Hey There, Nice Vagal Tone
The perfect pick up line, right?! Ha, can you imagine if we were “picked up” because of our calm and stress free nature…I just gave myself a chuckle. But, understanding your Vagal Tone is a highly impactful tool that many are unaware of. Too low and one can experience anxiety, depression, elevated heart rate, elevated blood pressure, higher risk of heart attack, inflammation, loneliness, and increased risk of stroke. But, a high Vagal Tone will give one the gift of a sense of well being, good heart rate and variability, healthy appetite, healthy bowel movements, and a resilience to stress. Hmmm, pretty easy to choose which one of the two I would like to have! So, how do we know if we have high or low Vagal Tone? What exactly is the Vagus Nerve? And how do we keep it healthy?
The Vagus Nerve
The “wandering nerve”. The Vagus Nerve snakes all way from our brains to our colons. It is the main highway that connects all major organs to one another via nerve endings. Yup, this long highway can dish out the goods to all our organs, or hold back on the goods, depending on how healthy it is. The Vagus Nerve takes on the role as the captain of our nervous system, passing out the neurotransmitters and hormones as they are needed. Ever wonder how our bodies just know how to pass food along without us really doing anything, or how it just knows when we are full or hungry? That is the Vagus Nerve doing its thing, pulling hormones from our gut, our brain, the food we are digesting, and communicating to all sorts of different areas in our bodies.
If properly functioning, the Vagus Nerve keeps the rate of digestion moving at a good pace, it communicates the proper amount of food intake by passing out the proper amount of hormones to tell us when we are hungry or full, it stimulates vitamin intake (in particular B12), and it allows the body to have adequate amount of nutrient absorption. Whew…that’s a lot!
The problem comes when it isn’t functioning well. If we are stressed, the Vagus Nerve is stressed, and that can cause lots of hold ups. Chronic Stress on this impactful highway can cause destruction physically and mentally. The Vagus Nerve is the main communication hub between the gut and the brain, along with everything in between. Ever have hiccups, bloating, loose stools, reflux, or shortness of breath, or any of the symptoms I listed above? Your Vagus Nerve is telling you something.
Tapping Into Your Vagal Tone
Now, the Vagus Nerve is the main highway, but our Vagal Tone is the driver. Having a Low Vagal Tone is similar to having a drunk driver conduct our hormone and neurotransmitter placements throughout our body. There’s a high chance those hormones and neurotransmitters will not reach their destination, or even worse, they may crash and burn. The next thing we know, our bodies begin to slow down, or shut down: it becomes harder to swallow food; we have mood swings; we have gut complications; and many more issues that can ensue. What can we do to have higher Vagal Tone? I’m glad you asked!The greatest triggers of a negative impact on your Vagal Tone is too much spicy food, alcohol, stress, and “bad” fats. Limiting these to a minimum is a great place to start.
Building up Vagal Tone is just as important as limiting negative impacts. There are plenty of examples we can seek out online. These would be my top 5:
Acupuncture: This reduces heart rate and produces an anti inflammatory response throughout the “problem areas”.
Cold Plunge: These can be done incorrectly. I encourage you to find someone that is well versed in this practice. Hot to cold shower can work perfectly, jumping in a spa pool after a hot shower for about 30 seconds, or even splashing cold water on your face in the morning.
Deep Breathing: This slows down and increases the variability of your heartbeat. Extending your exhale supports healthy Vagal Tone, as well as alternate nostril breathing, and belly breathing. (These can be found on numerous places online, but I recommend following the practices of Wim Hof.)
Gentle Movement: Yoga and Tai Chi are great for increasing Vagal Tone. Some impactful movements are gentle backbends, inverting your body with your legs on the wall, and sun salutations.
Positive Emotions: Positive thoughts decrease stress. Some practices of positive thoughts are hypnosis, laughter, meditation, social connection, vocal work, and journaling.
These stimulaters naturally balance the bodies ability to move from parasympathetic to sympathetic reaction. If we continuously live in the parasympathetic reaction mode, our bodies will never be able to calm down. Living in a constant state of stress, or “fight or flight” mode, leads to chronic inflammation, which then leads to illness, be it physical or mental.
Parasympathetic=”Rest and Digest”
Sympathetic=”Fight or Flight”
So, while having a healthy Vagal Tone may not get you a first date, it will definitely cause others to “check you out” because you will feel so amazing, and feel so confident, that others will want to know what’s up!
