Calming The Vagus Nerve

Published on 4th January 2019

It frustrates me that modern western medicine is still slow to look at the body holistically and realise the importance of the mind-body connection. It doesn’t take much to realise that due to nerves and other neuro transmitters such as hormones our mind and our body are intrinsically connected.

For example, here are some states that starts in the brain but manifest in the body;

Nervous butterflies
Embarrassment and Blushing
Anger and lashing out
Going into shock
Nervous sweating
Seeing/Smelling food and salivation
Sexual arousal

The vagus nerve is part of the parasympathetic nervous system which has the effect of calming the body. It transmits information from the body to the brain and vice versa.

The sympathetic nervous system is the alerting system of the body and it this which is so active in our hyper alert children and also in us when we are stressed and in overdrive.

The vagus nerve is the 10th cranial nerve. That means that it emanates from the skull and the brain and actively stimulates and enervates (activates) the lungs, heart, soft palette, intestines, facial muscles, larynx, digestion, spleen, liver, kidney and vision.

This explains why when we are stressed and/or distressed the body mirrors what is happening in our brain.

The muscles tense ready for action
The pupils dilate (get bigger) to see further
The heart beats harder and faster to pump more blood to the muscles of the legs for that hundred metre dash
The breathing becomes rapid and shallow often leading to us feeling more stressed
Cholesterol is released from the liver for extra energy
Blood is diverted from our digestive system to the muscles
Our voice can become strained or we may raise our voice or growl