Are you struggling with health issues like anxiety, low mood, digestive problems, migraines, respiratory issues, or abnormal heart rate? Does it seem they have no obvious underlying cause? If yes, it could be time to reset your vagus nerve.
In this article, you’ll learn about your vagus nerve and how it can affect your health. Plus, you’ll discover how to reset your vagus nerve using simple lifestyle interventions.
Your vagus nerve, also known as your tenth cranial nerve, is the longest nerve in your body. It runs between your brain and your large intestine. Along the way, it connects with other organs including your heart, lungs, and stomach. It carries signals to and from these organs and your brain.
Your vagus nerve is actually a bundle of nerves. These nerves control involuntary functions including your heart rate, breathing, digestion, reflexes, urine output and speech. It’s the primary component of your parasympathetic nervous system, part of your autonomic nervous system.
Your parasympathetic nervous system controls automatic functions while your body is at rest. In other words, it’s responsible for the ‘rest and digest’ mode. This contrasts with ‘fight or flight’ responses, governed by your sympathetic nervous system.
Some neurones in your vagus nerve provide information to your brain about what’s happening in your body. Others send signals from your brain to your body to keep it in equilibrium. It enables the switch between your nervous system’s sympathetic mode when you’re responding to stress, to the parasympathetic mode, so you can relax and recover afterwards.
In summary, when your vagus nerve is functioning optimally, your body will be balanced, with a healthy heart rate and stable blood pressure. Good vagal tone controls excessive inflammation, vital for overall wellbeing, and contributes to a healthy immune system. Finally, it regulates mood and supports psychological wellbeing.
Sometimes vagus nerve function is adversely affected, usually as a result of prolonged stress. Other causes can be infections, high blood sugar levels, trauma, such as whiplash, or even simply ageing.
Then, the vagus nerve loses its ability to switch off fight/flight mode. This is known as vagal dysfunction or low vagal tone.
Signs your vagus nerve might be dysfunctional include:
Vagal dysfunction can increase your risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. However, because your vagus nerve affects so many body systems, symptoms of poor vagal tone can be widespread and nonspecific.
Heart rate variability (HRV) refers to the fluctuation in the time period between heartbeats. If you are healthy, there will naturally be slightly different gaps between each heartbeat. Low variation is associated with a revved-up sympathetic nervous system in constant fight/flight mode, combined with a depressed parasympathetic response.
Therefore, high HRV is linked with better vagal tone and improved health. It’s a sign your nervous system is adapting to stressful situations and returning to normal afterwards.
The key to regulating your nervous system lies in your vagus nerve. Stimulating or resetting the nerve can help initiate your parasympathetic nervous system, slowing your breathing rate and promoting feelings of calmness.
The goal is to restore balance to the two parts of the autonomic nervous system, the sympathetic and parasympathetic.
Adopting a diet high in anti-inflammatory foods including seeds, nuts, oily fish, and colourful plant foods, along with fermented foods, is known to help reduce inflammation and reduce nervous system hyperreactivity.
Do you need help with any health issues. Having a functional medicine practitioner review your lifestyle could be the answer. Speak to one of our practitioners by requesting a FREE discovery call to see if Functional Medicine is for you.
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