The Vagus Nerve: Is It the Sleep Swith?

Can “activating your vagus nerve” really help you sleep? In this episode, Justin breaks down what the vagus nerve actually does, why it matters for that tired-but-wired feeling, and whether gadgets like ear stimulators are worth your money. 

Transcript

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Welcome back to Night Shift with Justin S. King, How to Transform Your Life One Night at a Time. Tonight we are going to be talking about vagus nerve and whether or not vagus nerve stimulation can help you sleep better. So the vagus nerve is a major part of your parasynthetic nervous system, the side of your nervous system that helps you slow down, digest, recover, and downshift. And sleep tends to come easier when your body can move out of a stressed, activated state and into a calmer one. Insomnia is often tied to that exact problem, not being fully awake, but not being able to truly downshift. So the best way to say is that the vagus nerve doesn't put you to sleep. It helps support the kind of body state that makes sleep more possible. That matters because if you've ever felt tired but still awake, it can support the kind of state your body needs to be in to fall asleep. Slow breathing, humming, gentle exhaling, and other so-called vagus nerve exercises may help you feel more relaxed, but the first go-to line for falling asleep faster and staying asleep is still CBTI or chronic or cognitive behavior therapy for insomnia, which includes timing and many of the factors we've discussed on this podcast in the past. I've seen lately a lot of gadgets about vagus nerve stimulation, and there is some promising research about this. In 2024, a randomized clinical trial people with chronic insomnia used ear-based vagus nerve stimulation, had a greater improvement in sleep quality than the other group, and the benefit lasted after treatment ended. In 2025, an analysis also found improvements in insomnia measures, but rated the overall evidence quality as low to very low. That means it's promising, but there's no proven, it's not proven enough to be a slam dunk for everyone. The broader consumer gadget world right now is like wearables and comming bracelets and necklaces. These are a lot of the products that you will see on Facebook, marketed with language, but not much specifically for insomnia, and they may help you feel relaxed. And whether that's a more placebo or a personal experience, is you'll have to try that for yourself. So don't make the mistake that thinking a gadget is going to help solve your evening, your insomnia. Still, for now, it's my preference that we cut off electronics an hour before bed. Stick with the consistent sleep times if you haven't nailed that down yet. Going to bed at the same time, waking up at the same time, stopping electronics an hour before bed. If you haven't nailed those down yet, get to those before you add some kind of gadget into your routine. So for tonight's night shift, take a look at the 103210 formula and ask yourself, are you following that? Are you going to bed at the same time every night? Are you waking up the same time every day? Are you stopping screens one hour before bed? Stopping work two hours before sleep, stopping having meals three hours before bed and ending caffeine ten hours before sleep. Look at those first if you're just looking to solve your insomnia or your sleep problems, and then look at experimenting with other devices. My name is Justin S. King. If you'd like a free checklist of the 103210 formula, head over to my website, Justin S. King.comslash fast. I help entrepreneurs find peace tonight, tomorrow, and for the rest of their lives through sleep optimization, emotion regulation, and discovering their purpose. Good night.