What if one nerve quietly connects your brain to your heart, gut, immune system, and even how long you live? Dr. Elisabetta Burchi explains why the vagus nerve may be the missing link in stress resilience, cognition, and longevity.
CHAPTERS:0:00 - The vagus nerve and longevity medicine
0:27 - Show intro
1:18 - Welcome Dr. Elisabetta Burchi from Florence
2:04 - Psychiatry, neuroscience, INSEAD MBA
6:25 - Joining Parasym as 4th employee
14:10 - What is the vagus nerve? Neuromodulation 101
18:00 - Autonomic nervous system: sympathetic vs. parasympathetic
20:00 - Fight-or-flight and the modern chronic stress problem
23:22 - Chronic stress as a driver of disease and aging
26:30 - Vagus nerve stimulation as therapy
28:40 - Vagal tone, HRV, and aging
30:36 - Invasive vs. noninvasive VNS
33:00 - How transcutaneous auricular VNS works
34:00 - Published findings: HRV, inflammation, cognition
36:00 - 55+ published clinical trials
36:30 - Cardiovascular, long COVID, fibromyalgia
38:00 - Cognitive enhancement in healthy people
40:00 - How to use it: 30-minute sessions
43:00 - Sleep improvement
45:50 - Athletic recovery and performance anxiety
47:22 - Elisabetta's personal routine
49:56 - The future of neuromodulation
55:00 - Long COVID data
57:00 - Longevity medicine and vagal neuromodulation
58:42 - Closing
REFERENCES:Parasym / Nurosym Scientific Evidence (50+ Studies):
nurosym.com/scientific-evidence
taVNS Improves Long COVID Symptoms (Frontiers in Neurology, 2024):
PMC11097097
Cholinergic Anti-Inflammatory Pathway (PMC, 2018):
PMC5826620
HRV and Exceptional Longevity (Frontiers, 2020):
PMC7527628
Baseline HRV as Guide to taVNS Response (Translational Psychiatry, 2025):
PMC12689627
GUEST: Dr. Elisabetta Burchi, MD, MBA - Head of Research, Parasym
HOST: Dr. Robert Lufkin MD
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