Singing, Humming, Chanting and Gargling
The vagus nerve is connected to your vocal cords and the muscles at the back of your throat. Singing, humming, chanting and gargling can activate these muscles and stimulate your vagus nerve. And this has been shown to increase heart-rate variability and vagal tone (12).
The vagal response is a series of unpleasant symptoms that occur when the vagus nerve is stimulated. Often, this response is triggered by certain things like stress, pain, and fear. Symptoms of the vagal response include dizziness, nausea, ringing ears, and sweating.
To test the vagus nerve, a doctor may check the gag reflex . During this part of the examination, the doctor may use a soft cotton swab to tickle the back of the throat on both sides. This should cause the person to gag.
Torso stretch activates the vagus nerve
This exercise from Yoga U activates the vagus nerve in the torso by doing movement in the rib cage area and settling the nervous system.
In Chinese medicine, different parts of our body correlate with different specific reflexology or pressure points. The vagus nerve point for your hand is right inside of the pinky, for example. This is great because it's so accessible during the course of your day.
In a vagus nerve massage, moderate pressure is applied to the area between the trapezius and sternocleidomastoid muscles in the neck/shoulder area and at the muscles below the base of the skull, with twisting or stroking motions [1].
The vagus nerve is also noted as being the tenth cranial nerve (designated as CN X). The vagus nerve is actually a set of two nerves, a vagus nerve right side of the neck and a vagus nerve left side of the neck.
You may have some tingling sensations or slight pain in your neck and temporary hoarseness when the nerve stimulation is on. The stimulator doesn't detect seizure activity or depression symptoms. When it's turned on, the stimulator turns on and off at the intervals selected by your doctor.
Gastroparesis: Gastroparesis occurs when damage to a vagus nerve stops food from moving into your intestines from your stomach. This vagal nerve damage can result from diabetes, viral infections, abdominal surgery and scleroderma.
In recent years, studies have shown that electronic vagal stimulation can help with conditions like depression and epilepsy. Both electronic vagus nerve stimulation and at-home vagus nerve exercises improve what's known as vagal tone, or the ability of the vagus nerve to regulate the heartbeat.
Polyvagal theory exercises seek to optimize the regulation of the body's physiological state. They employ social interactions and evoke safety to disrupt and repair the physiological state and promote resilience.
Other Ways to Stimulate Your Vagus Nerve. Place one hand on your stomach and the other hand on your chest. As you breathe in, feel your stomach expand, and when you exhale, your stomach should go back down. This is also known as “belly breathing.” This lowers your heart rate and blood pressure.
VNS can take up to two years to have an effect on a patient's seizures. If VNS proves effective, it may enable a patient to decreases dosages of AEDs over time. The goal of VNS is to reduce the number, length and severity of seizures. VNS may also reduce the time it takes to recover after a seizure.
When the vagus nerve is overstimulated, the body's blood vessels dilate, especially those in the lower extremities, and the heart temporarily slows down. The brain is deprived of oxygen, causing the patient to lose consciousness.
MASSAGE. You can manually stimulate the vagus nerve by massaging certain areas of the body. A neck massage along the carotid sinus, the right side of your throat, stimulates the vagus nerve. Foot massage can also increase vagal modulation, as well as help lower blood pressure.
Considering the course of the vagal nerve in the cervical region, it is thought that conditions such as stiffness, tightness and decreased elasticity in this region may compress the vagal nerve andmay affect vagal function.
Research shows that Chriocpic adjustments can improve HRV by bossing the health function of the vagus nerve. By enhancing the vagus nerve, you will improve the way your entire nervous system functions. Resulting in lowering your risk for chronic disease and increasing your life span.
Nutrition for the Vagus Nerve
Nutrients that support the vagus nerve include: Choline (to make acetylcholine, our main neurotransmitter) Vitamin B12. Magnesium.
There are various vagus nerve reflexes (or acupressure points) mapped on the feet and Thai Foot Massage stimulates these areas increasing vagal activity. The stimulated vagus nerve prompts the release of oxytocin, and this hormone promotes relaxation, healthy digestion, and a sense of wellbeing.
The acupuncture points in the sub-occipital, auricular (ear) and neck-region are located in the nerve distribution area and affect the vagus nerve. One of the benefits of using acupuncture to stimulate the vagus nerve is that it is risk- and surgery-free and doesn't produce any negative side effects.