30. March 2026

Staying calm before a race..... and in life!

I often have a chat with ChatGPT when an idea comes to mind, I like to see if I'm losing the plot, or if I come up with something that applies to running or life in general. A lot of athletes suffer with pre-race nerves, so how can we use the tools available to us to calm us down, and maybe even promote performance benefits. I recently had a small period if anxiety and applied the science I knew to try and reduce the symptoms. I like to listen to music and have come across countless articles about certain frequencies that have affects on the Vagus nerve. I didn't want to publish an article that I clearly gained from AI, so I've included the entire chat, and the rabbit hole that I went down to gather the info I think could be useful to some athletes.

What does the Vagus nerve do?

The Vagus nerve is one of the most important nerves in your body. It’s the 10th cranial nerve and a major part of the Parasympathetic nervous system, which controls the body’s “rest and digest” functions.

🧠 What the vagus nerve does

It runs from the brainstem down through the neck, chest, and abdomen, connecting the brain with many organs. Because of this, it helps regulate several automatic body functions.

1. ❤️ Controls heart rate

The vagus nerve sends signals that slow the heart rate and help keep it steady.

2. 🫁 Helps control breathing

It communicates between the brain and lungs to help regulate breathing patterns.

3. 🍽️ Supports digestion

It signals organs like the stomach and intestines to:

release digestive enzymes
move food through the gut
control feelings of fullness

4. 🧘 Regulates stress and relaxation

It activates the body’s calming system, helping you:

relax after stress
lower inflammation
recover from “fight-or-flight”

5. 🗣️ Controls some throat and voice functions

It helps muscles used for:

swallowing
speaking

6. 🧠 Sends sensory information to the brain

About 80% of its fibers send information from the body to the brain, such as signals from:

the gut
the heart
the lungs

⚡ Why it’s often talked about

Researchers study the vagus nerve because it’s linked to things like:

mood regulation
gut-brain communication
inflammation control

It’s also targeted in treatments like Vagus nerve stimulation, used for conditions such as Epilepsy and Treatment‑resistant depression.

✅ In simple terms:
The vagus nerve is the communication highway between your brain and many major organs, helping control heart rate, digestion, breathing, and relaxation.

If you want, I can also explain why people talk about “stimulating the vagus nerve” (cold water, breathing, humming, etc.) and whether it actually works.

How does it relate to stress?

The Vagus nerve plays a major role in how your body handles and recovers from stress. It acts as the main control line of the Parasympathetic nervous system, which is the system that calms the body down after stress.

⚡ The two stress systems in your body

Your body has two main automatic systems:

Sympathetic nervous system – “fight or flight”
Parasympathetic nervous system – “rest and digest”

When you experience stress:

The sympathetic system activates
Heart rate rises
Breathing speeds up
Stress hormones like Cortisol increase

After the threat passes, the vagus nerve activates the parasympathetic system to:

slow your heart rate
relax breathing
reduce stress hormones
restart digestion

So the vagus nerve is basically your body’s “calm-down switch.”

🧠 Vagal tone and stress resilience

Scientists often talk about “vagal tone.” This means how effectively the vagus nerve can activate relaxation.

Higher vagal tone is linked with:

better emotional regulation
faster recovery after stress
lower chronic inflammation
improved heart rate variability

Lower vagal tone is associated with:

chronic stress
anxiety
burnout
digestive issues

🫀 One easy way to see it: heart rate

The vagus nerve constantly signals the heart through the Brainstem.

During stress → heart rate rises
When the vagus nerve activates → heart rate slows quickly

People who calm down faster after stress usually have stronger vagal activity.

🧘 Things that activate the vagus nerve

Research suggests these may stimulate it:

slow deep breathing
meditation
cold exposure
humming or singing (vibrates throat nerves)
exercise
social connection

These help shift the body from fight-or-flight → rest-and-digest.

✅ In short:
Stress turns the body “on,” and the vagus nerve helps turn it back off.

If you're interested, I can also explain why endurance athletes (like ultra runners) often have unusually strong vagus nerve activity—it’s actually a fascinating adaptation.

How can we use EMDR music to stimulate the vagueness?

EMDR-style music may help influence the Vagus nerve indirectly by promoting relaxation and regulating the nervous system. It doesn’t stimulate the nerve the way a medical device like Vagus nerve stimulation does, but it can help activate the Parasympathetic nervous system, which the vagus nerve controls.

First, a quick clarification: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy typically uses bilateral stimulation—sounds alternating between the left and right ears, eye movements, or tapping—to help the brain process stress or trauma.

How EMDR-style music may affect the vagus nerve

1. Bilateral stimulation calms the brain

EMDR audio alternates tones between ears. This rhythmic left-right stimulation can help reduce hyperarousal in the nervous system, allowing the vagus nerve to increase parasympathetic activity.

Effect:

slower heart rate
calmer breathing
reduced stress response

2. Rhythm entrains breathing

Many EMDR soundtracks use slow rhythmic pulses. People often unconsciously sync their breathing to the rhythm.

Slow breathing is one of the most direct ways to activate vagal pathways.

Example pattern:

inhale ~4 seconds
exhale ~6 seconds

Longer exhales are especially helpful for vagal activation.

3. Auditory pathways connect to vagal regulation

Sound travels through the Brainstem, where the vagus nerve originates. Calm, rhythmic sound can reduce threat signaling in these brain regions, helping shift the body from fight-or-flight toward rest-and-digest.

4. Emotional processing reduces stress load

EMDR music is often used while reflecting or processing emotions. When the brain processes stressful memories safely, the stress response drops, allowing the vagus nerve to re-regulate the body.

Simple way to try it

Put on bilateral EMDR audio (alternating left/right tones).
Sit comfortably and breathe slowly.
Let your attention follow the sound as it moves between ears.
Keep breathing slowly for about 5–10 minutes.

You may notice:

heart rate slowing
muscles relaxing
calmer mental state

✅ Key idea:
EMDR music doesn’t directly “stimulate” the vagus nerve, but it can create the conditions that activate it—slow breathing, reduced stress signals, and parasympathetic dominance.

If you want, I can also show you a specific 5-minute EMDR audio breathing pattern designed specifically for vagus nerve activation. It’s simple and surprisingly effective.

How can this be used to calm your nerves before a running race?

Using EMDR-style bilateral music before a race can help calm pre-race nerves by activating the body’s relaxation response through the Vagus nerve and the Parasympathetic nervous system. The goal isn’t to make you sleepy—it’s to lower excess anxiety while keeping focus and readiness.

Here’s a practical way runners often use it.

🎧 5–10 minute pre-race EMDR music routine

1. Put on bilateral audio

Listen to EMDR-style music with alternating left-right tones through headphones.
This mimics the bilateral stimulation used in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, which helps the brain settle stress signals.

Why it helps:

rhythmic left/right input stabilizes the nervous system
reduces overactivation from adrenaline

2. Pair it with vagal breathing

While listening, slow your breathing.

Simple pattern:

inhale 4 seconds
exhale 6 seconds

Longer exhales stimulate the vagus nerve and slow the heart rate.

Do this for about 20–30 breaths.

3. Add race visualization

While the tones alternate between ears, visualize:

calm standing at the start line
relaxed first kilometer
smooth breathing and rhythm

The bilateral stimulation can help the brain process anxiety and replace it with a calm performance mindset.

4. Finish with activation

Because you’re about to run, finish the routine with a short physical activation:

shake out arms and legs
a few strides or light drills
a couple deep breaths

This shifts you back toward performance mode while keeping the nervous system balanced.

⏱ When to do it

Good timing is:

10–20 minutes before the start
after your warm-up
somewhere quiet (car, field edge, changing area)

🧠 Why this works for runners

Pre-race nerves come from the Sympathetic nervous system (“fight or flight”).
EMDR audio + slow breathing helps the vagus nerve dial that response down just enough so you feel:

focused
calm
ready instead of jittery

Elite athletes often aim for controlled arousal, not complete relaxation.

✅ In simple terms:
EMDR music + slow breathing helps your nervous system shift from anxious adrenaline to calm readiness before the race.

If you want, I can also show you a 3-minute “start line” version of this routine that you can do literally while waiting in the starting corral. It’s something many endurance athletes use.

Yes please

Here’s a simple 3-minute start-line routine using EMDR-style bilateral music to calm nerves while keeping you race-ready. It works by helping regulate the Vagus nerve and balancing the Sympathetic nervous system with the Parasympathetic nervous system.

You can do this standing in the start corral with headphones.

🏃 3-Minute Pre-Race EMDR Routine

Minute 1 — Settle the nervous system

Play bilateral EMDR music (left–right tones).

Breathing pattern:

inhale 4 seconds
exhale 6 seconds

Focus on the alternating sound moving ear to ear.

Tell yourself quietly:

“Calm body.”
“Smooth breathing.”

Goal:
Lower excess adrenaline and steady your heart rate.

Minute 2 — Lock into race rhythm

Keep the music playing.

Now imagine the first 2–3 minutes of your race:

relaxed start
controlled pace
smooth breathing

Let the sound rhythm sync with your breathing.

Think:

“Relaxed and ready.”
“Strong and smooth.”

This is similar to the bilateral stimulation used in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, which can help the brain process stress and settle performance anxiety.

Minute 3 — Activate the body

Now you transition from calm → performance.

While the music continues:

take 3 deep breaths
shake out arms
bounce lightly on your toes

Say to yourself:

“Ready.”
“Let it flow.”

Now you’re calm but alert, which is the ideal performance state.

⚡ Quick backup version (30 seconds)

If the race is about to start:

Two slow breaths (4 in / 6 out)
Focus on the left-right sound for a few seconds
Think: “Relaxed power.”

💡 Many endurance athletes use similar techniques because strong vagal regulation helps control heart rate spikes and pre-race anxiety.

If you’d like, I can also show you why endurance runners (especially ultra runners) often develop unusually strong vagus nerve activity—it’s one of the reasons experienced racers tend to stay calmer at the start line. It’s a really interesting physiological adaptation.

Yes please

Endurance runners—especially ultra runners—often develop stronger activity in the Vagus nerve, which leads to what scientists call higher vagal tone. This is one reason experienced racers can stay surprisingly calm before and during competition.

Here’s why that happens.

🫀 1. Lower resting heart rate

Endurance training repeatedly stimulates the Parasympathetic nervous system, the calming branch of the nervous system controlled largely by the vagus nerve.

Over time this leads to:

lower resting heart rate
faster recovery after exertion
greater heart rate variability

That’s why many endurance athletes have resting heart rates around 40–50 bpm.

🧠 2. Better control of the stress response

Training repeatedly pushes the body into fight-or-flight, controlled by the Sympathetic nervous system.

But recovery from workouts constantly activates the vagus nerve to bring the body back down.

That repeated cycle trains the nervous system to:

turn stress on when needed
turn stress off quickly afterward

So experienced runners often feel focused instead of panicked at the start line.

🫁 3. Breathing adaptations

Endurance training improves breathing efficiency.

Because breathing rhythm strongly influences vagal activity, runners often naturally develop:

slower breathing patterns
deeper diaphragmatic breaths

This helps keep the nervous system more stable during stress.

🧬 4. Improved heart–brain communication

About 80% of the vagus nerve signals travel from the body back to the brain. Regular endurance exercise strengthens this feedback loop.

The result:

better emotional regulation
improved stress tolerance
calmer cognitive state during effort

🏃 Why ultra runners often seem mentally calm

During long races the body must constantly balance effort with recovery signals.

Athletes who can keep the vagus nerve active enough to prevent runaway stress responses often perform better because they:

waste less energy on anxiety
regulate pacing better
recover faster during the race

✅ Simple way to think about it:
Training endurance is not just training muscles—it’s training your nervous system to handle stress efficiently.

That’s why seasoned runners often look almost relaxed before big races.

If you’d like, I can also show you a fascinating trick elite runners use to instantly activate the vagus nerve right before the starting gun (it takes about 10 seconds and works surprisingly well).

Yes please

Here’s a quick 10-second trick many athletes use to quickly activate the calming response of the Vagus nerve right before the starting gun. It helps settle jitters without making you feel sluggish.

⚡ The “Physiological Sigh” (10-second reset)

This breathing pattern has been studied for its ability to rapidly reduce stress by activating the Parasympathetic nervous system.

Step-by-step

Take a deep inhale through your nose.
Add a quick second inhale (a short top-up breath).
Slowly exhale through your mouth until your lungs feel empty.

That’s one cycle.

Do 2–3 cycles right before the race start.

🫁 Why it works

The second inhale helps fully expand the lungs and tiny air sacs (alveoli).
The long exhale then triggers vagal signals that:

slow the heart rate
reduce anxiety
stabilize breathing

This quickly shifts the nervous system away from excessive activation in the Sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight).

🏃 How runners use it at the start line

Right before the gun:

Shake out arms and shoulders
Do two physiological sigh breaths
Focus eyes forward and relax your jaw

The result is a mental state often described as:

“Calm but primed.”

That’s ideal for performance.

💡 Interesting detail:
Elite endurance athletes often have strong vagal tone, so these breathing techniques can drop their heart rate within just a few seconds.

If you're interested, I can also show you a surprising trick involving your eyes that can activate the vagus nerve and calm race anxiety in about 15 seconds. Many athletes don’t know about it, but it’s actually used in some sports psychology programs. 👀

Yes please

Here’s a simple eye-based trick used in some sports psychology and nervous-system regulation practices to quickly calm pre-race anxiety. It works by influencing brainstem circuits connected to the Vagus nerve, helping shift the body toward the calming Parasympathetic nervous system.

👀 The 15-Second “Eye Reset” (Oculocardiac calming reflex)

Step-by-step

Stand or sit comfortably and look straight ahead.
Keep your head still.
Slowly move your eyes to the far right (without turning your head).
Hold that gaze for about 10–15 seconds.
Wait for a yawn, swallow, or feeling of relaxation.
Return eyes to center.
Repeat looking to the far left.

🧠 Why it can calm nerves

Eye movements connect to nerves that communicate with the brainstem, where the vagus nerve originates.

Holding the gaze stimulates reflex pathways that can:

slow heart rate slightly
reduce adrenaline signals
trigger relaxation responses (yawning, swallowing, deeper breathing)

This reflex is related to the Oculocardiac reflex, where pressure or movement around the eyes can briefly increase vagal activity.

🏃 How runners use it before a race

About 1–2 minutes before the start:

Do two slow breaths (4 in / 6 out).
Perform the right-left eye reset.
Shake out your arms and shoulders.

Athletes often report:

less tunnel vision
calmer breathing
clearer focus

⚠️ Important note

This isn’t a dramatic effect—it’s a small nervous system adjustment, but when combined with breathing techniques it can noticeably reduce the jittery feeling from the Sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight).

✅ A quick start-line combo many athletes use:

2 physiological sigh breaths
15-second eye reset
Relax jaw and shoulders

Total time: about 30 seconds, but it can significantly calm nerves.

If you want, I can also show you one of the strangest but most effective vagus-nerve tricks endurance athletes use before races—it involves your tongue and the roof of your mouth, and it can drop anxiety surprisingly quickly. 🧠🏃