It's the body's superhighway that carries information from your brain to your major organs. You might not have a clue it exists - let alone that you might need to train it.

But a quick scroll through my social media and there's a whole array of tips on the vagus nerve - how to heal it, stimulate it, even reset it - all to apparently reduce stress and anxiety levels.

Poking your ear with what looks like a rubber toothbrush, moving your eyes from side to side, tapping your body or gargling water while wearing a weighted vest - these are just some of the techniques being recommended to train that nerve and improve your wellbeing.

With our stress levels sky-high, and burnout on the rise among under-35s, it's no wonder many of the posts on socials have gone viral with millions of hits.

Some of these methods might seem a bit absurd. But is it really possible to train your mighty internal messenger, and could that actually bring quick relief to life's stresses?

I decided to find out by coming to small candle-lit studio in Stockport town centre - where I find myself in a small group, humming loudly.

Humming, I am told, can help stimulate our vagus nerve and slow down our heart rate. And I do start to feel a bit more relaxed. I can feel the low hum vibrating in my body and my brain seems a bit less busy.

At this somatics class, yoga therapist Eirian Collinge guides us through a session of gentle moves combining deep breathing, rocking and swaying.

While she doesn't buy into all the techniques on socials, Eirian says there are parts of her practice that use breathwork, eye movements and tapping.

But, she says, "it's a process" and there's no quick fix. It is rooted in a theory that suggests we can calm down our nervous system by connecting with our bodies.

Some scientists say this........

© BBC