brakes on.

Vagus nerve hacking increases the strength of your vagus nerve response, meaning you can quickly and easily withdraw yourself from the stress response, back to safety and regulation.

It does not mean you don’t feel stress, or you don’t feel triggered.. and stress is never the enemy. But chronic stress can be!

My favourite vagus nerve stimulating tools

I’m going to put a big disclaimer here. If you try these tools, and you feel worse? Then either your vagal tone is really low so the more it works the more regenerating your body has to do.. OR your vagus nerve is shut down for a protective reason, and by stimulating it you’re going against your nervous system’s innate mechanisms to keep you safe. Not everyone feels worse, but I think it warrants warning.

Simple Somatic Exercises

The best part about the nervous system is that, when you look at it closely, the way vagus nerve stimulation works is via sensory input into the body. And that’s pretty cool because it just goes to show that everything is connected to everything.

I created a vagus nerve library which contains only 10 of my favourite vagus nerve stimulating exercises (to be done at home). I could have chosen a million others - in fact you can find them all over social media these days. But what I’ve done is remove the noise, and given you the best and most effective exercises (in my opinion), using the sensory system as a way to access the vagus nerve.

You can check out the Vagus Nerve Library here.

Ice Rolling

You may have had people telling you to dunk your face in a bowl of ice water to stimulate your vagus nerve? And this is certainly a way to (again) change the sensory input to the face, which then flows onto your vagus nerve. In an ideal world, once the cold shock sets in, the theory is your vagus nerve will then kick in to regulate the stress response associated with the cold shock. However, if you have low vagal tone or you’re stuck in a trauma response pattern? This may not make you feel any better.

Plus, if you’re a dopamine addict, you might get addicted to the dopamine high. This makes you feel good, but it doesn’t actually move that dial towards regulation and vagus activation.

But I digress… ice rolling is a really lovely and gentle way to access the same sensory stimulation, with less of a ‘shock’ to the sensitive nervous systems. And most of the people who find me, are just like me, and highly sensitive!

I love the Boncharge ice roller. It is stainless steel and the perfect size for rolling over your face. Not to mention it has cosmetic benefits for fine lines and wrinkles too!

Best part? Code CARRIE15 gets you 15% off! I wrote a whole blog review on it here because I love it so much, and it is easily one of my favourite regular additions to nervous system care.

Pulsetto

The Pulsetto is an electrical vagus nerve stimulating device, that is worn around the neck. It is direct electrical stimulation to the vagus nerve. This means relative to the ice roller, and the somatic exercises, it’s kinda a step up in terms of intensity. In that sense, it results can be even stronger - meaning you might feel so much better once your vagus kicks in, or you could feel worse if it’s too much for your system. I really like to be upfront about that, because I do not believe there is one device that is going to work for every single nervous system.

In saying that, the sequences you use on the Pulsetto are short and sweet. And if you don’t feel good, you would build up your exposure. Just like anything else!

I find the Pulsetto a great way to stimulate my vagus nerve when it needs a bigger nudge than the ice roller and the somatic exercises. Those weeks where no matter what I do, I just cannot unwind and recalibrate back into regulation. Sometimes we need some extra help in that area, and the Pulsetto is fantastic for it.

I also find it useful for clients who have so much dysregulation that they need a boost to teach their nervous system that there can be safety. It can really get them over that initial hump, and then once the vagus nerve begins to increase in tone, the inner work is much easier to do. Things just really start to fall into place.

If you’re interested to read more about how to use the Pulsetto, I’ve written more about it here. Otherwise you can also head to their website and read more.

EFT Tapping for Emotional Regulation

This isn’t exactly what many people think of when they think vagus nerve hacking.. but let me explain! I mentioned in the beginning that the nervous system doesn’t discriminate against threats, and that any threat can cause the stress response to be triggered. For some, this may be due to low vagal tone, for others it may be due to external stressors in the environment. And for others again, it could actually be their own emotions that are triggering their nervous system dysregulation.

EFT tapping provides an emotional regulation tool to release the emotions from the body. Because sometimes we can have a habit of storing them for later, and perpetuating the same reactions over and over (even if we are aware and don’t want to do so).

Working with both the emotional centres of the brain and the physical body, tapping allows release of emotions, patterns, reactions, stories.. all the while creating safety in your nervous system.

Here at Dr Carrie headquarters we LOVE tapping so much that we have created a monthly group tapping session, to provide the tapping experience at an affordable price. Plus you get the added benefit of coregulating with a group of likeminded individuals. These are run by Ashleigh, our somatic arts therapist and clinical EFT tapping facilitator. She also provides 1:! somatic arts therapy sessions online if you prefer to process in the privacy of an individual consult.

One size does not fit all when it comes to nervous system regulation

There are of course many, many other ways to stimulate your vagus nerve and improve your vagal tone.

Depending on your experiences of life to date, your health right down to your cells and mitochondria, even your epigenetics.. there are always going to be differences when it comes to what works for your system.

And honestly? That’s why there is a team of practitioners here, ready to help you in the best way for your own system. Many work online too, to remove location barriers. Get the ball rolling with one of our practitioners here.

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