29/10/2025
Stimulating your Vagus Nerve activates your parasympathetic nervous system - your body’s rest, digest, and repair mode. But yes, you can overstimulate it - and it can lead to dizziness, nausea, feeling spacey and in severe cases, reduce your heart rate too much.
Regulation isn’t one-size-fits-all. Ice plunges for example are not advisable for everyone, certainly not if you struggle with strong stress responses. It can spike blood pressure even further and strain your cardiovascular system. Start slow with gentle cold exposure to build capacity without flipping into more dysregulation.
Similarly, long baths or nights on the couch fuelled with wine can aggravate the dorsal vagal response and deepen the collapse, slowing the heart rate even further, reinforcing the “checked out” feeling. Your body will benefit more from humming, gentle rebounding and cool showers.
💡Be state-specific: know your state before choosing your tools. The right practice for the wrong state can make you feel worse, not better!
A bit about “Wired buy Tired”/ Freeze:
Freeze is the body’s response to extreme / life-threatening stress, and functional freeze or “always wired but tired” often comes from unresolved trauma and chronic stress.
Gentle movement, vibration, mental health support, and safe connection with trusted others are some of your bridges back to presence.