Some oil, a relaxation exercise or a vibrating gadget – this is supposed to stimulate the vagus nerve and reduce stress. What about the tips and help that are circulating on the Internet? A neurobiologist explains.
Finding “inner balance” with the vagus nerve. To do this, the longest cranial nerve in the human body only has to be stimulated with a few exercises or technical gadgets. Tips like these can be found on various websites and social media.
It is medically known that the vagus nerve – a central connection between the brain and body – can regulate stress and its stimulation may help people with depression. However, this has little to do with the tips that are spread online. Neurologist Nils Kroemer says so in an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Stimulate the vagus nerve: “But that’s an invasive procedure”
“You can certainly stimulate the vagus nerve, which has also been the practice for over 20 years to treat therapy-resistant depression. But this is an invasive procedure, like a kind of pacemaker for the nerve, and is rarely done,” explains Kroemer. According to his own statements, the expert has been researching with colleagues for some time on devices that can stimulate the nerve externally.
The neurologist is critical of previous tech gadgets, such as those offered online and which are supposed to activate the nerve through external vibration. He considers it a “cloudy” marketing promise, but not medically useful. After all, medical devices that he has been working with so far are significantly more expensive than a few hundred euros.
“It needs a relatively high stimulation intensity”
The expert further explains: “It takes a relatively high stimulation intensity to reliably stimulate the vagus nerve and thus activate the brainstem.” This feels like “many small pinpricks”.
Kroemer describes the vagus nerve as a data superhighway between the brain and body. Compared to hormones, which only reach the brain via the blood, it acts more directly – and regulates, for example, the rate at which the heart beats. The vagus nerve can respond to external stimuli in the form of physical stress by adjusting heart rate or breathing.
“This is where the idea behind many of the techniques or devices in the wake of this internet hype comes from, that stimulating the vagus nerve has a relaxing effect,” says Kroemer, who does not advise against relaxation techniques or oils per se.
“You don’t have to exaggerate that neurobiologically”
They can help to increase one’s own well-being, but they would have an indirect effect – if at all – on the nerve. Nerves are not muscles, so they cannot be easily trained, as is often claimed. “You don’t have to exaggerate that from a neurobiological point of view,” sums up the neurobiologist.
In addition to professional stress management, for example through psychotherapy, he also points to simpler and often underestimated methods: stress can be reduced, for example, by changing the environment. Kroemer recommends listening to your own needs and saying no more often, both in your private life and at work. “Because in the end, being overwhelmed doesn’t help anyone.”
Source: Süddeutsche Zeitung
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