Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Autonomic Nervous System Activity

There are no generally accepted values for transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (taVSS application parameters (amplitude, frequency, intensity, duration, side) yet, therefore there are heterogeneous applications in studies. Although positive effects have been shown in different neurological, psychiatric and musculoskeletal diseases, taVSS treatment is not available yet. It is not clear which parameters are important in patient selection.In this study, it was aimed to investigate the change of taVSS effect in healthy individuals according to the level of autonomic nervous system activity before stimulation.

Healthy individuals between the ages of 18-45 without any disease will be included in the study. Male and female participants will be included in the study. Heart rate variability will be measured after participants are included in the study. A short 5-minute measurement will be made with the Polar H7 device, which can be measured with the belt attached to the chest. Heart Rate Variability measurement will be analyzed with the Kubios HRV program. Participants will be distributed to groups according to the SNS index and PNS index values obtained as a result of the Kubios analysis. According to the index scores obtained, the distribution of the groups will be made as \<-2, between -2 and +2 and \>2. Afterwards, 20 minutes of taVSS stimulation will be performed. As a vagus stimulation protocol, bilateral auricular stimulation and stimulation frequency of 10 Hz (Heartz), pulse width of 300 µs (microseconds) for 20 minutes, biphasic application will be given to each participant 2 times, with at least 48 hours between them.