Filed Under: Gut Healing, Wellness Tagged With: digestive, vagus nerve
Vagus Nerve stimulation is very important in overall gut health.
I have talked about it here and there on my website, but this past week on Instagram, you guys told me you wanted a full post on it.
Before we dig into how to stimulate the Vagus Nerve, let’s start with what the Vagus Nerve is.
Vaga, in Latin, means “to wander.”
The vagus nerve, the longest of the cranial nerves (there are 12 pairs of cranial nerves total), controls your inner nerve center—the parasympathetic nervous system. And the parasympathetic nervous system is highly relevant for the Gutsy community,
As the controller, then, the Vagus Nerve has an important job.
Besides its role in helping us make memories and breathe, it is highly involved in preventing inflammation, initiating the body’s relaxation response, and translating between gut and brain.
In fact, the NIH says about the Vagus Nerve,
If you watch this short video on the Vagus Nerve, you can visually connect the dots.
And you’ll see how the Vagus Nerve directly affects:
bladder movement
Now that you can see just how important it is, the question becomes, “How can we stimulate the Vagus Nerve?”
Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) refers to any technique that stimulates the vagus nerve, including manual or electrical stimulation. For the purposes today, I am only discussing manual stimulation; things you can do on your own at home.
First, here are 8 things that can affect Vagus Nerve stimulation:
And when it is negatively affected, here are some issues that can transpire:
11 Things You Can Do at Home for Vagus Nerve Stimulation
Check out 32 science-backed ways to stimulate the Vagus Nerve HERE. These are 11 I wanted to touch on today. You can save all 11 HERE.
Breathing Exercises. I taught you back in 2012 my favorite breathing exercise. You’ll find it HERE.
Exercise. Movement is good; too much is not. By the way, do you know that I do a simple healthy challenge each month on Instagram? See the simple movement that’s coming up for June and join us HERE.
Omega-3-rich diet.
Probiotics and a Probiotic-rich diet.
Splashing your face with cold water. Or cold therapy in general. Wellness Mama has written about Cryotherapy and details its benefits. But even if you can’t do that, simply exposing your body to cold can help.
Massages. This one seems like a “luxury,” and it is, but it was also a huge piece to my healing.
Do you see how important the Vagus Nerve is now for overall gut health? What else would you like to know and/or have me dive deeper into as it relates to the Vagus Nerve?
This article is just what I needed this morning. Last week was diagnosed with Gerds and Gastritis. I’ve been trying to follow a Gerds diet for several weeks. Last weekend I purchased a juicer. After only 2 glasses of juice, I think I’m returning it. I feel there is way to much waste, so much clean-up. I want to learn how to eat responsibly. I cant wait to dig into this article!
Juicing is the ONLY thing that helps my sister, but even smoothies don’t. Juicing is so exhausting for her to do it, but if she’s consistent, she does begin to feel better and gain energy. I only share to encourage you to try it a while longer despite the “waste.”
Hi there, just wondering if anyone out there can please tell us HOW LONG to sing, hum, chant etc. in order to actually stimulate the v. nerve?? Is it 10 seconds? Is it two songs worth? I have researched this and only ever get a ‘list’ of things to do, but no real instructions. Would love to know, for example, if simply humming for one min is enough. Do you know if there is any research that gives specifics?