The vagus nerve, meaning “wanderer” in Latin, is the longest nerve in your body connecting your brain to other vital organs including the heart, lungs and digestive organs. The vagus nerve is an important component of the parasympathetic “rest and digest” nervous system, having a significant part to play on your physical and mental health.
Increasing your vagal tone (the activity of the vagus nerve) activates the parasympathetic nervous system, helping to reduce heart rate and blood pressure and stimulate digestive function.
The higher your vagal tone, the faster your body can recover from stress. Researchers have found that vagal tone is passed from mum to baby. Mothers who are angry or suffer anxiety and depression during their pregnancy have lower vagal activity. Subsequently low vagal activity as well as low serotonin and dopamine levels are exhibited in their newborns.
By stimulating the vagus nerve you have the ability to send a message to your brain to help you relax, leading to sustainable improvements in mood, resilience to stress, digestive function, and overall wellbeing.
Here are 9 ways to stimulate your vagus nerve naturally to improve vagal tone:
1. Meditation
Research shows that meditation increases vagal tone, and promotes positive emotions and feelings about self. This is a beneficial stress management tool than can move your nervous system out of a sympathetic “fight or flight” state and into a “rest and digest” state.
2. Diaphragmatic breathing
Diaphragmatic breathing or belly breathing is another way to stimulate your vagus nerve and help reduce anxiety. When you breathe in deeply your stomach should expand outward. A long and slow exhalation is key to stimulating the vagus nerve.
3. Laughing and socialising
Researchers have discovered that connecting socially not only reduces the stress hormone cortisol but also improve vagal tone. Laughter has been shown to increase heart-rate variability and improve mood. Interestingly, stimulation of the vagus nerve often leads to laughter as a side effect, suggesting they mutually influence each other.
4. Singing, humming and gargling
The vagus nerve is connected to the vocal cords and the muscles at the back of your throat. Singing, humming and gargling help activate these muscles, and in turn stimulate your vagus nerve.
5. Exposure to the cold
Researchers have also found that exposing yourself to cold temperature on a regular basis can lower your sympathetic “fight or flight” response and increase parasympathetic activity through the vagus nerve. Try finishing your next shower on cold for at least 30 seconds!
6. Exercise
Exercise increases the expression of BDNF (a brain growth hormone), helps reverse cognitive decline, and has been shown to stimulate the vagus nerve. This may explain the beneficial effects that exercise has on mental health. Find a form of exercise you enjoy and stick with it consistently for those long-term health benefits.
7. Massage
Massage can stimulate the vagus nerve, and increase vagal tone. Reflexology, in particular, has been shown to increase heart rate variability, and decrease the “fight or flight” sympathetic response.
8. Probiotics
Research has shown that gut bacteria influence the vagus nerve. In an animal study, the probiotic strain Lactobacillus rhamnosus had a positive effect on GABA receptors in the brain, facilitated by the vagus nerve, which resulted in a reduction in stress hormones, and anxiety. Bifidobacterium longum has also been shown to act through the vagus nerve to reduce anxiety.
9. Omega-3 fatty acids
Omega-3 fatty acids are essential fats found in oily fish and plant-based oils that your body cannot produce. These are important for the functioning of the nervous system and have been shown to help with mental illness, reversing cognitive decline, and overcoming addiction. Studies have demonstrated that omega-3 fatty acids reduce heart rate and increase heart rate variability, so this suggests they likely have a stimulating action on the vagus nerve.
