The vagus nerve is the longest nerve we have in our bodies. If you ask me, it’s the coolest nerve in our bodies. Why? The vagus nerve is the body’s superpower, we use it to counteract our fight, flight or freeze response. The Vagus Nerve helps us develop a healthy stress response. This, in turn, makes us more resilient. Stimulating the coolest nerve in your body will benefit your autonomic nervous system (ANS), emotional and mental health. Vagal tone is a great indicator of your emotional and physical wellbeing.
Firstly, the vagus nerve provides 75% of all parasympathetic outflow. When the brain triggers
parasympathetic activation, the vagus nerve carries the messages
On the other hand, 80% of the vagus nerve’s fibers deliver information from the enteric nervous system (the second brain in the gut) to the brain.
Indeed, the neurotransmitter acetylcholine is released from the vagus nerve. This neurotransmitter allows the brain to communicate with the diaphragm. This communication is the one that allows us to keep breathing. Consequently, if the vagus nerve stops releasing acetylcholine to enable this communication, you will stop breathing.
The Neurosurgeon Kevin Tracey and some of his colleagues found that a very small amount of an anti-inflammatory drug in rats’ brains blocked the production of an inflammatory molecule in the liver and spleen. The researchers began cutting nerves one at a time to find the ones responsible for transmitting the anti-inflammatory signal from brain to body. What they found out was astonishing, though the how they did it isn’t vegan friendly. They found out that “When we cut the vagus nerve, which runs from the brain stem down to the spleen, the effect was gone”, Tracey said. Later, they discovered that stimulating undamaged vagus fibers also had anti-inflammatory effects in animals (without the drug), which they, consequently, attributed to the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine by the vagus nerve. You can read more about this study here.
In 2011, 8 patients with severe rheumatoid arthritis (an autoimmune inflammatory condition that causes swollen, tender joints) were brought into a study at the University of Amsterdam. Thus, they had implanted a vagus nerve stimulator. In consequence, after 42 days of simulating the vagus nerve between one and four hinges a day, the patients experienced a significant reduction in their symptoms and two of them had a complete remission. As a result, after the study finished, nobody wanted the Vagus Nerve Stimulator removed.
People with heart failure, where the heart fails to pump enough blood through the body, tend to have a less active vagus nerves. Currently, multiple studies are underway investigating the effects of vagus stimulation on patients with heart failure and atrial fibrillation (where the heart flutters erratically).
Studies show that stimulation of the vagus nerve can be an effective treatment for chronic depression, where other treatments failed. Electrical stimulation of the vagus through a surgically implanted device has already been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a therapy for patients who don’t get relief from existing treatments.
They call it a “gut instinct” when there is something you can’t quite put your finger on, that tells you that something isn’t right. Well, believe it or not, the vagus nerve plays a major role in this. Signals are sent from our guts to our brains via the vagus nerve. After this, signals from the brain travel back to the gut. This forms a feedback loop.
Researchers started wondering what would happen if the loop was interrupted. As scientists usually do, they tried to find out. A study was carried out in Switzerland using rats as the test subjects. Its results were that if the loop was interrupted, it immediately affected anxiety and fear.
The same Swiss study mentioned above, found that the rats without gut instincts transmitting to the brain via the vagus nerve required significantly longer to re-associate previously “dangerous” environment with the new, “safe” and neutral situation. This showed that the vagus nerve facilitates learning and “rewiring”.
“These new findings about the vagus nerve offer exciting possibility for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In consequence, we know that stimulation of the vagus nerve might be able to speed up the process by which people with PTSD can learn to re-associate a non-threatening stimuli which, consequently, triggers anxiety with a neutral and non-traumatic experience” said researcher Christopher Bergland.
It can also help with healing sexual stress and trauma.
The company electroCore, started manufacturing a small device that stimulates the vagus nerve and vagal tone when placed on the throat. They initially tested the devices to reduce asthma symptoms – relying on the nerve’s anti-inflammatory action. Consequently, during the testing period, patients reported that their headaches were disappearing.
As a result, the company is investigating the use of an electroCore device to treat chronic cluster headaches (excruciating attacks of pain in one side of the head, often felt around the eye)
What is really interesting is the on-going conversation about the vagal tone. Apparently, the secret recipe for de-stressing, activating our PNS, having a healthy gut, less inflammation, and happy moods… all lie in the higher resting vagal tone. Some of it is congenital and some – apparently – can be acquired. How? You can learn everything about this here: check out our 21 days of breath work course.
In short… What are the effects of High Vagal Tone?
High vagal tone will improve the function of many body systems. High vagal tone will translate into more efficient blood sugar regulation, decreased risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease, lower blood pressure, better digestion and reduced headaches and migraines.
Consequently, higher vagal tone will cause us to have better moods, less inflammation, less anxiety and better stress regulation.
And… What are the effects of Low Vagal Tone?
Moreover, low vagal tone is associated with cardiovascular conditions, strokes, depression, Sjögren disease, diabetes, chronic fatigue syndrome, cognitive impairment, and much higher rates of inflammatory conditions. Inflammatory conditions include all autoimmune diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, endometriosis, autoimmune thyroid conditions, fibromyalgia, lupus and many others).
Written by Luciana Blanco Villegas 
Experiences, expeditions and education to unlock your potential, open your heart and let your breath set you free.
Copyright © 2022 | Breathless
Copyright © 2022 | Breathless
