HOW TO TONE YOUR VAGUS

WH contributor Victoria Woodhall tries the latest and greatest in vagal toning

LOVING KINDNESS MEDITATION

What: A specific type of Buddhist meditation, it was the basis of a

2013 study by scientists at the University of North Carolina, which showed how positive emotions and feelings of social connection improved vagal tone.

The verdict: I used a 13-minute free Soundcloud session from Happy Buddha. The aim is to imagine people who love you sending warmth and wellbeing, with you radiating it back to them and the world. I felt a definite softening and a sense of letting go. I didn’t realise that my default mode was defensive, which is a sign that I could be spending too much time in a worked-up fight-or-flight state.

A COLD SHOWER What: Cold water on the face activates your mammalian dive reflex, which stimulates the vagus nerve. It’s also been shown that as the body begins to get used to cold, the nervous system calms down. The verdict: After a few bracing seconds, a cold shower became a very zen experience – I was too cold to think about anything. Afterwards, I felt a strange sense of calm – and actually surprisingly warm.

THE WEARABLE PEBBLE

What: Vibro-acoustic therapy – where a very low-frequency sound is played through a pad in the back of a chair – has long been used to help treat conditions such as migraine, insomnia, eating disorders and chronic pain. Now the technology has been shrunk to a smartphone-linked wearable called the Sensate (£199.99, getsensate.com) for calm on the go. The verdict: I tucked the pebble down my bra and activated it via an app on my smartphone, which played relaxing music in my headphones and sent throbbing pulses of sound to the Sensate on my breastbone. It’s nonverbal, which I like – a breathy voice can sometimes grate on me. Just 10 minutes felt like a turbo meditation.