New Study Reveals Benefits of Nervous System Training for Elite and Everyday Runners

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:

• Nicholas Bester, an elite runner handling 140 km+ per week, used Pulsetto as part of his daily routine to stay fresher between efforts and more ready for sessions. His wearable data showed improved HRV throughout the protocol, with recovery capacity remaining strong despite the intense training. His reported freshness levels rose from 7 to 9 out of 10, and Pulsetto usefulness ratings reached 9 out of 10. "When I was training, the hardest part was trying to stay fresh between each race. I used Pulsetto after hard sessions and before bed each night to help me feel recovered mentally and physically," said Bester.
   
• Michael Adeniran, a father of two young children managing daily stress and limited sleep, struggled to unwind after training and felt the weight of balancing training with real life. "The hardest part of training was a massive lack of sleep, being able to settle down, and finding time to rest," noted Adeniran. After becoming more consistent with his Pulsetto routine, his self-reported ratings for unwinding in the evening and morning freshness both improved from 3 to 8 out of 10, while his wearable data showed more frequent high sleep scores later in the protocol. "The biggest change since using Pulsetto has definitely been sleep and feeling less mentally overloaded. I wake up way more refreshed, and it helps me manage my stress." He also went on to run his fastest half marathon of the year at HOKA Hackney.

"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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