Ben Greenfield explains the brain–gut axis (two‑way communication between brain and gastrointestinal tract), emphasizing the enteric nervous system (ENS) and the vagus nerve as primary pathways for neural, hormonal, and immune signaling. He describes how ENS produces many neurotransmitters and can influence the brain and immune/inflammatory responses. Greenfield outlines behavioral ways to stimulate the vagus nerve (chanting, humming, cold exposure, breathwork, meditation, gut‑directed hypnotherapy) and introduces a wearable electrical vagus‑nerve stimulator, Pulsetto, which he demos and endorses. He summarizes Pulsetto’s features (neckband wearable, mobile app control, five stimulation programs for stress/anxiety/sleep/burnout/pain, bilateral stimulation, short daily sessions) and reports claimed effects on parasympathetic activation, heart rate/HRV, blood pressure, and reduced joint stiffness.
Questions this video answers
More than 30 different types of chemical messengers (neurotransmitters).
The ENS has more nerve cells than the spinal cord (speaker's claim).
5 to 10 minutes per day.
Five programs (stress, anxiety, sleep, burnout, pain).
Joint stiffness reduced by 1.5 hours (from about three hours to about 1.5 hours of stiffness).
Chapters
Let's talk about your gut and your brain, namely what's called your brain gut axis. Now this is a two way communication system between your brain and your gut, AKA your gastrointestinal tract. So this brain gut access, think of it like a busy telephone line where messages are constantly sent in both directions. And this system is very complex. There's a lot of different parts of your body that it uses, most notably the vagus nerve. That's the major nerve that runs from your brain to your gut. Now, the gut actually has its own nervous system. You might not be aware of that, but it's called the enteric nervous system, not the central nervous system, the enteric nervous system, or the ens. Now, that's so large and so complex that it's often referred to as your second brain. It produces more than 30 different types of chemical messengers called neurotransmitters, and has more nerve cells than your spinal cord does. Now, some of the substances produced by this enteric nervous system, or ens, can actually cross your blood brain barrier, meaning the ENS has this protective shield that normally would keep substances in your blood from reaching your brain. One example of that would be like the hormone ghrelin. I like to remember what this hormone means because ghrelin sounds like ghrelin growling, like a growling stomach. Now, ghrelin is released by your gut and it signals your brain to stimulate feelings of hunger. Now, this brain gut axis is not just important for regulating basic functions like say, digestion and appetite, but it also plays a key role in your emotional health and your mental health. That's why things like inflammatory bowel disease, depression, post traumatic stress disorder, ulcers, all sorts of gut issues can sometimes be treated by targeting the brain gut axis. Now, as you probably also know, the gut is also a major control center for your immune system and that protects you from disease. The vagus nerve can influence the immune system, which means it can affect how your body responds to inflammation, which is a key part of many of these immune related diseases. Now here's why I'm telling you all of this. You can actually target the brain gut axis and, and the way that you do this is by stimulating the vagus nerve. Now, there are certain things I've talked about on my podcast before as far as ways that you can tone or stimulate the vagus nerve. Chanting, singing, humming, gargling, cold water, yoga breath work, etc. But there are now, thanks to technology, actual devices that can stimulate via an electrical signal, the vagus nerve. Wearing one of them. Okay, this Thing is called a pulsetto. The pulsetto wraps right around my neck like this. I would apply a gel to the electrodes on each side of the porcetto and then I pull it on. This then ties to a phone app that allows me to adjust the amount of stimulus and the frequency used to stimulate the my vagus nerve. Now, when I put on the pulse setto, what it's allowing my brain gut axis to do, if you like to think about it this way, is settle down, be modulated, relax. And what you feel when this happens is as though someone's giving you a back massage and a foot massage and you're drinking a cup of relaxing tea all at the same time. Now, there are things that you can also do for your vagus nerve. Like I mentioned, other things that come to me would be meditation, gut directed hypnotherapy, which uses relaxation and suggestion techniques to help manage gut conditions like irritable bowel syndrome and ibd. But the idea of just going straight to technology and stimulating your vagus nerve with something like the pulse setto has been something that I've actually found very handy, particularly after lunch and before a post lunch siesta or right before I go to bed if I want to shut down anxious thoughts and really get myself into this relaxed, more meditative, meditative state. So the reason I like electrical stimulation for the vagus nerve is it is the fastest method I've yet discovered. Besides literally having a doctor give you an injection with a needle through your neck, right through the carotid artery. That is a procedure called a stellate ganglion nerve block. But trust me, that's very involved and very expensive. And something like the pulsetto can do this more quickly, more safely and more effectively because nothing travels through the body but faster than electricity. So again, it's a device that's wearable. Technology connects with your mobile app. You only need to use it 5 to 10 minutes per day. Very low EMF. It uses only Bluetooth and it's effortless. You can simply put it on while you're sitting around reading a book, having a meal, preparing for bed, preparing for a relaxation or meditation session. And the app that the pulsetto pairs to has five different stimulation programs which one for stress, one for anxiety, one for sleep, one for burnout, and even one for pain management. Now, these are different in terms of their signal strength, the voltage, the pulse wave, the amplitude and the pulse width. But what's cool is this thing is bilateral. I've used some vagal nerve stimulators where you got to hold something up to this side of the neck for a couple minutes and then switch, put the electrode gel on again, go over to the other side of the neck and do it again. I like the Pulse setto because I can simply put it on and. And it goes to town without me doing anything at all. And furthermore, pulsetto has demonstrated scientific proof that this device actually activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which has positive effects for your heart rate. For your hrv, which you might be familiar with, is a very good way to measure and manage your stress for blood pressure, even for joint pain. They've shown joint stiffness to be reduced by one and a half hours. So instead of three hours of stiffness, one and a half hours of stiffness in people who have a joint disease. So now the mobile app also has a meditation sound feature so you can listen to meditation sounds and do your electric stimulation at the same time. So ultimately, this Pulse setto is a pretty impressive device. It triggers that gut brain axis I was explaining to you. It's one of the best ways I found to modulate and stimulate the vagus nerve. And I highly recommend that you check it out again. Very simple, fits all sizes, all ages, incredibly safe. So again, pulsetto P U L S E T T O Check it out.
