Have you ever been legitimately frightened, perhaps you dodged a car at the last minute that didn’t see you, were chased by a vicious dog or other wild animal, or your heart escalated at the sight of shadows outside your house that might be a thief trying to enter? Perhaps your fear was even deeper rooted from trauma or physical abuse.
Your sympathetic nervous system went into play, and your body released catecholamines in preparation for a flight or fight response. Your heart rate sped up, your blood pressure increased, you developed acute tunnel vision, and blood flow shunted way from your stomach to the largest muscles in your body in preparation to run. Once the emergency was over, your parasympathetic nervous system took over. You heart rate slowed down, your blood pressure lowered, blood flow returned to your gut, and you were able to relax. This is a natural and healthy physical response that empowers our survival instinct.
However, when this response becomes chronic due to ongoing stress, even though a life threatening emergency doesn’t exist, it can be catastrophic to the heart, moods, immune function, hormone function, gut health, and just about every other system in our body. In the developed world, we are surrounded by chronic stress, work responsibilities and deadlines, social pressures, caregiving roles, negative social media and news, and the effects of past traumas. Our sympathetic nervous system often does not turn off.
When this happens, we continue to release cortisol from the little adrenal glands that sit on top of the kidneys, which can raise blood sugar levels, lead to weight gain, poor sleep, depression and anxiety, chronic stomach upset, hormone dysfunction, heart disease, and reduced ability to recover from infections.
Meet the vagus nerve! It is the part of our nervous system that is responsible for turning the faucet off of an overactive sympathetic nervous system, and reminds our bodies to turn on the parasympathetic nervous system. It’s the body’s indicator that it’s time to “rest and digest”. In our overly busy westernized world this is no longer a natural response for a large number of people. It’s been badly blunted.
The good news is that training the vagus nerve can pull your body back into its normal rhythms, recognizing a true life-threatening emergency from a chronic stress response. However, it requires training, just like learning to play the piano, ride a bike, build endurance at the gym, or learn a new hobby. In fact, retraining the vagus nerve is so powerful it can lower blood pressures, relieve insomnia, assist with weight loss efforts, improve blood sugar control, decrease heart disease risks, and increase overall well-being, often without pharmaceutical interventions.
7 ways to stimulate the Vagus nerve, your body’s powerhouse to resiliency:
- Practice mindful breathing: Start by sitting quietly or laying on your back. Slowly inhale for a full five seconds through your nose, briefly hold the breath once lungs are fully expanded, and then slowly exhale through you mouth and nose for a full five seconds and briefly pause once lungs are fully emptied of air. Average about 5 breaths a minute. Repeat 10 times, while relaxing facial muscles, neck, and shoulders with each breath.
- Practice humming throughout the day.
- Sing, listen to music, dance.
- Practice breathing through gentle exercises like yoga or stretching.
- Turn the shower to cold during the last 30 seconds or go for a cold water plunge.
- Try gargling.
- Belly laugh!
Still struggling with efforts to calm stress and improve metabolic function? Schedule an appointment with us: https://rophefm.com
Additional Reading:
https://www.ifm.org/podcast/vagus-nerve-parasympathetic-response
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/vagus-nerve-reset
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-does-the-vagus-nerve-do
https://www.uvahealth.com/healthy-balance/5-vagus-nerve-exercises