What is The Vagus Nerve and How Does it Impact Mental Health?
Have you ever had a gut feeling that a situation wasn’t right? You can thank your vagus nerve for that!
The vagus nerve is the main part of the parasympathetic nervous system, and is the longest of the 12 cranial nerves. It’s actually made up of two nerves which travel down the left and right sides of your body.
It is a major pathway between the brain and the rest of the body, running from the brainstem through to the base of your spine, connecting with vital organs along the way such as the heart, lungs and digestive tract. It is a vital part of the gut-brain axis, carrying information from the organs back to the brain and carrying signals from the brain to the organs, influencing their function.
Why is the Vagus Nerve Important?
The vagus nerve plays important roles within the body, including:
Digestion
Breathing
Heart rate
Blood pressure
Immune system responses
Mood
Reflex actions, such as coughing, sneezing, swallowing and vomiting
The Connection Between the Vagus Nerve and Mental Health
The vagus nerve is particularly interesting in the discussion around mental health, due to its role in the regulation of our autonomic nervous system. This system controls our involuntary nervous system states and has two main branches, the parasympathetic nervous system and the sympathetic nervous system.
The parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) controls the ‘rest and digest’ functions within the body, an involuntary state that the body naturally moves us into when we are safe so we can repair, undertake cellular processes, digest, and rest!
You’ve probably heard the term ‘fight or flight’ before, which is the response that comes from the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). In fact, you’ve probably experienced it when you received a stressful email or had a disagreement with your partner. The SNS, or ‘fight or flight’ response, is there to protect us from danger, increasing our heart rate, breathing, and blood flow. It prepares us to defend ourselves, run away, or stay very still to go undetected from predators.
The vagus nerve comes into these responses as it is our information highway that processes all the details that our organs are sending it from the environment. It then tells the body whether we need to move into a SNS response (fight or flight) or if we can stay in PNS (rest and digest).
The vagus nerve operates bidirectionally, meaning that the brain can send messages to the body and vice versa, so a state of safety and calm can be created from working with the body and from working with the mind. This is what we call the mind-body connection, which the vagus nerve is thought to be primarily responsible for.
As a major pathway for the stress response, the vagus nerve plays a powerful role in modulating mood and mental health, including anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Activation of the vagus nerve can lead to functions in the body which contribute to a sense of calmness and wellbeing, whereas low ‘tone’ (from underuse) of the vagus nerve has been linked to various mental health conditions.
How to Stimulate Your Vagus Nerve for Mental Health
Stimulating the vagus nerve can shift the state of the body to one of calmness and homeostasis. This can be done through a number of different practices, including:
Deep breathing exercises
Mindfulness meditation
Yoga
Singing or humming loudly
Dancing
Cold water therapy
Massage
Positive social connections
Self-compassion exercises
How I Work With the Vagus Nerve in my Holistic Counselling Sessions
When we have been through periods of feeling stressed, depleted, or time-poor, activities that help tone our vagus nerve often fall off the list first. We might not be singing happily to ourselves, dancing, and having time for that Sunday yoga class.
By incorporating vagus nerve toning into our holistic counselling sessions, you are able to start experiencing the effects of a calmer nervous system and increase your confidence to continue to build your practice at home.
This might look like breathing exercises, mindfulness activities incorporating nature or other elements of the environment around us, yoga poses (asanas), yoga nidra meditations, or tapping techniques - just to name a few!
Different bodies will feel more comfortable with different techniques, so these are adjusted and tailored to you. Over time, this nerve will respond to the continued use, and be your best friend in tough times as it gently guides you back into calm after a spike of stress.
Book your free 15 minute appointment here and see if holistic counselling is right for you.
