Stimulating This Nerve Could Help Reduce Anxiety — Here’s How to Try It

An estimated 30% of Americans expertise an nervousness dysfunction in some unspecified time in the future of their lives. It goes with out saying that situations like social nervousness, a selected phobia, generalized nervousness, or post-traumatic stress dysfunction can intrude along with your private relationships, work efficiency, and different primary elements of on a regular basis life. And whereas there are many methods to deal with stress and nervousness, specialists say stimulating your vagus nerve is likely to be the lacking piece to getting a deal with in your responses to distressing occasions.

The vagus nerve is the longest cranial nerve in your total physique and is linked to each organ. While it helps all kinds of essential capabilities — together with digestion, respiration, and coronary heart price — it additionally performs a significant position within the parasympathetic nervous system, AKA “rest and digest mode.”

“When the vagus nerve is stimulated, it slows breathing and heart rate, promoting calm and alleviating anxiety,” explains Chris Tompkins, a licensed therapist with Theara. “Frequent stimulation of the vagus nerve can help with emotional, mental, and physical wellbeing.”

When your vagus nerve is in working order, you are in a position to return to a zen state in a short time after that combat or flight response kicks in. But when sure components sabotage your vagus nerve’s performance, you could end up having a more durable time bouncing again from traumatic or anxiety-inducing conditions.

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Here’s what to find out about this ultra-important system — and methods to stimulate it for the sake of your psychological well being.


What Is the Vagus Nerve?


You’ve in all probability heard of combat or flight — the system that will get activated when your physique senses a possible risk. A variety of situations can set off combat or flight, typically leaving you with a pounding coronary heart, sweaty palms, shallower respiration, dry mouth, and nausea or butterflies in your abdomen.

For occasion, combat or flight may set in while you’re gearing up for a public talking engagement when your accomplice begins elevating their voice throughout an argument, or when your neighbor’s menacing canine begins barking and operating in the direction of you. If the combat or flight response serves as an necessary alarm system, the parasympathetic nervous system counters it by serving to you come back to a relaxed state when you’ve handled the perceived risk.

“Think of fight or flight as the gas pedal and the vagus nerve as the brake pedal,” says Jon Deam, MD, a board-certified psychiatrist and founding father of Aveo Wellness. “It slows heart rate, breathing, and internal functions.”

Stefan Chmelik, an built-in healthcare doctor, mindfulness coach, and founding father of Sensate, calls the vagus nerve “the best tool we have for self-regulation.”

“This self-regulation capability includes physical needs, stamina, and recovery as well as metabolic, emotional, and mental balance, and stress resilience,” he explains.


How to Tell Your Vagus Nerve Needs Stimulating


When your vagus nerve is properly conditioned, your physique can extra rapidly and simply return to a peaceful, relaxed baseline. But what occurs when it’s not functioning correctly?

Deam says the vagus nerve’s capabilities throughout the parasympathetic nervous system can develop into weak when your combat or flight response is constantly overactivated.

“If stress is prolonged, such as in the case of trauma, the vagus nerve may initiate the freeze/collapse system,” explains Dana Harron, a licensed scientific psychologist, founding father of Monarch Wellness & Psychotherapy, and writer of Loving Someone With an Eating Disorder. “This is a stress response in which the body shuts down to conserve energy.”

According to Hong, different components that may affect the operate of the vagus nerve embody:

  • Prolonged or persistent stress
  • Chronic irritation
  • Certain medical situations, like heart problems and diabetes
  • Genetics
  • Unhealthy weight loss program and way of life

Vagus Nerve Stimulation Techniques to Try


To perceive why vagus nerve workouts are useful, it’s necessary to first perceive what they accomplish.

“Vagal tone refers to the strength of the signal sent from the brain to the body through the vagus nerve,” says Colleen Wenner, a licensed psychological well being counselor and founder/scientific director of New Heights Counseling & Consulting. “When the vagus nerve is weak, the signal will not reach its destination as efficiently. People who suffer from chronic stress and anxiety tend to have lower vagal tone.”

Think of it like all muscle, says Chmelik. The extra you train and “tone” it, the stronger it turns into.

Dr. Harold Hong, a board-certified psychiatrist at New Waters Recovery, notes that stimulating the vagus nerve may also decrease activity in the amygdala, part of the mind concerned in concern and nervousness.

To improve vagal tone, Dr. Ketan Parmar, a psychiatrist with Clinic Spots, recommends:

  • Getting ample sleep
  • Exercising commonly
  • Getting massages
  • Practicing meditation

“Exercise has been shown to be beneficial for the vagus nerve because it helps increase blood flow and oxygenation to the brain, which can then help reduce stress and promote relaxation,” provides Parmar.

Here are some particular strategies that may assist stimulate your vagus nerve:

Cold Therapy

While plunging into a bath filled with icy water won’t sound interesting, Tompkins says that chilly remedy can stimulate the vagus nerve and activate the parasympathetic nervous system.

Studies have proven that cold-water immersion really slows down your coronary heart price and will increase blood move to your mind, thus serving to you to higher address stress.

Not keen to take a freezing chilly bathe? Try simply inserting an ice pack in your face or dunking your face in ice water.

Humming or Singing

Parmar and Tompkins agree that the vibrations produced by singing and buzzing are wonderful for activating the vagus nerve. This is as a result of your vagus nerve is linked to your vocal cords — the muscle tissue in the back of your throat that produce sound.

Try singing within the bathe, buzzing alongside to music within the automobile, and even including an extended, deep “Om” on the finish of your meditation observe. Parmar additionally suggests gargling with heat water for 30 seconds.

“The main aspects of the vagus nerve run through the chest into all the major organs, so creating resonance here will work on the whole body,” says Chmelik.

Breathwork

“Taking deep breaths into the belly can help stimulate the nerve, as can specific breathing techniques,” says Tompkins.

Haley Riddle, a licensed counselor with Mynd Psychiatry, recommends training field respiration. The method is straightforward however efficient: inhale for a rely of 4 seconds, maintain for a rely of 4 seconds, exhale for a rely of 4 seconds, after which maintain once more for one more 4 seconds earlier than repeating the cycle no less than 6-10 occasions.

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According to Harron, one other technique to attempt is ujjayi respiration, a standard method utilized in yoga. After inhaling by means of your nostril, along with your mouth closed, exhale slowly along with your throat constricted as if you happen to had been attempting to fog up a mirror (or impersonate Darth Vader respiration). Try to make your exhales longer than your inhales.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Progressive muscle leisure (PMR) is a way that entails tightening after which enjoyable particular person muscle teams one after the other. Research has proven that it might probably assist to launch emotions of rigidity, nervousness, and anger.

Here’s methods to attempt PMR, in accordance with Wenner:

  1. Start laying or sitting down.
  2. Tense the muscle tissue in your toes for 10 seconds, then let go.
  3. Repeat this along with your calves, thighs, palms, buttocks, abs, chest, arms, shoulders, mouth, and eyebrows.
  4. “As you release the tension, notice how your muscle feels,” says Wenner.

Soundscapes

Research has proven that utilizing soundscapes — recreations of an setting by means of using sound — might be useful for activating the parasympathetic nervous system, and help relieve stress. You can simply make the most of soundscapes throughout meditation by turning on a recording of ocean waves, or simply opening your window and listening to the birds chirping outdoors.

But if you happen to’re seeking to take your vagal firming up a notch, Sensate is a small wearable meditation gadget that leverages soundscapes. The system is designed for use with a corresponding audio app that makes use of infrasonic waves that resonate by means of the physique and encourage leisure. Chmelik says you may reap the advantages of Sensate in as little as 10 minutes per day. You can use it as a part of your meditation routine, or as wanted while you’re fighting an episode of tension — resembling earlier than a flight or presentation.

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