I Am A Vagus Nerve Stimulator Convert – Here Are My Top Devices
Until recently, sleep had never been an issue for me. I could get enough shut-eye to function on flights, festival tents, and once, through a Filipino typhoon. However, acute stress in the second half of last year derailed my otherwise sterling record. As I catastrophised into the early hours, I triggered a cycle I’m sure insomniacs are familiar with. The more I worried about how little time I had left to sleep, the more elusive sleep became. Days merged into a hellish blur, and I struggled to switch off, even at the weekend. It was exhausting.
Looking back now, were it not for the Yōjō Vagus Nerve Stimulator, which I got in early October 2025, I have no doubt I was about to steam headfirst into a burnout iceberg. I’d always been dubious about wellness trends. Groundbreaking ideas rooted in plain science often appear beside ‘miracle cures’, given a shiny marketing spiel that, on closer examination, doesn’t really amount to much. Approach with caution, that’s always been my stance. Except I’m glad I let my guard down and gave my nVNS a fair shot, because it’s improved my well-being tenfold. It’s rebooted my internal computer. I have preached about them to anyone who has so much as uttered about a bad night’s sleep within my earshot. Yep, it’s true: I am now a biohacker, by way of nVNS.
Before I get into the best non-invasive nVNS to try, including my tried-and-true favourite, some background. What exactly is the vagus nerve? Experts liken it to the body’s own M1, a superhighway that runs from the brain through the major organs and into the gut, transmitting signals that control stress, digestion, and general wellbeing. The issue, in our besieged, always-on world, is that nervous systems are locked in a constant state of fight or flight. Emails, notifications, headlines, a cancelled train: all stressors that keep anxiety’s white noise humming in the background of your day. Activating the vagus nerve awakens the opposing parasympathetic system, restoring inner equilibrium. In-ear devices typically include a node that reaches into the auricular branch of the outer ear (the fold just above the ear canal), emitting light electrical pulses to switch you over from fight-or-flight to rest-and-digest mode.
Switching off is vital. If you’re forever locked in low-level panic, your nervous system doesn’t get a chance to heal, relax or reset. Research shows chronic stress can lead to all sorts of ills: poor-quality sleep, high blood pressure, inflammation, and exhaustion. All factors that can contribute to burnout or other health issues.
There are other ways to stir the vagus nerve into action. Breathwork, yoga, and meditation can help, but they require commitment and frequency. The beauty of nVNS is that they’re low effort, high reward, fitting seamlessly into your day, often while you’re doing something else — so you’re more likely to stick with them.
Scroll on for the Vogue-approved vagus nerve stimulators to know
Yōjō Vagus Nerve Stimulator
Why it’s Vogue-approved: This science-backed nVNS tool comes with a companion app, loaded with expert sleep coaching, tailored programmes, wellness tutorials and biotech data galore. The app prompts you to do a facial scan using your phone’s camera before a session. This scan reads minute fluctuations in facial colour and movement to assess heart rate, blood pressure, stress index and parasympathetic activity. These metrics are then compared to another scan once your session is complete.
But you can also use the nVNS independently of the app. Yōjō’s earpiece connects to a remote on which you can switch between modes: Energy, Relax, Sleep, and Stress. Pick your flavour and dial up the intensity until you feel a buzzing sensation on the auricular branch of your left ear. Each session lasts 30 minutes, and you can get on with your day without missing a beat.
I use Sleep mode most, plugged in while I settle down before lights out. It doesn’t take long to feel the effects of parasympathetic submission. Around the 15-minute mark, my eyelids slide to half-mast. By the time the countdown is over, it’s all I can do to switch off the bedside lamp before I fall asleep.
And not just any sleep: Yōjō consistently gives me the deepest kip ever. It’s solid, velvety blackness until my morning alarm. To compare, I’ve deliberately skipped using the tech a few evenings, and the difference in sleep quality could not be more polarised.
Yōjo is offered on a subscription, which includes sleep coaching, the device, and delivery, at £399 annually. It’s on the expensive end, but if you’ve already got an Oura ring or WHOOP, it’s at a similar RRP. The difference is that this wearable doesn’t just track sleep, but gives you the best of it, impacting health, rest and wellness in real time.
Key specs
- Type: In-ear
- Modes: Four
- Usage: 30-minute sessions
- Charging: USB-C
Pros
- Sleep mode is highly effective
- Facial scans give you further insight into your biometrics
Cons
- It’s not entirely hands-free, but the nVNS remote control is lightweight and can slip into a pocket if you’re busy doing something else
Why it’s Vogue-approved: Backed by British Olympian Mallory Franklin, Nurosym earns its stripes for helping top-level athletes rest and recover from gruelling training sessions. As slalom canoeist Franklin reveals, “I train eight or nine times a week in the lead up to the games. Usually this involves a couple of gym sessions a week and the rest on the whitewater. However, I have always struggled with deregulation and calming myself down after racing or before sleep, so I use Nurosym before bed and after particularly tough sessions. It’s been super easy to use and doesn’t affect my other plans or recovery strategies. I have noticed that I can fall asleep a lot quicker, so I feel more rested and therefore recover better, and I’m generally happier and more energetic too.”
The business end of the nVNS loops around the top of the left ear, with a clip to hold it in place on the tragus (the ear fold), so there’s less chance of it slipping out, as an earbud might. This earpiece plugs into a control, from which you can set the frequency intensity for calm on demand. You should feel a light, tingling sensation in your ear — many report it at level 23 — but don’t be afraid to dial it up if it fades over the course of your session.
Key specs
- Type: In-ear, plug-and-play (no subscription plan)
- Modes: 45 intensity settings
- Usage: Up to 60 minutes per session
- Charging: USB cable
Pros
- Approved by top athletes for heightened recovery after training
Cons
- No companion app for detailed analysis
Why it’s Vogue-approved: If you saw Bryan Johnson’s Netflix documentary Don’t Die, you’ve probably seen this Pulsetto device. The non-invasive VNS uses low-frequency pulses to awaken the vagus nerve and its naturally calming responses. It works bilaterally, not just on your left side as in-ear nVNS pieces do, and comes with a long-lasting battery, is lightweight and keeps your hands free. Programmes for stress, sleep, focus and burnout are available on the companion app, and the gadget itself is made with skin-safe materials with a design that fits across various neck sizes for optimal performance.
Going on a trip? The Pulsetto Fit is about the same size as a pair of over-ear headphones, which means you can slip it into hand luggage so it’s ready to help you beat jet lag, too.
Key specs
- Type: Neckband
- Modes: Five
- Usage: 4 – 10 minutes
- Charging: USB-C
Pros
- Keeps your hands free during sessions
- There are also no ongoing subscription fees for the core programmes
- Sessions are much shorter bursts
Cons
- Applying the conductive gel at contact points on the neck can be messy
Why it’s Vogue-approved: Powered by AI and engineered by neuroscientists, this device needs just 10 minutes a day to read your biometrics and work out a bespoke stimulation session, tailoring your session to the moment. The earpiece is bulkier than most others, cupping around the back of the ear with a node reaching into the ear fold to tickle the vagus nerve externally.
The use of AI is what sets SONA apart. It can pair with Oura and WHOOP for even richer analysis, and the more you use it, the more intentional the treatment will become. The app comes with a slew of features, including breathing exercises and gamification to encourage you to unlock new levels with every session, great motivation for cultivating a routine.
Despite the price, it’s proven to be very popular – after selling out, the brand had to schedule a restock.
Key specs
- Type: In-ear
- Modes: Customisable on app
- Usage: From 10 minutes upwards
- Charging: USB-C via the charging case
Pros
- Being able to sync it with a WHOOP or Oura allows SONA to go deeper
- Integrated AI gets better with every use, honing sessions until they’re deeply personalised
Cons
- It is quite bulky compared to other models as it is cordless
FAQs
Why is it so critical for people to rest and digest in today’s world?
In an ideal world, we would all be a lot less stressed. Although Waldi Hoon, founder and CEO of Yojo Health, points out that stress has its place, it should be a “short burst of activity”. She explains that stress-response hormones, neurotransmitters, and inflammatory chemicals lingering in your body over the long term can be harmful. Which is why spells of rest and recovery are needed to restore balance. Hoon likens rest to housekeeping. “Someone’s come in and chucked all the furniture around, and now it needs tidying.”
The problem is that modern life keeps many of us in a sympathetic state, with our stress response running 24/7, all to the detriment of key body functions like digestion, repair, immune regulation, and recovery (processes that aid longevity), which the body deprioritises.
In this mode, Hoon says, “Inflammation rises and spreads, the imbalance between the stress and relaxation responses deepens, and the mind becomes more and more sensitive to reading and responding to perceived threat.”
“This is the very thing behind modern diseases, which are called that because they are all linked to modern stress. They all share the stress-inflammation cycle,” she reveals.
Downtime and pausing to rest are not prioritised in our competitive world, but Hoon is firm that rest and digest is critical to living long, healthy, enjoyable lives.
“The vagus nerve is one of the main communication highways between your brain and your body,” Hoon explains. “It runs from the brainstem down to your heart, lungs, and digestive organs, constantly carrying information in both directions. It is also the primary arm of the parasympathetic nervous system, the rest and digest response.”
How does vagus nerve stimulation work exactly?
Stimulating the vagus nerve “essentially nudges the nervous system toward a calmer, more regulated state, helping to shift the autonomic nervous system away from long-term fight-or-flight and toward parasympathetic activity,” Hoon reveals.
It’s not solely about curbing stress, either. The expert tells me that one of the biggest pros is regulating inflation. “The vagus nerve plays a central role in something known as the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway, a biological mechanism for preventing chronic or excessive inflammation.”
In short? Activating the vagus nerve through stimulation gives the nervous system the green light to truly relax, slow down, and heal.
How long until you feel the benefits of vagus nerve stimulation?
This varies from person to person, Hoon says, “but there are generally two layers to the experience. Some people feel a noticeable shift very quickly, sometimes during the session itself: a sense of downshifting, a bit more space in their head, or better sleep that night. That immediate effect tends to be about moving out of acute sympathetic overactivation.”
But as with all things worth pursuing, consistency is key, she says. “The nervous system is adaptive. If you give it regular signals of safety and regulation, it starts to remember that state more easily.
For many people, that’s when you see meaningful changes over a couple of weeks: better stress tolerance, improved sleep, less of that wired-but-tired feeling. It’s less about a dramatic single moment and more about retraining your baseline.”
The shift may happen quickly for some, Hoon says, but deeper change comes when regulating your parasympathetic system becomes second nature.
Who should avoid vagus nerve stimulation?
While the non-invasive version of the technology is, by and large, well-tolerated, there are a few exceptions. Hoon says, “We don’t recommend it for people who are pregnant. And, for anyone with implanted electronic medical devices such as pacemakers or cochlear implants, stimulation could interfere with their implants.”
Those with complex medical conditions, including but not limited to: significant cardiac issues, advanced illness, active infection, or chemotherapy, should discuss with a healthcare professional before embarking on VNS use.
Hoon adds for anyone thinking of trying in-ear devices: “If someone has conditions affecting the ear or is recovering from ear surgery, caution is sensible since the stimulation is delivered through the ear.”