Stress Relieving Methods 

The body’s initial reaction to a crisis or threatening situation is to activate the ‘fight or flight” stress response, which primes the body to take either confrontational or avoidance action.  Once the threat has passed, the “rest and digest” response takes over, in which the vagus nerve – as part of the parasympathetic nervous system – plays a major role.  The sympathetic nervous system is involved in the “fight or flight” response.

In an emergency the body releases first adrenalin and then cortisol to enable the body to deal with acute stressful situations.  When stressful situations become chronic in nature, continuously elevated levels of cortisol become harmful to physical and mental health.

By understanding the workings of the vagus nerve, you can take action to calm and shut down the stress response.

Role of the vagus nerve in stress:

The word “vagus” means “wanderer” in Latin, which describes how the longest nerve in the body wanders all over the body to link various organs with the brain.  As part of the parasympathetic “rest and digest” nervous system, it affects your breathing, heart rate and digestive system.  The vagal response (“rest and digest”) reduces stress and as such reduces heart rate and blood pressure, while stimulating digestion, which are typically what happens when we are relaxed.

The effectiveness of the “rest and digest” reaction depends on how well or how poor the vagus nerve functions.  The internal biological process that represents the activity of the vagus nerve is called “vagal tone”. Low vagal tone means poor vagal activity.   

Vagal tone is measured by comparing the difference in your heart rate between breathing in or out.  The heart rate increases slightly when you breathe in and slows down a little when you breathe out.  The bigger the difference between inhalation heat rate and exhalation heart rate, the higher the vagal tone, and the faster the body will relax after a stressful event. 

Poor vagal tone is associated with inflammatory conditions, including all autoimmune diseases, poor cardiovascular health, stroke, depression, diabetes, cognitive impairment, chronic fatigue syndrome, and anxiety. 

High vagal tone plays an important part in the functioning of the body, as the vagus nerve facilitates two-way communication between the brain and organs in the body.  High vagal tone is associated with improvements in the functioning of important body systems, such as better blood sugar regulation, lower blood pressure, a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke, and improved digestion. In terms of dealing with stress, high vagal tone is associated with better mood, less anxiety, and more stress resilience – the ability to adapt to stressful situations..  

Activities to increase vagal tone:

By learning how to improve your vagal tone through stimulation of the vagus nerve, you can shut down the stress response as soon as it is not required.  Stimulation of the vagus nerve will, however, require regular practice.

Certain activities and practices can stimulate the vagus nerve to increase its activities and improve vagal tone:

• Visceral manipulation enables trained practitioners to interface directly and indirectly with the vagus nerve as it exits the skull and at various locations in the body.   This vagal intervention treatment not only shuts down the stress response, but also restores the normal mobility and functionality of our internal organs, glands and deep nerve pathways, says Richard Sutton (international health and performance educator and consultant, amongst others for tennis star Kevin Anderson and the Chinese Olympics team).  
• Massage therapy can increase vagal activity through the stimulation of pressure receptors in the muscular and skeletal system.  Massage therapy can alleviate stress by stimulating the increased release of serotonin and dopamine, while the release of cortisol is reduced.
• Slow, controlled breathing exercises is known to increase vagal tone and parasympathetic activity, while reducing adrenalin and cortisol levels.
• Swimming and submergence in water activates the vagus nerve and the activation is amplified in cold water.
• Immersion of the face in cold water for one to three minutes is a potent trigger for vagus nerve activity.  This is a quick and easy activity to help manage stressful situations.
• Yoga can be useful to manage stress, as studies have indicated increased vagal activity during yoga practice.  Yoga practice also leads to reductions in cortisol levels, which is largely due to increased vagal tone.
• Meditation is recognized as one of the oldest methods of managing stress and studies have shown that the practice of mindfulness meditation is associated with reduced cortisol levels during stressful events.  Meditation can reduce many of the adverse effects of chronic stress.
• “If music be the food of love, play on; give me excess of it” wrote Shakespeare, realizing the potential of music to alter our mood and mental aptitudes.  Different tempos in music also affect our physical abilities and motivational music can improve the time to exhaustion during exercise.  Research has indicated that music influences the release of stress hormones and chemicals in the brain, such as serotonin, dopamine, cortisol, and oxytocin.  Vagal tone is enhanced through exposure to enjoyable music.

Lifestyle factors such as following a healthy diet and ample exercise also play an important role in dealing with stress and in combatting inflammation due to chronic stress, in conjunction with these mind-body interventions. 

Sources:

The Stress Code.  From surviving to thriving.  Author: Richard Sutton.  Published 2018, Pan Macmillan South Africa.  P 318.

Vagus nerve as modulator of the brain-gut axis in psychiatric and inflammatory disorders.  Published 13 March 2018.  Frontiers in Psychiatry.  US National Library for Medicine.  National Institutes of Health.  (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles)

How to stimulate your vagus nerve for better mental health.  Published 21 January 2017.  Student Academic Success Service.  University of Ottowa.  (www.sass.uottowa.ca)

6 Ways to instantly stimulate your vagus nerve to relieve inflammation, depression, migraines and more.  Published online.  Institute for Affordable Health Care.  (www.iahc.com)

HEALTH INSIGHT

August 2020