{"id":219488,"date":"2025-08-06T00:13:48","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T05:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/vagus-nerve-stimulation-paired-with-meditation-increases-self-compassion-and-mindfulness-benefits"},"modified":"2025-08-06T00:13:48","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T05:13:48","slug":"vagus-nerve-stimulation-paired-with-meditation-increases-self-compassion-and-mindfulness-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/vagus-nerve-stimulation-paired-with-meditation-increases-self-compassion-and-mindfulness-benefits","title":{"rendered":"Vagus nerve stimulation paired with meditation increases self-compassion and mindfulness benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/vagus-nerve-stimulation-paired-with-meditation-increases-self-compassion-and-mindfulness-benefits2.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Stimulating the vagus nerve with a device attached to the outer ear can help make compassion meditation training more effective at boosting people\u2019s capacity for self-kindness and mindfulness, finds a new study led by University College London (UCL) researchers.<\/p>\n<p>The study, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/product\/identifier\/S0033291725101013\/type\/journal_article\" target=\"_blank\">published<\/a> in <i>Psychological Medicine<\/i>, adds to evidence of the potential benefits of stimulating this key nerve that connects the brain with major organs in the chest and abdomen.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/medicalxpress.com\/tags\/vagus+nerve\/\" rel=\"tag\" class=\"\">vagus nerve<\/a> plays a crucial role in the \u201crest-and-digest\u201d (parasympathetic) system, counteracting the \u201cfight-or-flight\u201d (sympathetic) <a href=\"https:\/\/medicalxpress.com\/tags\/stress+response\/\" rel=\"tag\" class=\"\">stress response<\/a>, and allows the brain to communicate with all major organs in the body. By transmitting signals from the body up to the brain, the vagus nerve can also regulate a range of psychological processes, including some involved in social interactions and emotional control.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stimulating the vagus nerve with a device attached to the outer ear can help make compassion meditation training more effective at boosting people\u2019s capacity for self-kindness and mindfulness, finds a new study led by University College London (UCL) researchers. The study, published in Psychological Medicine, adds to evidence of the potential benefits of stimulating this [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":662,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-219488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-neuroscience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219488\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}