By Katarina Zulak
Many stress discount methods, like meditation and train, take power that I hardly ever have, as somebody who lives with a persistent sickness. That has left me questioning: is there a easy, direct option to cut back stress? It seems there’s, and it’s known as vagus nerve stimulation.
What we name the vagus nerve is definitely an internet of nerve fibers connecting the mind to most of the key organs and methods within the physique. Vagus is Latin for ‘wandering’ (assume vagabond), which is an acceptable title for a nerve that hyperlinks so many various elements of the physique and influences so many bodily features.
Why must you have an interest within the vagus nerve in case you have a persistent sickness? The vagus nerve seems to be under-activated in sure persistent sicknesses, though it’s unclear whether or not this can be a explanation for, or impact from, sickness. (1) Regardless, dwelling with sickness is annoying, and consultants have lengthy really helpful stress administration as an efficient device for decreasing unrest, ache, and insomnia. Nevertheless, to heal from persistent stress, the vagus nerve must be activated. Happily, there are a number of simple, pure methods to stimulate your vagus nerve.
What Does the Vagus Nerve Do?
The vagus nerve directs the motor operate of neck muscular tissues, together with speech and swallowing. It offers sensory enter from the throat, coronary heart, lungs, and stomach to the mind. Maybe most significantly, it’s answerable for key features in your cardiovascular system, immune system, digestive system, and whole-body stress response. (2) To completely perceive how the vagus nerve is concerned in your stress response, we have to know extra concerning the autonomic nervous system.
The autonomic nervous system governs unconscious bodily processes, like organ system operate, and instinctive reflexes. We are able to divide the autonomic nervous system into the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system.
The vagus nerve governs the “relaxation and digest” parasympathetic nervous system, that means that the nerve is activated to advertise leisure, recuperation from episodes of misery, digestion, and immune exercise, amongst many different very important features. That is the other of the sympathetic nervous system, which triggers your “struggle or flight” stress response—the muscle tensing, coronary heart pumping, shallow respiration, sweaty-palmed response to hazard. The vagus nerve is concerned in balancing sympathetic and parasympathetic exercise. Nevertheless, right here we’ll focus totally on its position within the parasympathetic nervous system.
How the Vagus Nerve Governs the Parasympathetic Nervous System
Cardiovascular system—the vagus nerve is deeply concerned in regulating breath and heartbeat. When your lungs increase throughout inhalation, the vagus nerve carries alerts to your mind about your respiration charge. Your mind modifies your coronary heart charge accordingly, by sending alerts again alongside the vagus nerve to your coronary heart throughout the subsequent exhalation. Thus, when your respiration slows, your coronary heart charge slows, blood stress drops, and you’re feeling relaxed. (3) When your respiration quickens, your coronary heart charge and blood stress enhance, and you’re feeling agitated. Critically, whilst you exhale, your vagal nerve exercise is at its highest, and your coronary heart charge is at its lowest.
Scientists can measure the distinction in your coronary heart charge between in-breath (when it’s quicker) and out-breath (when it slows). This measurement is known as coronary heart charge variability (HRV), and it has confirmed to be a strong predictor of total well being and well-being. HRV is a proxy for vagal exercise. Excessive HRV, that means a excessive variation in coronary heart charge between inhalation and exhalation, correlates to being extra relaxed, when your parasympathetic nervous system dominates. Low HRV, that means a low variation in coronary heart charge between inhalation and exhalation, is an indication of intense exercise. In case you are exercising, a low HRV is an efficient factor; you need your sympathetic nervous system to energise you whenever you’re in movement. Nevertheless, if you’re sitting nonetheless, a low HRV is an indication of hysteria, hypervigilance, and being in a fight-or-flight state. Low HRV is a standard discovering in persistent sickness. (4)
Immune system—the vagus nerve can trigger the release of immune calming biochemicals, which turn off inflammation in the body. (5) Inflammation causes or exacerbates many chronic diseases, so finding ways to reduce it is very beneficial for your overall health.
Digestive system—activated vagal nerve fibers in the digestive tract are partly responsible for “gut feelings.” Vagal activation promotes gut motility and regularity, reduces intestinal inflammation, affects appetite, and monitors integrity of the gut lining. (6) Finally, fascinating new research suggests that the vagal nerve may link the gut microbiome with the brain, with consequences for feelings like moderating anxiety. (7)
3 Ways to Activate the Vagus Nerve
Humming or Singing
When your vocal cords vibrate, they stimulate your vagus nerve where it passes near the carotid artery on its path from the brain to the body. (8) Humming or singing may seem like a simple way to promote relaxation, but it has deep roots in contemplative practices like praying the rosary and meditative chanting (Om is a traditional humming chant). (9)
Medical devices placed in the ear use electrical pulses to stimulate a branch of the vagus nerve that connects the ear to the brain. Studies have shown that these devices can help treat several mental and physical illnesses by reducing activity in the limbic brain system, which processes stress and emotion, like the amygdala and hippocampus. (10) The amygdala is the threat detection center in the brain, which triggers the fight-or-flight response when danger in the immediate environment is perceived.
Researchers wanted to know whether Om chanting, which stimulates vibration sensations around the ears, could create a similar effect. They conducted a pilot study which trained volunteers to chant “O” for five seconds, then “M” for 10 seconds, while imaging their brain activity using fMRI, and compared results against a sham control chant. (11) As expected, significant deactivation was observed in the amygdala and hippocampus, while participants chanted Om. The study demonstrated that it only took a few minutes of chanting to deactivate the amygdala.
If singing in the shower or humming along to your favorite playlist is more your style, rest assured that they will likely stimulate your vagus nerve too. Gargling warm salted water is another simple way to stimulate vagal activity. Similar to humming, loudly gargling massages the vagus nerve fibers as they pass through the ear and carotid neck region, activating them.
Cold exposure
Splashing cold water on your face, laying a cold compress (such as a cold, wet face cloth) on your neck, or taking a cold shower are all ways to stimulate the vagus nerve. A recent study demonstrated that applying cold stimulation to the neck, which is innervated by the vagus nerve, activated the parasympathetic nervous system. The researchers found that heart rate variability, which indirectly measures vagus nerve activity, increased, which meant that “rest and digest” response was triggered. (12) The investigators recommended cold exposure as a simple way to manage stress.
Breath Break
The key factor for stimulating the vagus nerve using the breath is that the exhalation must be longer than the inhalation. Exhalation is when vagal activity is highest, and heart rate is lowest, which is why it is important to prolong your out-breath. Diaphragmatic deep-belly breathing is preferable for stimulating vagal tone. If you are too tired for meditation, even one minute of deep breathing can help stimulate your parasympathetic nervous system, such as 4 seconds in and 6 seconds out. Research has suggested that the most relaxing breath rate is six times per minute. This breathing rhythm was the most common rate measured during a study, as participants said mantras while meditating or repeated the Ava Maria prayer. (13)
Perhaps meditation is not be your cup of tea; these vagus nerve stimulation ideas might be helpful.
