This important cranial nerve is possibly the most important nerve in your body. It begins in the brain and continues to all your organs. The most important aspects under its control is digestion and heart rate. "The vagus nerve is the most important element of the parasympathetic nervous system (the one that calms you down by controlling your relaxation response)."
Many of you may know that the relaxation response is what you need to counteract the stress that causes disease, the fight or flight stress we all hate. Personally I think the nerve has a lot to do with tinnitus and swallowing problems but can't prove it yet. But for this post I thought the anxiety issue might give you something to latch onto since this nerve can be stimulated and thereby lessen anxiety.
I've been aggressively gargling and splashing cold water on my face and also the top of my head in the shower. This may seem counter intuitive but you need to ACTIVATE your vagus nerve to get it to slow down your stress. From this short article I'm adding another vagal toner by fist breathing as described in the article.
Hey, You Yoga is so good in so many ways. I will keep investigating the vagus nerve, they did touch on it on the SIBO summit and one therapist said he would suggest huperzine to his patients. I looked it up but none of the reviews mentioned that use. I'm sure there are multiple purposes for some supplements. I'm coming to the conclusion that it is ALL about bacteria, the microbiome. Too much, too little and in the wrong places.
Uijay breath in yoga does the trick - when you cannot stimulate the epiglottis then you know things are going downhill. Think of the vagus nerve like an octopus - spreading its tentacles throughout the body from the old part of the brain ...
The first diagram I saw of the vagus nerve almost traumatized me, ha. It appears like some traveling worm about to slurp up your organs. I'm probably the only goon who looks at it that way but those cranial nerves are so important and it's concerning that the brain may be targeted similarly to the thyroid. I hope you have a chance to watch some of these summits even though you may be well informed, I think some of this information may be new.
Both Trudy Scott and the FM neurologist/researcher Datis Kharazian have vagus nerve rehab programmes to follow. I found them helpful for swallowing issues. They involve gargling till the eyes water, progressing to singing loudly and something else I have forgotten. A very important nerve as most of the traffic is to the brain, about 70% of activity.
Yes, thank you. Datis has his own series coming up. We really have to keep up with what is happening to our brains through autoimmune disease. The thyroid is bad enough but the horror of when the brain is attacked and the many people who may be involved may have massive consequences.
I'm trying to find all the ways to strengthen the vagus nerve. Syncope is related to this nerve but since the heart relies on it, we should know more about it.
I like the "singing" part of stimulating the Vagus Nerve - who knew?! Singing is very relaxing.
I did not know that the FDA had approved Vagus Nerve stimulation for depression. I had a read a few years back that this same operation was being explored as an alternative way to treat epilepsy.
Very Interesting! Thanks for the continued and excellent posts!
Ha, I think the type of singing they suggest is LOUD and aggressive so close the windows. It's really connected to the palate so making yourself gag until your eyes water....I hate that part, but it's pretty serious if you have no gag reflex on one side or the other.
They use a pacemaker device implanted around the neck especially for people who have seizures so I'm thinking the heart pacemakers are used for similar reasons. People worry about cholesterol when they should concentrate on their vagus nerve.
An interesting post and great link. I’ve practiced Yoga for many years and it has helped enormously with my levels of stress and anxiety. Abdominal breathing is a wonderful technique.
Thanks for that tip - of splashing water on the fore forehead to stimulate the vagal nerve.
I do this on my eyes if they start to itch. My grand daughter finds this useful too. I sometimes take
an over the counter cough remedy to calm my nerves which stops tension in the throat and neck.
Having a history of thyrotoxicosis, and now diabetes, your theory on the vagal nerve and anxiety seems to make sense.
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Yoga is so good in so many ways. I will keep investigating the vagus nerve, they did touch on it on the SIBO summit and one therapist said he would suggest huperzine to his patients. I looked it up but none of the reviews mentioned that use. I'm sure there are multiple purposes for some supplements. I'm coming to the conclusion that it is ALL about bacteria, the microbiome. Too much, too little and in the wrong places.
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