Nerva: Gut-Brain Program

The recordings definitely calm me. I really struggle with consistency and routines, so I did not reliably follow the course. But I do use the recordings to help me relax and even to help me go to sleep. They are very effective. The recordings are always about 15 minutes. They are composed of three parts, A+B+C, and they rotate A and B, but C is aleays the same. Part A is the strategy they use to help calm down your body (either a muscle tense and release, a progressive full body relaxation, or a "name 3 things you see, hear, feel"). Part B is the visualization phase where you are prompted to imagine yourself in a park, in a bookstore, in a planty nursery, or several other possibilities. Part C is always the same script, full of encouraging messages about how your digestion will be better in the future. All parts are recorded with the same woman's voice. I find her voice to be extremely soothing, more so than even the Sleep stories on the Calm app, which I also paid for. I wish I could comment on Nerva's effects on my IBS symptoms, but as I said, I unfortunately have not be consistent enough to know what effect it's had. Nerva also includes regularly scheduled readings to provide you with information about your gut's relationship with your brain and overall health. I've read a few, but I wish there was an option to listen to the readings. I get visual migraines so I am averse to spending large quantities of time reading my phone screen. Anyways, great app! Thank you.

My IBS started when I went off to college in 1973. That’s such a long time to be dealing with chronic digestive issues. Pain from gas, bloating, squeezing feeling in my intestines from hyper motility, intermittent diarrhea and constipation, endless testing and you know the rest. No food plans have helped and I’ve tried most of them. Many of course made my symptoms worse. Even Low Fodmap diet didn’t help at all. Staying away from white foods was the most helpful, but no matter what, I still missed out on a lot due to symptoms. Turns out the Dr at the student health center was on the right track all those years ago when she had me doing progressive relaxation. It didn’t work for me then, but it did this time. I’ve done quite a bit of meditation through apps in the last few years to calm my anxiety and ADD, yes I’m that person. Somewhere I saw the info on the Verve App and decided that it was worth my time and money to calm down my nervous system. I enjoyed all of the daily sessions and have learned so much about how to calm my system down and activate the vagus system. I am a scientist, so was encouraged by the science and common sense behind each week. Every morning I would start the day with the reading and the meditation, or sometimes at night. By week four everything started to settle down, and today as I finish my 6 weeks , I am grateful for all the lessons learned and look forward to being able to eat without so much fear on a long awaited trip to Italy. Thanks so much. Susan