“It’s been wonderful to control some elements of my nervous system without really having to think about it. That’s been really freeing.”
When we spoke with Milly, what stayed with us was how openly she described the experience of being physically aware of her nervous system much of the time, and how meaningful it can be when support happens quietly in the background.
For Milly, LYEONS Heart became something that creates space. Something that allows her to travel, attend meetings, and continue with everyday life without constantly monitoring her body.
About Milly
Milly runs Pay As You Go COO, where she works with early-stage companies on strategy and operations – helping founders set up, prioritise, and grow their businesses.
Alongside her work, Milly lives with a neurological disability, chronic hemiplegic migraine, and an autonomic nervous system condition that affects blood pressure and heart rate. These are not background experiences. They shape how she works, travels, and moves through everyday life.
Living with a long-term condition and becoming a problem solver
Living with a long-term neurological condition has shaped much of how Milly approaches life and work.
Alongside chronic hemiplegic migraine and an autonomic nervous system condition, her body can be unpredictable. Some days bring brain fog, dizziness, or overwhelming sensory input. Other days require constant adjustments just to keep going.
Despite this, Milly often shows up with remarkable energy. During our conversations she would arrive with a big smile, ready to share ideas, support founders, and talk through problems with the same clarity she brings to her work.
At one point we asked her how she manages to do everything she does.
Her answer was simple.
“I just have to keep going. There isn’t another option.”
Over time she has learned to approach life as a series of small adjustments and practical solutions.
“I’m probably a problem solver because I solve daily problems just to exist.”
She also spoke openly about something many people living with long-term conditions recognise. Accepting that you cannot always operate at your best.
“You’ve got to admit you’re not 100 percent all the time. That’s really hard.”
For Milly, resilience is not about pushing through everything. It is about finding ways to keep moving forward, even when the body does not always cooperate.
One of the challenges she has learned to live with is how strongly she can feel the physical signals of her nervous system. For many people, things like heart rate stay quietly in the background. For Milly, they can become very noticeable.
That awareness of her own heartbeat became one of the most difficult parts of managing her condition.
When your heartbeat becomes something you worry about
For Milly, heart rate is not something that fades into the background. It is something she often feels in her body. Racing. Pounding. Compensating when her blood pressure drops.
“I feel like I spend way too much time thinking about my heart rate. For most people it exists in the background. Mine doesn’t.”
She described becoming aware of this very early in life. Even as a child, she remembers moments where the force of her heartbeat was impossible to ignore.
Over time that awareness can create a difficult cycle. When her heartbeat feels different from its usual baseline, her attention immediately focuses on it. The more she thinks about it, the harder it becomes to settle.
“The more you think about it, the worse it gets. You get trapped in that cycle.”
LYEONS Heart: A Support That Works Quietly in the Background
Before using the device, Milly described trying many ways to consciously calm her nervous system. Breathing techniques. Yoga. Structured exercises.
All helpful. All effortful.
And effort itself can sometimes increase awareness.
“The more you try to control it, the harder it is to actually do anything.”
When using LYEONS Heart, she noticed something different. The support did not require active effort. She did not need to focus on breathing techniques or consciously try to slow her heart rate. The rhythm simply worked quietly in the background.
“I don’t even have to think about it. I just suddenly noticed… actually my heart feels fine.”
For Milly, that lack of effort was one of the most important things. Instead of constantly trying to regulate herself, the support was simply there.
That moment of not constantly monitoring her body was something she described as surprisingly powerful.
When travel becomes difficult
One of the most important things Milly shared was her experience of travel. She described how a single difficult experience can completely change something that once felt ordinary. Trains. Cars. The Tube. Suddenly they carry anticipation, memory, and physical fear.
“Even talking about it now… I can feel my stomach tightening.”
She explained something many people will recognise, but rarely say out loud. When nervous system symptoms begin to limit travel, everyday movement can become much harder.
“Your world becomes very small.”
Milly’s experience is not unusual. Research shows that commuting can increase stress and anxiety, with over two in five UK workers saying their commute negatively affects their stress levels.
For Milly, travel used to be simple. But after a severe experience with travel sickness, even routine journeys began to carry anxiety.
“It’s ridiculous to think you have to ‘get through’ something like taking a train or being in a car. Billions of people do it every day without thinking.”
Having the device with her during travel changed that experience. Not by removing the difficulty entirely, but by offering reassurance.
“I took four trains with LYEONS Heart and I didn’t throw up once. That felt amazing.”
She described how simply knowing she had the device with her allowed her to attend meetings, travel to clients, and feel more confident leaving home.
“Sometimes you just need that extra support to feel like you can get through.”
During our conversation, Milly was often holding the device in her hand while she spoke. At certain moments she smiled slightly, especially when describing the train journeys over Christmas where it helped her travel without feeling unwell.
Knowing LYEONS Heart Is There
Holding the device. Feeling the rhythm in her palm. Placing it somewhere close to her body. Even noticing its absence. Milly repeatedly returned to the importance of touch.
“I just sit with it in my palm. It’s knowing that the LYEONS Heart is there.”
Sometimes she holds it with the rubber side against her palm to feel the rhythm more softly. Other times she presses her thumb against the surface to feel the beat more strongly.
In busy environments like the Tube, she even listens to the rhythm close to her ear.
“It’s like hearing a little friend in my ear.”
She also noticed something interesting when she did not have it with her.
“I realised I was making a heartbeat with my hand when I didn’t have it.”
That moment of instinctively recreating the rhythm showed how much the sensory input had become part of her daily life.
This idea of responding to an external heartbeat rhythm is something we have also been exploring in our research. In our earlier study, “An auditory heartbeat stimulus can influence heart rate and psychological experience,” listening to a slow heartbeat rhythm was associated with a modest reduction in participants’ heart rate in our volunteer group.
While the study was small and exploratory, many participants also described feeling calmer or more settled while listening to the rhythm. Similar themes have appeared in feedback from early LYEONS Heart users, particularly around moments of stress, travel, and sleep.
We are currently continuing this work through further observational studies to better understand how external heartbeat rhythms may interact with the nervous system in everyday settings.
When the body struggles to settle at night
Sleep is another moment where awareness can become intense. Palpitations. Brain fog. End-of-day overstimulation.
Milly described using the rhythm to interrupt that spiral.
“It helps cover the palpitations with a slower heartbeat and try to lower it down.”
Many people describe similar challenges when trying to fall asleep. Running thoughts, heightened awareness of the body, or lingering stress from the day can make it difficult to settle.
She also spoke about listening. Using sound in noisy environments. Filling attention with a single sensory signal so everything else softens.
“The sound of the heartbeat cancels everything else out.”
This pattern is something we also saw in other beta users. Many reported using LYEONS Heart before or during sleep as part of their nightly routine. In early feedback from our first group of users, around three quarters mentioned using the device in the evening or while trying to fall asleep.
We plan to explore this area further in future studies looking at sleep and nervous system regulation.
Why regulation matters for everyone
She believes that learning to regulate our nervous systems is something people are rarely taught, even though it shapes how we feel, how we respond to stress, and how we connect with others.
“I don’t think we get taught how to regulate ourselves. We don’t get taught how to soothe.”
She believes that if people were able to regulate themselves more, it would change how we interact with each other.
“If you can regulate yourself, you can form better connections with people.”
Understanding the biology behind heartbeat synchronisation even changed how she thinks about everyday moments.
“When I hug my partner, I listen in on their heartbeat. It brings more meaning to those situations.”
And when asked what she thought after using the device for several months, her response was immediate.
“I feel like everyone should have one.”
She laughed slightly as she said it, but then continued more seriously.
“I genuinely think the world would be a better place if people could calm themselves down a little bit.”
Milly’s experience with LYEONS Heart
Milly has been one of the earliest and longest users of LYEONS Heart. As she used it in her everyday life, she shared her experience with us and helped us learn along the way.
Milly gave a lot of thoughtful technical feedback about how the device feels, how she holds it, and how it works in real situations. Many of those insights helped shape how LYEONS Heart works today.
She also chose the olive colour early on because it reminded her of nature. That small detail became part of the design and what the device represents.
Over time, LYEONS Heart became part of her daily life. Something she carries when travelling, going to meetings, or when her nervous system feels overwhelmed.
“It helped me do something I didn’t think I was going to be able to do without a lot of stress.”
For Milly, that meant being able to travel more easily and continue doing the work she cares about.
Supporting people to do more of the things they are great at, and making the world feel bigger again, is exactly why we created LYEONS Heart.
We are very grateful to Milly for sharing her experience and helping us shape the journey along the way.
LYEONS Heart is a non-medical wellbeing device designed to support general everyday wellbeing and nervous system awareness. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any medical condition, and is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment. Individual experiences may vary.
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