Relationships June 28, 2022
Introducing your Mind-Heart-Gut super-power: the Vagus Nervous System.
The Vagus Nerve is a way to help tap into our natural resources to balance stress. It covers the fundamentals of our body’s physiology for mood control, symptoms of IBS, and overall balancing in times of uncertainty. It gives us the power we need! Here are helpful tools to help you access it, plus many valuable sources of information and inspiration.
In a journey toward self-reflection and healing, it can become increasingly hard for the modern woman to cope with external stressors in her own day-to-day life. Not to mention, the overwhelming barrage of distressing news reports on matters that directly impact women can also be draining.
I want to share a secret that won’t cost you anything, and it’s a hidden truth you have within yourself. Call it something of a super-power. I call it something of a lifeline.
By harnessing the healing power of the Vagus Nerve, my life has been drastically changed while I faced trauma, anxiety, and stress. I genuinely hope you, too, can utilize these invaluable tools.
The first time I came across the magic of the Vagus Nerve and these resources, they were so powerful that I couldn’t believe no one had ever told me about them! You’ll want to share these secrets with your friends, co-workers, and any other women you know who need a sisterly “boost” of power!
The Vagus Nerve oversees various crucial bodily functions, including control of mood, immune response, digestion, and heart rate.
The word “Vagus” is Latin for wandering since it is the longest cranial nerve in our bodies. According to Live Science, “By wandering and branching throughout the body, the vagus nerve provides the primary control for the nervous system’s parasympathetic division: the rest-and-digest counterpoint to the sympathetic nervous system’s fight-or-flight response.”
When the body is not under stress, the Vagus Nerve sends messages that slow heart and breathing rates and increase digestion. In times of stress, control shifts to the sympathetic system, which produces the opposite effect.
The Vagus Nerves stem from the base of the brain and travel down dorsally (over the front) and ventrally (over the back) of the body. Collectively they balance together as one unit.
Image via Giphy
Like a tree branch, the Vagus Nerve covers our heart and lungs and holds our intestines. It is responsible for a multitude of sensory and internal organ functions, including:
*So if you’re feeling overly stressed out, under too much pressure, or even have high blood pressure, this may explain why you may not be “in the mood” at times.
Messages are sent to and from our body’s systems to the brain via our Vagus Nerve subconsciously. It works wonders for us while we are busy making other, critical daily decisions.
So while we are getting the kids to school, deciding what to make for dinner, making lists, or answering phone calls while sending others to voicemail, our Vagus is doing things like digesting our breakfast.
It’s also reminding us to swallow our food while slamming that sandwich during the lunch break we never really take because we’re always too busy at the office. Sound familiar?
The Vagus is regulating how hard you breathe in and out, keeping regulation of your heart rate, and telling you to take your sweater off because you’re over-heating again when that good-looking new salesperson walks past your door at 12:50 pm (now we all know why you don’t leave for lunch!).
And finally, the Vagus controls reflex actions such as coughing, sneezing, and vomiting.
Unfortunately, If not properly calmed, prolonged periods of living in a “fight or flight” lifestyle will wreak havoc on our bodies. This makes treatment for Vagus Nerve disorders all that much more difficult.
The implications not only show damage but severe illness. Studies by the NIH show a connection between our hearts, digestive system, and minds, all of which are Vagus controlled.
In fact, there is a communication line between your brain and your digestive system called the brain-gut-axis.
The Vagus is the highway of the brain-gut-axis, and just like you, it’s working overtime to keep the brain informed about the status of muscle contraction, the speed of food passage through the gut, and our feelings of hunger or satiety.
A recent study by the Journal of Internal Medicine showed that the Vagus Nerve and digestive system are so interwound that an unhealthy Vagus can cause irritable bowel syndrome.
Let’s say Kylie Jenner was your Vagus Nerve. The Kardashian Family is the brain base she connects to (our medulla oblongata, which is at the bottom of our brain and top of our neck and spinal cord).
Her cosmetic lines and then renditions she has sold of them would be your organs. So if her Kylie Cosmetics line is your heart, KC Family could be your digestive system, and any other off-shoot could be your lungs, etc.
She uses Instagram, TikTok, and various social media platforms to get information about her products to her customers. That would be the branches of the Vagus Nerve, extending the lead (or knowledge) to the appropriate parties.
Could you imagine Kylie’s business without her social media platforms? Much like the Vagus Nerve, they are both quite the influencers!
It’s true, our Vagus Nerve is directly correlated to our heart center and the emotions that we carry. Amazingly, there are now scientific results that show the connections between our emotional states, heart rhythms, and stress responses.
Take for instance below: The HeartMath Institute. They have over 20 years of research on the science pertaining to the physiology of stress, emotions, and the interactions between the heart and brain.
This isn’t hocus-pocus. They are peer-reviewed with over 300 independent studies. Here is a link to their amazing site, which offers FREE ACCESS to the HEARTMATH EXPERIENCE.
“These graphs show examples of real-time heart rate variability patterns (heart rhythms) recorded from individuals experiencing different emotions. The incoherent heart rhythm pattern shown in the top graph, characterized by its irregular, jagged waveform, is typical of stress and negative emotions such as anger, frustration, and anxiety.
The bottom graph shows an example of the coherent heart rhythm pattern that is typically observed when an individual is experiencing a sustained positive emotion, such as appreciation, compassion, or love.“
Why is this so important? Because it gives cause to the effect that if we learn to regulate our emotions better, we can understand how our emotional states can truly affect our entire body’s physiology.
Stephen Porges of the Polyvagal Institute calls the Vagus the “Love Nerve” because when it is activated, you are more loving. A persona in a Vagal Tone can be reflected as someone that is altruistic.
A healthy Vagus helps make us more resilient and pull through traumas easier. It also allows us to connect to others better, broadening our emotional regulation.
A healthy digestive tract cannot be over-emphasized. Fresh is best, especially organics and raw fruits and vegetables with high mineral, vitamin, omega 3-6-9, essential amino acids, and proteins.
If you’re looking for a great company to start healthy probiotic use with, you can try SEED. Be sure to choose your companies wisely. After working and managing in the Alternative Healthcare Industry many years ago, I came to realize quickly that not all brands are equal.
You’re going to LOVE the SEED company. They are about sustainability, inclusion and diversity, and education, and below there is a link with more information on discounts.
*seed.com is a subscription service that is probably the best in class. Not only that, it has incredible information and offers discounts to students, teachers, nurses, doctors, first responders, and the military.
If you’re not “feeling” on track, you could be like many other Americans suffering from autoimmune disorders, which carry high inflammatory responses.
With a healthy digestive system, your hormone balance will help your other organs function better, most importantly your heart and brain.
It’s always best to check with your healthcare professional or trusted advisor before starting any new health regimen.
Two of the five leading causes of death for women in the United States are Heart Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease
Frontiers in Psychiatry link the connections back and forth from the brain, digestive system, and microbe health inside of our gut through the Vagus to send this information, to regulate our emotions and cognitive health.
Mindfulness Meditation, using your breath in steady states, and practicing yoga are excellent ways to connect to your Vagus Nerve, enter a mindset of healthy flow, and build a healthy Vagal Tone.
Yoga is known to release GABA, an amino acid that acts as a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system and is also associated with decreased depressive symptoms.
Marisa Silveri, Ph.D., neuroscientist and associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, found that “GABA, which is related to mood, anxiety, and sleep, is significantly increased in association with a yoga intervention.”
Penn Medicine links meditation to helping heal your mind and assisting in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, as well as reducing inflammation, IBS, and other symptoms.
Check out this beautiful site, mindful.org for information on ways to meditate using mantras, meditations for fostering forgiveness, accepting vulnerability, podcasts, and so much more.
Today’s modern woman needs agility and the ability to cope with what society is throwing at her without fearing a weakened immune response and unnecessary depleted physical and mental energy. We can grow a solid Vagal Tone to combat these currents through the above building techniques.
Yoga, meditation, and a healthy diet will provide many benefits to help change our system’s agility.
By now we know our body can speak to us. It tells us a host of things if we listen closely enough.
It will warn us when we are in danger or get us prepared and excited to see a close friend or loved one before we have even arrived at the destination.
We carry a Vagal Tone, and build upon its strength, much like how a person working out at the gym would “center” themselves or build their “core.”
As you build this tone, you master your own inner harmony. You gain power over your emotional strength and defend it from others that would try to rob you of it.
My favorite tools and the ones I find the most useful include:
Below is a PDF from the Polyvagal Institute demonstrating how to apply all of these techniques properly.
Allow the voice you own or newly find to stand tall and sing strong.
As women, our fight for equality can take a toll on us mentally and emotionally.
For example, the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade and its repercussions have only begun to show adverse effects on our nation.
To put this fully into perspective, the highest court system in the United States has not only given individual states the right to severely restrict or entirely ban a woman’s access to legal and safe abortion, but it indicates to people globally that women are less than equal and incapable of making decisions based on what is suitable for her health and welfare.
According to The Institute for Women’s Policy Research, the costs of the overturn have far more of an impact than on health justice alone.
This news is another slap across the face for those who are trying to fight against social injustices that affect women, including the gender wage gap, sexual violence, harassment, and the digital gender divide.
That’s why here at ENTITY Magazine, we strive to minimize these gaps and promote women in every way possible, fostering inclusion, diversity, and the promotion of women in digital marketing and data science-based programs.
Teaming up with a counselor, a mentor, or a mentorship program are excellent ways to connect with others and find support with like-minded communities of professionals with common goals.
They can help you succeed and up your game-plan and career goals to the next level.
Harnessing the power of the Vagus Nerve is a way for the modern woman to support herself on an intrinsic level. You are more powerful than you realize, just look within. We are stronger together, so send a powerful message to your Vagus, and to those around you. Be that Badass Super-Power you are born to be!
