I’m not a doctor either, but from what I’ve found, you are correct about it being the vagus nerve. It’s currently being called Arnold’s nerve cough reflex. Here’s a link to a 2014 article about it: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4222929/

Tim Minchin reference?

You can also soak them in the fridge for 24 hours to rehydrate them if you want a more passive way to prep them.

https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe