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Stimulating the vagus nerve may be the answer for chronic pain, heart disease, depression, and more. In a clinical trial, vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) involves using a small, pulse-generated device about the size of a jelly bean which is implanted under the skin on the left side of the neck. The pulse generator wraps around your vagus nerve, which is the body’s longest cranial nerve (actually two nerves), that run from the brain stem down through the neck on both sides of the body. The vagus nerve relays information between vital organs, including the heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, spleen, stomach, small intestine, colon, and the brain. For one minute each day, the small implanted device releases an electric pulse that travels through the vagus nerve to the brain. According to Dr. Kevin J. Tracey, neurosurgeon, president and CEO of Northwell Health’s Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, the device activates what we call the inflammatory reflex, which signals the vagus nerve to slow down inflammation. He says although vagus nerve stimulation can’t undo existing damage, it can reduce inflammation so significantly that pain and future damage can be decreased in as little as one week up to two and a half years or more after the implant.