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Growing scientific interest in vagus nerve stimulation

theguardian.com

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Re: Growing scientific interest in vagus nerve stimulation

#31

Post by robg »

The automatic feedback loop between heart and lungs is really cool. The more you slow your breathing the more you slow your heart. You are choosing to breathe slower via your vagus nerve. The heart responds accordingly.

By contrast the adrenal cortex, a little brain on top of the kidneys, automatically triggers fight or flight with threat detection. By the time you realize it your heart rate is already increasing. Breathing slowly, preferably through your nose, counteracts that physiological stress.

See also the last 100 years of research on the autonomic nervous system.

Re: Growing scientific interest in vagus nerve stimulation

#32

Post by wruza »

BSEdlMMldESB wrote: post #27

[flagged]

What a strange agitation in your comment.

Melanin absorbtion spectrum is easy to search for and the data shows that its interaction with EM spectrum below UV and visible light (freq-wise) is basically zero.

Radio frequencies at “home” energies don’t interact with us, so you can take the tinfoil hat off ;). Things change when you stand right in front of an industrial microwave antenna, but only there and that has nothing to do with pigments.

Re: Growing scientific interest in vagus nerve stimulation

#34

Post by hombre_fatal »

voisin wrote: post #9

> Further research revealed that the brain communicates with the spleen – an organ that plays a critical role in the immune system – by sending electrical signals down the vagus nerve. These trigger the release of a chemical called acetylcholine that tells immune cells to switch off inflammation. Isn’t inflammation an important process for healing? Too much is obviously bad, but if we go turning it off, won’t that le…

All sorts of medications inhibit inflammation because the body often goes apeshit and the “cure” becomes worse than the disease.

Having more control over it with simpler interventions would be a good thing.

Re: Growing scientific interest in vagus nerve stimulation

#35

Post by thenerdhead »

You don't need to buy a $750 USD device to do this either. You can get away with a very cheap TENS device that has ear clips such as:

https://www.tenspros.com/intensity-micro-combo-tens-microcur...

And then look at a study like https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7199464/table/T... to determine what settings to use for your condition.

Re: Growing scientific interest in vagus nerve stimulation

#36

Post by jamal-kumar »

theshrike79 wrote: post #4

I have acid reflux and possibly a mild hiatal hernia. When it triggers in Just The Right Way, I also get severe panic attack symptoms. When I started investigating it (my coping mechanism during panic attacks) I discovered that the vagus nerve travels next to the esophagus through the diaphragm. So my complete layman explanation was that the stomach pushes through the diaphragm during a hiatal hernia -> it rubs again…

Wait until you hear about the research trying to find out if there's a connection between signalling molecules that bacteria release that affect the vagus nerve directly stimulating the brain to eat more junk food [1]

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9102524/

Re: Growing scientific interest in vagus nerve stimulation

#37

Post by hnbad »

buescher wrote: post #24

Off and on, I've been seeing woo about the vagus nerve for a while. This article was refreshingly balanced. Now I know: "Tracey’s discovery also caught the attention of mind-body practitioners, including the Dutch motivational speaker and “Iceman” Wim Hof". Aha. Indeed. Where is the rest of this stuff coming from? Is there a deeper dive?

Any mention of Wim Hof deserves a mention of the fact that the "Wim Hof Method" has a perfect verification mechanism: Wim Hof has a twin brother who does not practice the method and performs similarly well on most of the tests supposed to demonstrate the method's efficacy: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24773331

In other words: there's likely a genetic factor at play much like no amount of training will give you the genetic advantage Phelps has in terms of wing span and lung capacity: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/olympic-g...

Re: Growing scientific interest in vagus nerve stimulation

#38

Post by civilitty »

victorbjorklund wrote: post #18
tempaway43355 wrote: post #2

One of my children has severe epilepsy and has a Vagus Nerve Stimulation device implanted - Sentiva 1000 https://www.livanova.com/epilepsy-vnstherapy/en-gb/hcp/produ... It has really helped although obviously it took surgery and then also nine months of slowly tweaking the settings. Before the VNS they could (for example) not go on a trampoline for more than a few minutes without having a seizure, but now they're fin…

Wow, I had no idea that the science around the vagus nerve had progressed so far that we actually have implants that can be used in humans. Amazing. I'm so happy it helps your child.

I was really skeptical that any of these nerve stimulation devices would work over a decade ago when the hype first started growing around them (among biotech investors, not the public). It just sounded way too good to be true but since then there have been a number of devices treating migraines and seizures that were previously intractable.

Really happy to be proven wrong!

Re: Growing scientific interest in vagus nerve stimulation

#39

Post by obelos »

bgribble wrote: post #14

I have this dream scenario where they discover that the gentle swirling of a cotton swab in the ear canal stimulates the vagus nerve and has these tremendous health benefits, allowing the sanctimonious anti-cotton-swab-in-the-ear brigade to sit down and shut up for a minute.

Make those anti-eargasm prudes take a back seat for a while!

Re: Growing scientific interest in vagus nerve stimulation

#40

Post by [deleted] »

davzie wrote: post #25
theshrike79 wrote: post #4

I have acid reflux and possibly a mild hiatal hernia. When it triggers in Just The Right Way, I also get severe panic attack symptoms. When I started investigating it (my coping mechanism during panic attacks) I discovered that the vagus nerve travels next to the esophagus through the diaphragm. So my complete layman explanation was that the stomach pushes through the diaphragm during a hiatal hernia -> it rubs again…

I spent 6 years trying everything to solve reflux. I am a relatively fit 35 year old. I tried antacids, PPIs, H2 blockers and these just exacerbated the issue over time. Eventually after much reading I read that without enough stomach acid, food backs up and causes reflux. It also causes the LES to not close properly. So I started taking Betain HCL and Digestive Enzymes (Solgar ones) before I eat and I can't tell you…

[deleted]
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