Simple Vagus Nerve Exercises to Calm the Mind (Anyone Can Do This)

In this article

Information regarding the health benefits of regular exercise is well-documented throughout the scientific literature. As part of your daily exercise routine, you might go for a run, cycle, or head to the gym for some resistance training.

Better mental health, more specifically a reduction in stress levels, is just one of the many well-known benefits of doing this consistently. What's less known is that there are other ways to reduce your stress levels, like daily vagus nerve exercises. 

There are two main parts of your nervous system which act in different ways following a stressful stimulus. Your sympathetic nervous system (SNS) governs your more well-known ‘fight or flight’ response, whilst your parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is your ‘rest and digest’ part of which your vagus nerve is part of. 

As scientists continue to explore your PNS, research is increasingly showing that daily vagus nerve exercise can create significant changes in your nervous system function and stress levels.

   

Benefits Of Vagus Nerve Stimulation

 

Stimulating your vagus nerve can provide many health benefits when performed regularly. We’ve summarized the main benefits of daily vagus nerve exercise below.

 

Stress And Anxiety

 

Your vagus nerve can be seen as an informational bridge connecting your brain to your organs. It runs in both directions, signaling your brain in regards to organ function and sending data from the brain to modulate organ function. This signaling has wide-ranging effects on your heart rate, breathing, and other automatic processes such as swallowing and sneezing which make up your PNS.

Stimulating your PNS via vagus nerve stimulation can relax your muscles, slow your heart rate, and reduce your breathing rate. These physiological changes seen when performing vagus nerve exercises can help your body to enter a state of calm and relaxation by forming a positive feedback loop to help reduce symptoms of stress and anxiety.

Research looking into electrical vagus stimulation has shown positive effects on chronic conditions such as depression and epilepsy. Vagus nerve exercises provide an alternative stimulation method that require no equipment and can be performed as needed.

 

Digestion

 

Your gut-brain axis is a communication network linking your central nervous system to your gastrointestinal tract. Once you ingest food, your stomach sends signals to your brain to tell it when you are full or hungry. 

The vagus nerve is a key component of your gut-brain axis. Receptors in your stomach wall use signals to inform your brain of how full your stomach is and when digestive processes need to take place. Once these signals are activated, your vagus nerve delivers these signals to your brain. 

Once processed, your brain then signals the smooth muscle in your gastrointestinal tract to modulate muscle movement and start the digestive process.

 

 

Heart Health

 

The link between your vagus nerve and heart rate variability is well-established throughout research, which includes the regulation of your heartbeat. Because your vagus nerve innervates parts of your heart, changes in vagus nerve stimulation will therefore influence heart health.

Stimulating your vagus nerve via exercise and electricity can help to regulate your heartbeat, also known as vagal tone. Research looking into the benefits of daily vagus nerve exercises has shown reductions in heart rate and blood pressure in patients suffering from hypertension.

When combined with a healthy lifestyle, this can help to improve cardiovascular health and reduce the risk of chronic cardiovascular diseases such as heart disease.

 

Inflammation

 

When a foreign pathogen invades your body, your immune system responds by producing cytokines and other immune cells to reduce inflammation and prevent the spread of infection. Following this release, your vagus nerve signals your brain to direct resources toward the site of infection. Once the infection has been dealt with, your vagus nerve signals your body to return back to a state of homeostasis, or balance. 

Because of this, the vagus nerve plays a key role in the immune response and intensity of inflammation in the body. Regular vagus nerve stimulation has been shown to reduce the symptoms of inflammatory diseases such as arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease by reducing inflammation and pain.

   

Daily Vagus Nerve Exercises 

 

With all the benefits we’ve discussed above, let’s take a look at some of the daily vagus nerve exercises that we can perform to benefit our physical and mental health. There are many ways to stimulate our vagus nerve. The ones below are some of the most common and most popular ways.

 

Breathing Exercises

As one of the main components involved in your parasympathetic nervous system response,  controlling your rate of breath via breathing exercises can help to stimulate your vagus nerve. This can be done via deep breathing and alternate nostril breathing. 

To perform deep breathing:

1. Find a comfortable position away from noise at home or suitable public space. 
2. Sit or stand with a straight spine, keeping your chest out and head facing forward.
3. Take a deep breath in through your nose. Pause briefly then exhale slowly through your mouth. Repeat the same process for several minutes. 

To perform alternate nostril breathing: 

1. Find a suitable space away from noise and movement. 
2. Sit or stand comfortably. Ensure your spine is straight with your chest out and head facing forward.
3. Start by putting your right thumb over your right nostril. Breath in deeply through your left nostril. 
4. Pause briefly to hold the breath in. 
5. Take your right thumb off your right nostril and exhale slowly through the same nostril. 
6. Repeat the same process for several minutes, switching between both nostrils. 

 

Meditation