Vagus Nerve

The vagus nerve is an important nerve in the autonomic nervous system. It is part of the cranial nerves called cranial nerve 10. Interesting fact, it is the longest nerve in the body and has a motor and sensory function. It connects your brain to many important parts of the body like the intestines, stomach, heart, and lungs. Often people with vagus nerve issues have a heightened resting heart rate above 70. You also may notice it affects blood dilation, swallowing, saliva secretion, vocalization, swallowing, heartbeat, and respiration.

In Latin the word Vagus means wanderer and it certainly is a nerve that wanders and reaches many parts of the body. 

An interesting phrase you may have heard is “Vagus TONE”. This means the internal biological process that represents the activity of the vagus nerve. 

The vagus nerve does more than just send nerve messages for it helps maintain homeostasis of the neuro-endocrine-immune systems and parasympathetic (rest, relax, repair) autonomic nervous system. In medicine the focus can be on bringing down the inflammation as being the cause of issues in the body however more emerging evidence shows that more focus needs to be on ANS and Vagus tone.

Some of the imbalanced vagus nerve conditions include:

• Autoimmune conditions like SLE, Rheumatoid Arthritis, MS
• IBS
• Fibromyalgia
• Endometriosis
• Chronic indigestion
• FGID which is a motility disorder of the gut which can cause rapid diarrhoea or constipation
• Mood disorders
• Memory issues
• Parkinson’s

It needs to be in this homeostasis between the afferent and efferent neurological functions.

To explain this as simply as I can the nerve sending messages upwards from the organ to the brain/ pituitary axis accounts for 80 % of the vagus function and is called the afferent nerve. 

The 20% efferent effect is the downward messages moving down from the brain to the organs what is known as the CAP which stands for cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway.

When the Vagus tone is aligned it helps the parasympathetic nerves(relax  repair and 

and digest) and the sympathetic nervous system (stress, fight, and flight) be more balanced.

Good tone can help the immune system, autoimmune conditions, spleen function (regarding immune function) and it can help the pain response in the brain. 

Gut brain connection works both ways. The Gut is happy the brain is happy – emotionally and academically.  Then again it can work the other way if the brain is calm and balanced this helps the organs.

Remedies and activities stimulate the Vagus nerve naturally:

1. Cold exposure – cold showers and even cold face washing
2. Breathing exercises- deep diaphragm belly breathing, 
3. Singing, humming, OM chanting, and gargling
4. Probiotics- Lactobacillus rhamnosus 
5. Curcumin, Theracurcumin
6. Choline – this might be in the form of Lecithin, Phosphitylserine, Phosphitylcholine, citicoline. Even Carnitine can be an option.
7. Meditation/ stillness, mindfulness, hypnotherapy and yoga
8. Vagus Nerve Points on the ear to be stimulated. This can be done with a TENS machine. ( tVNS)
9. Omega 3 fatty acids/ SPM
10. Limiting toxins – external toxins, drugs, alcohol, Panadol and caffeine etc
11. Anti-inflammatory eating- lots of greens, lots of healthy protein and fish, low FODMAP
12. Exercise – relaxing and cardio
13. Massage. – body and or reflexology
14. Acupuncture point Stomach 36
15. Nutrients and specific herbs– Zinc Carnosine, Berberine, Vit D, Andrographis, ginger and Boswellia

References

1.  Support the Mighty Vagus Nerve 

https://www.wellnessresources.com/news/support-the-mighty-vagus-nerve-

2. Metagenics Congress Autoimmune 2022 lecture by Nathan Rose