New Study Reveals Benefits of Nervous System Training for Elite and Everyday Runners USA - English USA - English
As endurance runners trained for the HOKA Hackney Half Marathon, vagus nerve stimulation supported recovery, freshness, and training readiness
LONDON, June 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Ahead of Global Running Day on June 3, Pulsetto, the leading wearable vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) brand, today released results from its HOKA Hackney Half Marathon Runner Recovery Project, a real-world performance pilot tracking runners during their training ahead of the HOKA Hackney Half Marathon in London. The study explored how vagus nerve stimulation supports recovery, training readiness, sleep quality, and stress resilience in everyday and competitive endurance athletes.
Participants reported positive results with the athlete training experience, including how easily they could unwind after hard sessions and how recovered they felt between efforts, while also tracking their wearable data for sleep, HRV, and readiness.
For decades, athletic recovery has centered on muscle repair, nutrition, and sleep. Pulsetto is pioneering a new category called Stress Fitness, or the practice of proactively training the nervous system to become more resilient, which is the most overlooked variable in most athlete training programs.
Athlete Spotlight: What the Data Showed
Runners were individually assessed at baseline, then provided with personalized vagus nerve stimulation protocols developed by Pulsetto's clinical team. Weekly surveys and wearable data, including HRV, sleep scores, and recovery readiness, were tracked throughout training. Highlights include:
"What this study reinforces is that recovery is just as much neurological as it is physical. The nervous system is the foundation that every other aspect of training is built on, and when athletes learn to train it intentionally, the results show up across sleep, readiness, and resilience. These runners showed what it looks like to prepare the nervous system the same way you'd prepare your muscles," says Dr. Jone Pukėnaitė, Medical and Science Lead at Pulsetto.
The study is an extension of Pulsetto's broader Stress Fitness movement, positioning nervous system conditioning as a fundamental part of performance rather than a reactive response to burnout. Backed by a peer-reviewed, PubMed-indexed clinical study showing a 56% reduction in depressive symptoms, 45% reduction in anxiety, and 41% improvement in sleep disturbances among participants, Pulsetto's approach centers on consistent, proactive stimulation of the vagus nerve to build resilience over time.
With Global Running Day on June 3, real runner outcomes demonstrate how intentional nervous system training can meaningfully enhance what athletes do in training and how they recover between sessions. With 300,000+ users globally and an AI-personalized Stress Resilience Score that adapts to each user's biomarkers and usage history, Pulsetto is building the infrastructure for nervous system fitness as a mainstream practice.
About Pulsetto
Pulsetto is the world's leading wearable vagus nerve stimulation brand and the pioneer of the Stress Fitness category, the practice of training the nervous system to become more resilient to stress before it accumulates, rather than managing it after the fact. Clinically studied and backed by peer-reviewed research, Pulsetto has grown to 300,000+ users across the globe. Pulsetto is trusted by professional athletes, including NBA ambassadors Jonas Valanciunas, Domantas Sabonis, and Matas Buzelis, and Paralympic silver medalist Ryan Medrano.
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