I was intrigued with Hyman's theory so I decided to research further.
What I found is that if the vagus nerve isn't functioning as intended due to low vagal tone, an infection, toxicity or something else happening inside your body, a traffic jam builds up and vital information can't be communicated back and forth between your brain and your organs.
This is where numerous health problems arise, and where the importance of vagus nerve stimulation comes into play.
As it turns out, a handful of researchers had already started to explore a more invasive form of vagus nerve stimulation as a cure for certain health ailments like depression and epilepsy, yet it wasn't exactly public knowledge yet.
With this more invasive method, vagus nerve stimulation devices are surgically implanted under the skin on the chest.
When activated, the device sends electrical signals along the left vagus nerve to your brain stem, which then sends signals to certain areas in your brain.
I also found that a few other noninvasive vagus nerve stimulation devices, which don't require surgical implantation, were being used in Europe treat epilepsy, depression and pain, and yet another device was approved by in the United States for the treatment of cluster headaches.
The majority of the studies were very promising.
In one study published in Biological Psychiatry in 2005, 124 people received usual treatment for depression and 205 people received usual treatment plus vagus nerve stimulation.
After one year of treatment, the combination treatment group showed more improvement than the usual treatment group.
Significant improvement was seen in 27% of patients that received vagus nerve stimulation versus 13% that did not.
As I dug through the research, I started to ask myself - could vagus nerve stimulation help me feel better?
Was it the missing link in my wellness plan?
I wasn’t quite sure, but I was determined to find out.
To naturally stimulate the vagus nerve without having to worry about getting a device implanted, Hyman recommended a natural and non-invasive soft-belly breathing technique.
Unfortunately, with my failing memory, my compliance with this method was marginal at best.
Regardless of how hard I tried, I could never remember and prioritize the breathing technique.
As the months passed, the universe kept trying to remind me of the vagus nerve and its need for stimulation.
I vividly recall the day my favorite yoga instructor had us feel behind our earlobe on the mastoid bone as we practiced our deep breathing.
She echoed Hyman’s theory that deep yoga breathing could stimulate the vagus nerve and trigger the "rest, digest and heal" parasympathetic state in which all healing occurs.