I Tried At-Home Ultrasound for My Brain

Dave Asprey

Dec 9, 2025

Episode description

Most people stay locked in a constant sympathetic state without realizing it, which drains focus, sleep quality, emotional balance, and long-term resilience. This episode gives you a science backed path to retrain your nervous system, improve heart rate variability, and shift out of stress on command using focused ultrasound technology that targets the vagus nerve.

Watch this episode on YouTube for the full video experience:

https://www.youtube.com/@DaveAspreyBPR

Host Dave Asprey talks with Jon Hacker, CEO of NeurGear and creator of ZenBud. Jon is a biomedical engineer who has dedicated his career to bridging neuroscience and daily wellness. His work includes peer reviewed clinical research on anxiety, PTSD, autonomic regulation, and non invasive vagus nerve stimulation. He is one of the first innovators to bring focused ultrasound out of the lab and into a practical wearable designed to help people regulate state, build resilience, and create more conscious control over their biology.

In this conversation, Dave and Jon break down how ultrasound activates the auricular branch of the vagus nerve, why most electrical vagus nerve devices fail, and what actually happens in the first three to five minutes when the system begins shifting out of sympathetic activation. Jon explains how early trauma wires the autonomic system, why chronic stress is often physiological rather than psychological, and how daily stimulation strengthens vagal tone through Hebbian learning. They also explore how HRV reflects hidden state changes, how nervous system training supports clearer thinking and better emotional regulation, and why this type of tech matters as AI, algorithms, and modern stressors continue to push people into dysregulated states.

You’ll Learn:

• Why sympathetic dominance is so widespread in the modern environment

• How the vagus nerve influences stress, recovery, inflammation, and emotional balance

• What makes focused ultrasound more precise than electrical vagus nerve stimulation

• How ZenBud produced a 78 percent remission rate in clinical anxiety research

• How early trauma alters autonomic patterns and keeps people in hidden fight or flight

• How three to five minutes of stimulation can reset state during panic or overwhelm

• Why daily use strengthens vagal tone and builds long term resilience

• How HRV training, consciousness practices, and nervous system workouts fit together

• Why noninvasive brain interfaces may become the safer future path as AI advances

This episode is essential for anyone interested in biohacking, stress physiology, nervous system training, emotional regulation, HRV, meditation, trauma recovery, longevity, and building a more adaptable brain and body. It gives you a pract

Mindsip insights from this episode:

Implement simple concussion recovery protocol with creatine and Zenbud

A personal post-concussion recovery protocol consisted of creatine, 20-30 minutes of daily Zenbud use, and blue-light blocking glasses.

#concussion

#recovery

Train your vagus nerve to enhance stress regulation

Consistently stimulating your vagus nerve is like a workout that strengthens your nervous system's ability to self-regulate stress over time, even without the device.

#stress

#vagus-nerve

Rethink effectiveness of non-invasive vagus nerve stimulators

Many non-invasive electrical vagus nerve stimulators are ineffective because electricity doesn't penetrate the skin well and can't precisely target the nerve.

#device

#vagus-nerve

Question merging human consciousness with AI to preserve humanity

Merging human consciousness with AI could make human consciousness obsolete, as AI does not think like us.

#AI

#consciousness

Achieve 78% anxiety remission with Zenbud device

Peer-reviewed clinical work on the Zenbud device shows a 78% remission rate for anxiety.

#anxiety

#device

Recognize social media's role in triggering stress and impulsive consumption

Social media algorithms are designed to activate your fight-or-flight system, as people in this state are more likely to be impulsive consumers.

#social-media

#stress

Utilize Zenbud to stimulate vagus nerve for calmness

A device called Zenbud uses focused ultrasound on the ear to directly stimulate the vagus nerve, claiming to shift the body into a calm, parasympathetic state.

#ultrasound

#vagus-nerve

Utilize vagus nerve stimulation to prevent brain injury damage

Vagus nerve stimulation may have a neuroprotective effect, potentially preventing most of the secondary inflammatory damage from a traumatic brain injury (TBI).