New user [Archive] - Anxiety Forum - A Home for Those with Anxiety, Fear, or Panic Attacks

scott789

11-17-2012, 03:35 PM

I posted a great technique to reduce stress back in June and it hasn't really caught on here - you can find my posts by searching within this forum for "vagus nerve stress reduction". I am posting below a portion of my original posting.
I call it "opera therapy" because it involves loud talking or singing which stimulates the vagus nerve and dramatically reduces my stress levels. Here is a reposting of a portion of it:

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Has anyone tried my method described in an earlier post that reduces stress? The method is based on multiple controlled, smooth yells or talking loudly for an extended period of time (for example in a loud bar for 30 minutes). Another example is singing low notes similar to opera.

I want to stress how effective my technique is. I've been doing it virtually every evening for 10 years and the reduction in stress is huge and has a long lasting effect (days) - no other technique works nearly as well. When I was stressed out, no amount of mental rationalizing or meditating or breathing exercises would work. There have been no side effects, my voice sounds the same and there have been no negative affects to my vocal chords. The key is to talk loudly or yell smoothly - not harshly and without raspiness.

The simplest way to try my technique is to yell or sing medium to low toned notes in the confines of your car in the late evening - but read the details in my earlier post so as to not create any hoarseness the next day. Specifically smooth, non-raspiness and 8 second long (i.e. slow) AAAAAAHH's work fine and use a few paper towels or a cloth to create a little back pressure. But not too much back pressure because you still need air flow to vibrate your vocal chords. One issue is finding a place to do it - I sometimes drive to the dark areas of a big parking lot or on the side of the road near other parked cars (don't just park on the side of any road, you want to be near other parked cars so that your car isn't accidentally rear ended). Usually there is moving car traffic nearby so that the traffic can drown out the noise. I do this in the late evening when it is dark and the paper towel and cloth reduce most of the noise so that people outside can not hear unless they are right next to my car. I usually do about 30-50 of the 8 second AAAAAAAAH's spread out over 30 minutes.

If you do not want to do that then go to a loud bar or similar loud place and have at least a 30 minute conversation with your friend or whoever. The stress reduction is most noticeable the next day and doing this technique continuously every night is best though you can skip a few days here and there. You will notice that on the days after skipping the technique, your stress will rise slightly but it will not be as bad compared to before starting the technique. I suppose someone could do it 2-3 times per week if they just want a small reduction in stress. But the technique has to be continued indefinitely.

Most likely this works because it is stimulating the vagus nerve which runs from the brain through the neck to the abdomen and is a main feature of the central nervous system. The vagus nerve runs somewhat near the vocal chords but I am not sure how close.

Do a google search on "vagus nerve stimulation anxiety" and you will find multiple scientific papers that show that vagus nerve stimulation reduces anxiety. There are electronic devices that can be surgically implanted near the vagus nerve (google Cyberonics Inc) that will stimulate it but there is no need for that - my "opera" technique works perfectly well - I call it opera therapy.

One paper on this was done by the Medical University of South Carolina and reported in 2008 - you can find it by googling "vagus nerve stimulation anxiety"

If there is anyone who tries it, please report back if they find it to work well or not.