Your Vagus Nerve: Its Nervous System Connection and Why Vagus Nerve Stimulation Is Powerful
Have you noticed that every other year in Wellness Land the “experts” anoint a new body part, gland, or gene as The Holy Grail for health and happiness? Hack this. Master this. Relax this. Tone this. Optimize this and you’ve “cracked the code?”
“You’re never going to feel stressed or overwhelmed or sick again!”
Well, anyone living on planet earth that isn’t deluded or desperate knows that’s nonsense! There’s no one way to shift from feeling mucky and overwhelmed to being a total vibe in your life, work, and relationships.
That said, in the last few years the vagus nerve and its impact on how you think and feel is “having its moment in the sun.”
And because breathwork’s a create tool for supporting your vagus nerve, we’re telling you everything you need to know.
What is the vagus nerve?
The vagus nerve isn’t “new.” It was “discovered” more than a century ago. But “discovery” is one of those controversial “Columbus” terms that fails to recognize that cultures have intimately known about the vagus nerve for centuries – more on this later.
History aside, you’ve decided to become fascinated with your own vagus nerve. And that’s a good thing because the vagus nerve plays a critical role in your life.
Your vagus nerve is a vital component of your nervous system’s ability to regulate. When it’s functioning properly, you and your body are able to relax the way nature intended (i.e. really well).
The vagus nerve is often called the “the wander” because it’s a bit of a vagabond, it gets its spider-web tendrils all up in your body’s business!
The vagal fibers that make up your vagus nerve run from your brain and down your neck, passing through your heart, lungs, digestive system, liver, spleen, pancreas, and abdomen. This explains why the health of your gut also comes into play when discussing the “tone” or overall well-being of this important nerve. When your vagus nerve is properly toned or stimulated correctly, it has the ability to do things like:
Reduce symptoms of “treatment-resistant” depression
Decrease chronic pain
Improve diabetic side effects and conditions
Heal or improve autoimmune conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s disease
Stabilize and control heart rates
Minimize post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Decrease inflammation in the body
Decrease epileptic episodes
Improve memory function
Reduce hypertension
Strengthen our innate “gut feeling” intuition to improve decision making
Improve sleep cycles
Aid in recovery
Reduce or eliminate headaches and/or migraines
Boost your immune system
Not a bad list!
And while science now supports this evidence, cultures around the world have understood the function of the vagus nerve (even if that’s not what they called it) for generations. But being able to see the nerve and study its effects has been huge for mainstreaming the vagus nerve. It’s no longer something discussed in “outlier” communities. The “wandering nerve” is now widely accepted as one of the keystones of the nervous system and, therefore, a critical component to our overall health and well being.
But who “discovered” the vagus nerve?
If you want to pinpoint the moment in time that someone in the modern scientific community discovered the vagus nerve, look at the early 20th century when a scientist named Otto Loewi recognized that “stimulation of the vagal nerve decelerates the heart rate due to release of acetylcholine” – which is also known as “vagusstoff” or “vagus stuff.”
Hat tip to Loewi for such creativity with naming things. Can you believe he’s German!?
When Loewi made this discovery in 1921 ,he didn’t just locate the vagus nerve and one of its primary functions; he also helped solve the mystery of the discovery of acetylcholine (ACh), which happened less than a decade before Loewi began to understand the vagus nerve.
In 1913, a chemist from England, Arthur Ewins, and his colleague, the physiologist and pharmacologist Sir Henry Hallett Dale, discovered ACh, the first neurotransmitter. But it wasn’t until Loewi realized that activating the vagus nerve triggered the release of ACh, or “vagus stuff,” that the pieces of the puzzle began to slot together.
Taking a closer look at the function of ACh, Loewi learned that this neurotransmitter causes the rate of the heart to slow, which leads to an activation of the parasympathetic nervous system.
In other words, “vagus stuff” makes you chill the f*** out.
Like relaxation juice on tap, ACh is a literal “reboot button” for your body and brain.
Loewi and Dale received a Nobel Prize in 1936 for their role in the discovery of this “chill juice” and the nerve that pumps it out. But it wasn’t until TikTok influencers started talking about the vagus nerve (and bottling vagus nerve potions to sell to the public) that most of us started investigating things more closely.
Here’s more about why your vagus nerve is important…
Your body’s vagus nerve is just one of the cranial nerves, but it’s the longest and definitely the most complex. In addition to giving you a nice dose of “chill juice”, it also:
Controls how food moves through your digestive system
Makes sure stomach acid is produced for your body
Helps you swallow, talk, cough, sneeze, faint, and vomit
Gets rid of inflammation in your body
Regulates your heart
Passes messages from the brain to the gut and vice versa
If you’ve heard of that word “homeostasis”, or balance in your body, before, then that’s a good way of understanding what your vagus nerve does; it brings back balance so that you’re not stuck in one extreme or another. The stronger the “tone” of your vagus nerve, the stronger its signals are to the rest of your body.
Think of it this way:
Your vagus nerve wants to communicate with your body in order to give it the directions it needs to function properly. But, if it’s on mute or if you’re tuned in to a different frequency, then you’re not going to hear it. When you strengthen your vagus nerve, it’s like turning up its volume so that your entire body hears what it has to say.
Let’s talk more about what happens when the vagus nerve is stimulated…
Stimulating the vagus nerve goes by a few names now, including “resetting the vagus nerve” and “toning the vagus nerve” – but we’re basically talking about the same thing. (A few super nuanced details have been ignored on purpose to keep your stress levels down… you’re welcome.)
By stimulating your vagus nerve, not only does your heart rate decrease (even when you’re under stress), but your body’s ability to digest everything improves.
One of the reasons why this is so important is because it’s really challenging (arguably impossible) to completely eliminate all stress from your life. More on becoming burnout proof here!
Stress is unpredictable. It has the ability to be relentless and resilient, making it the nemesis for a creative, joyful, or purposeful life. When someone tells you to just “minimize stress,” it’s natural to respond in a stressed state.
Why?
Because “minimizing stress” can feel a lot like, “Stop everything!” or “You’re just not capable, so why try?”
Not cool. Also, pointless.
When I’m coaching people they’ll often say things like, “I just need 6 months off from all my commitments to reduce my stress-levels.” What I reflect back to them? They’re basically telling me something which is impossible. So, what they’re communicating to themselves is that it’s impossible to not be stressed.
I’m not buying it. There are so many ways we can leverage ourselves out of unnecessary stress in our lives through basic things like nervous system regulation, plugging energy drains in our lives, and simply deciding that suffering isn’t noble!
But I get it!
Stress is spiral-like – even a little bit can make things a whole lot worse, and quickly. One stressful event can lead to a sleepless night, which can lead to two stressful events the next day, followed by an even worse night of sleep…
You know the pattern.
But that’s why the vagus nerve, and using breathwork to tone it, is pretty compelling.
It promises a way out of stress that doesn’t require you to stop caring, give up, or become a total off-grid recluse.
Your vagus nerve has the ability to reset and rebalance your nervous system so that you can activate your relaxation response in a way that takes the edge off everyday stress, and puts you more in the driver’s seat of your life.
This is why vagus nerve stimulation is powerful:
Piles of research support that people who are depressed also have low vagal activity. Low vagal tone can show up in less intonation when you speak. In other words, speaking really monotone. It can also flatten your facial expressions. When I look back at photos when I was really struggling with crushing sadness and self-criticism, I’m blown away by how different my face looks. I looked so flat and closed down compared to how I look now.
By increasing vagal nerve activity through stimulation, whether that’s breathwork, mindfulness practices, or exercise, you can pull yourself up and out of depression (the collapsed part of your autonomic nervous system), and accomplish a whole laundry list of health-related tasks.
Strong vagal activity reduces stress and anxiety, improves mental health, and supports a healthy heart. Not only is the vagus nerve intertwined with the nervous system, but it’s intrinsic to the cardiovascular system, too. When a 2010 study looked at how vagus nerve stimulation impacted individuals with heart failure, one of the most interesting things discovered was that it helped people improve their exercise tolerance, which in turn allowed them to strengthen their hearts.
Also, a well-toned vagus nerve is known to reduce inflammation in the body, which is why stimulating it can have an amazing effect on autoimmune conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, or other inflammatory conditions, like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Studies also support that “treatment-resistant” mental health conditions, including PTSD, can be drastically improved by stimulating the vagus nerve.
But is there just one “right” way to stimulate the vagus nerve?
Is there one “right” way to do anything?
Nope.
But there are lots of good ways to tone, stimulate, and reset your vagus nerve.
Here are some of the most popular/effective:
Breathwork
Gargling
Singing/Humming
Neck Massages
Mindful Exercise
Cold Water Exposure
At Soul, we’re a big believer that your body has everything it needs to heal itself; you’ve just got to decide to inhabit your body through breathwork!
That said, there are handheld “vagus nerve stimulation” devices and oils and potions and herbs that you can explore if you’re interested! Different techniques accesses your vagus nerve via different means and have the potential to be effective.
While singing or humming might not be of interest to you (perhaps you feel a little self-conscious - we get it!) it’s pretty cool to see how the sounds we produce have the capacity to help us relax via vagal nerve stimulation. When the sounds you make create vibrations, they actually travel to your throat and specifically target (and stimulate) your vagus nerve. This path is also what makes gargling effective, too.
Breathwork, our healing power tool of choice, accesses the vagus nerve via the nervous system. (Your vagal tissues run from your brain to your abdomen, remember?) When you breathe in a conscious way, you communicate a specific message to your brain and body. This message has the ability to engage your parasympathetic nervous system and, therefore, activate your vagus nerve. (Hello, chill juice!)
Worried your vagus nerve isn’t getting stimulated or it’s not toned enough?
This is how your vagus nerve gets damaged…
First of all, damage and dysfunction are two different things. And honestly, we don’t like either one because they imply brokenness, which leads to you feeling powerless or victim-like, and we hate that kind of chat at Soul.
That said, when your vagus nerve is actually damaged (which is almost always because of a physical accident, surgery or a disease), you’ll experience symptoms like:
Difficulty swallowing
Severe bloating
Dizziness and/or fainting
Vomiting and/or nausea
Constipation or diarrhea
Heartburn
When there’s actual damage to your vagus nerve, surgery might be required to repair it. However, repair isn’t always possible, which means that damage to the vagus nerve is sometimes permanent.
Vagal nerve “dysfunction,” on the other hand, is often triggered by stress and anxiety. Some research has also linked aging to vagal nerve dysfunction.
The good news is that when you’re dealing with vagal nerve dysfunction, which is the most common type of issue with the vagus nerve, there’s a lot you can do about it.
Including, my favorite: Breathwork.
Does breathwork stimulate the vagus nerve? And how does breathing activate the vagus nerve exactly?
So, yes. The vagus nerve is stimulated and toned through breathwork. While a few deep, mindful breaths has the ability to start improving the function of your vagus nerve, longer, more intentional breathwork practices have even more benefit for most people.
Remember what I mentioned earlier that the vagus nerve is trying to communicate but most of us have it on mute? Think of breathwork like a frequency tuner – different breaths and breathing techniques tune you to different channels.
The more you practice, the stronger these signals get, and the easier they are to access.
When you find the right channel, or frequency, your vagus nerve can communicate loud and clear.
Before the early 20th century scientists discovered ACh and the vagus nerve, ancient traditions understood the power of mindful breathing, which is why these techniques were passed down from generation to generation, recorded so that they could be remembered and shared.
While our German dude “discovered” the vagus nerve, humming, chanting, and singing have been a huge part of tribe culture through the history of human evolution. It’s pretty telling that, as a society, we’ve become increasingly disconnected from these ritual-like community-based practices. With that, our stress levels have sky-rocketed, while our vagal tone has likely plummeted!
At Soul, we’re inviting you change that!
When you breathe intentionally, you engage your diaphragm muscles more than you do when you’re breathing without paying attention. And because your diaphragm is connected to your vagus nerve (this cranial nerve runs right through it from your brain to your gut), it gets stimulated with this type of breathing in addition to being stimulated through your nervous system response.
Remember, slow, deep breathing tells your brain that everything is fine and that leads to your PNS, parasympathetic nervous system, getting turned on. And what’s in charge of your PNS? Oh yeah! It’s the vagus nerve!
One of the most interesting facts about breathwork and your vagus nerve is that the neurotransmitter ACh, “vagus stuff,” “chill juice”, only gets secreted when you exhale. For most of us, we emphasize the automatic inhale a whole lot more than our automatic exhale. By mindfully focusing on and lengthening the exhale, we trigger more ACh to be released – and that dilates our blood vessels, which slows our heart rates, which improves our memory, which makes us happier!
Breathwork has the ability to be a total game changer because it’s like turning the lights on inside your vagus nerve – and turning off the lights that stress wants to keep on.
Here’s just one simple breathing technique that can activate your vagus nerve right now:
While I really want you the State Change sessions on Soul, to start building up your breathwork practice, you can start to feel the benefits of stimulating your vagus nerve right now.
Here’s a simple breathing exercise you can do that can help you get a quick sip of that ACh chill juice we’ve been talking about.
This 4:8 breathing State Change is super simple…
Inhale for 4 counts through your nose.
Exhale for 8 counts through your mouth.
Just try it for 2 minutes and see how you feel.
It’s typical to feel a bit drowsy as you start to activate your vagus nerve. Yawing is totally fine! You might even notice that your hands and feet warm up because your circulation is improving. Sometimes people will notice that they have more saliva in their mouths, too.
It’s all normal.
While breathwork has the ability to give you instant tangible effects, working on improving the tone of your vagus nerve requires patience and diligence. But, the stronger your vagus nerve gets, the weaker the stressors in your life become.
The more committed you are to working with your vagus nerve, the more chance you’ve got of burning bright, not out!
Want to explore more breathwork to start burning brighter in your life and work? Start a free trial on Soul and head over to the State Change sessions!
