Control Your Vagus Nerve to Improve Mood, Alertness & Neuroplasticity

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Jun 23, 2025

Discover how the vagus nerve connects your brain and body, influencing mood, alertness, and gut health. Learn techniques to enhance heart rate variability, a vital marker of well-being. Explore the nerve's role in neuroplasticity and serotonin production, impacting your emotional resilience. Uncover practical tips for activating this neural pathway to boost focus and relaxation. Delve into next-gen wellness products that support overall health and mood enhancement.

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Vagus Nerve's Vast Mixed Pathways

The vagus nerve is a vast mixed nerve carrying sensory and motor signals spanning the head, neck, chest, and abdomen.
It acts as a bidirectional superhighway connecting body organs to brainstem nuclei with precise wiring.

00:00 / 00:00

Vagus Regulates Heart Rate Variability

Heart rate variability (HRV) arises from vagal motor neurons slowing the heart at exhale and speeding up at inhale.
This coordination of heart rate and breathing supports health and longevity.

00:00 / 00:00

Use Physiological Sigh for Calm

To calm down quickly, practice the physiological sigh: two inhales through the nose then a long exhale through the mouth.
Repeated extended exhales throughout the day enhance heart rate variability and parasympathetic tone.

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In this episode I explain how your vagus nerve—an extensive neural pathway linking your brain and body in both directions—powerfully regulates your mood, digestion, alertness and even certain food cravings, and I explain how you can activate certain vagus nerve pathways to improve your heart rate variability (HRV), a key marker of health and longevity. I also explain how to control vagal pathways to enhance your focus and alertness to improve learning and neuroplasticity. And I explain how your vagus nerve controls levels of serotonin in both your gut and brain, impacting your mood and emotional resilience and how to keep that pathway robust.

Read the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com.

Thank you to our sponsors

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Timestamps

00:00:00 Vagus Nerve

00:02:43 Sponsors: LMNT & Joovv

00:05:41 Cranial Nerves, Inputs (Afferents) & Outputs (Efferents), Sensory & Motor

00:12:40 Vagus Nerve & Sensory Pathways, Body & Brain

00:18:30 Sensory Information, Chemical & Mechanical Information

00:23:49 Sympathetic & Parasympathetic Nervous Systems, Vagus Nerve, Tool: Calming & Auricular (Ear) Sensation

00:30:19 Sponsors: AG1 & ROKA

00:33:38 Vagus Nerve Motor Outputs

00:36:00 Autoregulation, Improving Heart Rate Variability (HRV) Tools: HR Deceleration

00:49:46 Aging, Declining HRV, Health, Activity, Tool

00:52:31 Tool: Exercise, Increase Alertness for Cognitive & Physical Activity, Motivation

01:04:26 Sponsor: Function

01:06:14 Adult Neuroplasticity & Learning, Acetylcholine, Alpha GPC Nicotine

01:11:48 Tools: High-Intensity Exercise, Increase Alertness, Focus & Learning; Sleep

01:18:14 Serotonin, Gut, Brain & Mood, Depression & SSRIs

01:21:34 Serotonin, Improve Mood & Gut Health, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Tools: Low-Sugar Fermented Foods, Tryptophan

01:28:49 Mood, Depression, Gut Health & Vagal Signaling, Probiotics

01:32:12 Calming Down via Vagus Nerve, Tool: Neck Peri-Arterial Vagus Stretch

01:42:00 Tools: Calming Down, Humming, Extended Exhales

01:46:38 Recap

01:48:46 Zero-Cost Support, YouTube, Spotify & Apple Follow & Reviews, Sponsors, YouTube Feedback, Protocols Book, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter

Disclaimer & Disclosures

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