The Longevity Nerve: The Missing Link in Stress, Aging & Brain Health | Elisabetta Burchi MD

What if one nerve quietly connects your brain to your heart, gut, immune system, and even how long you live? Dr. Elisabetta Burchi explains why the vagus nerve may be the missing link in stress resilience, cognition, and longevity.CHAPTERS:0:00 - The vagus nerve and longevity medicine0:27 - Show intro1:18 - Welcome Dr. Elisabetta Burchi from Florence2:04 - Psychiatry, neuroscience, INSEAD MBA6:25 - Joining Parasym as 4th employee14:10 - What is the vagus nerve? Neuromodulation 10118:00 - Autonomic nervous system: sympathetic vs. parasympathetic20:00 - Fight-or-flight and the modern chronic stress problem23:22 - Chronic stress as a driver of disease and aging26:30 - Vagus nerve stimulation as therapy28:40 - Vagal tone, HRV, and aging30:36 - Invasive vs. noninvasive VNS33:00 - How transcutaneous auricular VNS works34:00 - Published findings: HRV, inflammation, cognition36:00 - 55+ published clinical trials36:30 - Cardiovascular, long COVID, fibromyalgia38:00 - Cognitive enhancement in healthy people40:00 - How to use it: 30-minute sessions43:00 - Sleep improvement45:50 - Athletic recovery and performance anxiety47:22 - Elisabetta's personal routine49:56 - The future of neuromodulation55:00 - Long COVID data57:00 - Longevity medicine and vagal neuromodulation58:42 - ClosingREFERENCES:Parasym / Nurosym Scientific Evidence (50+ Studies):nurosym.com/scientific-evidencetaVNS Improves Long COVID Symptoms (Frontiers in Neurology, 2024):PMC11097097Cholinergic Anti-Inflammatory Pathway (PMC, 2018):PMC5826620HRV and Exceptional Longevity (Frontiers, 2020):PMC7527628Baseline HRV as Guide to taVNS Response (Translational Psychiatry, 2025):PMC12689627GUEST: Dr. Elisabetta Burchi, MD, MBA - Head of Research, ParasymHOST: Dr. Robert Lufkin MD⭐ Enjoying the show? Please leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts — it takes 30 seconds and helps more people discover the science of health and longevity. Thank you!New episodes every other Tuesday. Subscribe so you don't miss one.Continue this conversation on Substack: https://robertlufkinmd.substack.comLies I Taught In Medical School — Free sample chapter: https://www.robertlufkinmd.com/lies/Web: https://www.robertlufkinmd.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/robertlufkinmdX: https://x.com/robertlufkinmdInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/robertlufkinmd/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@robertlufkinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertlufkinmd/