Woman tried the ear gadget biohacker Bryan Johnson swears by – and says it ended 15 years of dread
A charity worker from Devon that uses the same science as billionaire biohacker Bryan Johnson, claims a tiny ear device ended her daily sense of dread.
Rita Simpson, woke up every morning for 15 years feeling anxious, unhappy and emotionally exhausted.
She was miserable for so long that she thought it was simply ‘part of her personality’, that is, until she discovered a clever wearable gadget known as a vagus nerve stimulation device that could improve her mood.
Wait, what is the vagus nerve?
The vagus nerve plays a big part in things you don’t consciously control, like your heart rate, digestion and how your body handles stress. It helps you switch from ‘flight or fight’ mode into ‘rest and recover’ mode, which is the state most of us struggle with to reach after a long day.
The Nurosym device clips on to the tragus, a small flap of cartilage in front of your ear canal. It then sends gentle electrical pulses to a branch of the vagus nerve that sits close to the skin there.
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Biohacker Bryan Johnson, used vagus nerve stimulation devices as part of his stress resilience routine as it is believed high stress levels are linked to early signs of ageing.
For Rita, 49, she says after she discovered Nurosym she experienced something she hadn't felt in years: waking up calm.
After around six months of daily use, Rita reports feeling calmer throughout the day, better able to handle stressful situations and less emotionally reactive at work.
She says she no longer turns to alcohol to cope with difficult feelings and that the suicidal thoughts she previously experienced have gone.
“My mind will still try to worry and make me feel certain ways, but my body won’t join in anymore. My mind does what it has always done, but the thoughts don’t snowball into something bigger. They die off.”
Rita recalls how she had become skilled at hiding how she felt, presenting a capable and composed version of herself at work while struggling internally, “I was told I was really good at masking, which is a handy skill to have, but it’s also exhausting.”
Outside work, she withdrew from friends and family, avoided social situations and sometimes found it difficult to hear about other people's happiness because her own life felt so different.
“You’re feeling one thing but showing something different. You can feel quite fake even though you’re not.”
Rita had dedicated much of her working life to supporting other after her own experience with homelessness as a teenager, but the emotional demands of her work, alongside personal challenges and bereavement, gradually took their toll.
At her lowest points, Rita sometimes turned to alcohol to escape her feelings and experienced suicidal thoughts. Despite seeking professional support, including private therapy and Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), she says the underlying dread remained.
After researching the vagus nerve and its role in regulating the body's response to stress, Rita discovered Nurosym, designed to support nervous-system regulation and requires no surgery.
Having previously experienced a sense of calm following ear acupuncture, she was interested in exploring whether non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation could become part of her daily wellbeing routine.
Rita says she noticed a feeling of calm during her first session with Nurosym, but initially assumed it would be temporary.
After several weeks of consistent use, however, she began noticing a difference that extended beyond the time she spent wearing the device.
“Now I’m doing that job again and noticing the same thing. I feel like a different person, but I also remember that I used to feel like this.”
“Nothing else I tried did this for me. It has given me hope because I know this isn’t how I always was, so it doesn’t have to be who I am.”
Nurosym is certainly an investment at £599, and it won’t replace sleep, exercise or medical advice. If you have a pacemaker, cochlear implant or any other implanted device, speak to your GP first.
If you’re curious about the gadget that made the cut in one of the world’s most extreme health routines, you can find out more about Nurosym here.
What is Nurosym?
Nurosym is a CE-certified medical device developed by Parasym. Worn on the ear, it uses proprietary auricular vagal neuromodulation technology (AVNT™) to deliver gentle, targeted electrical impulses to the auricular branch of the vagus nerve.
It can be used at home as part of a regular daily routine, making the technology accessible to people interested in stress regulation, sleep, fatigue, recovery and overall nervous-system health.
Nurosym is supported by an expanding body of scientific research into vagus nerve stimulation and nervous-system health. The brand reports more than 60 clinical studies, with findings from cited research including:
- Up to a 35% reduction in anxiety
- Up to a 48% reduction in fatigue
- Up to a 31% improvement in sleep quality
- Up to a 32% increase in memory recall
- Up to a 78% decrease in inflammation
These findings relate to individual studies and should not be interpreted as guaranteed outcomes for every user.
Natalie Corner