by Nina

“A higher vagal tone is linked to physical and psychological wellbeing. A low vagal tone index is linked to inflammation, negative moods, loneliness, and heart attacks.”—Dr. Ram Rao

Although we normally don’t write posts about individual nerves in your body, we do have several posts on our blog about the vagus nerve. That’s not because this seems to be the trendiest nerve in the wellness community, because rather because this particular nerve has such an important effect on your nervous system. This particular nerve is what shifts you from a state of stress into a state of relaxation. And keeping this nerve “toned” allows your body and brain to function more resiliently under stress. And that’s something we can all benefit from, right?

Because of the epidemic of chronic stress that most of us—if not all of us—are still experiencing these days (see Yoga for Pandemic-Related Chronic Stress), I’ve decided that a little overview of the posts we have on the vagus nerve could be very helpful. But first I will start with a brief description of what the vagus nerve is and why vagus tone is so important.

The vagus nerve is one of the 12 cranial nerves—which means it’s coming from the back of your brain—and is the largest nerve of the 12, extending all the way to your abdomen. It connects your nervous system with your circulatory, respiratory, and digestive systems as well as other organs in your body. You can see this very large nerve in the illustration at the beginning of this post.

This important nerve is what switches you from stress mode into relaxation mode when you’re in safe circumstances or a secure environment. At these times, the vagus nerve causes your heart and breath rate slow, your blood pressure to drop, your energy usage to slow and your digestion and immune systems to turn on.

When you’re feeling particularly safe and secure—or when you use yoga techniques to trigger the relaxation response (see The Relaxation Response and Yoga)—the vagus nerve takes you into the rest-and-digest state, when you are mentally and physically relaxed, your body’s vital signs are in their calm state, and your immune, repair, and digestive systems are fully functioning. You enter this state naturally when relaxing at home or out in nature, or when you use conscious relaxation to trigger the relaxation response.

And when the vagus nerve is “toned” or has a “high vagal tone,” it simply means it is functioning optimally! You can think of it as being similar to toning your legs, for example. Obviously toned legs are stronger and more flexible and will therefore function more effectively than weak and/or stiff legs.

In his post Yoga Practices to Optimize Vagal Tone, Ram says you can tone your vagus nerve with both yoga poses and pranayama. He says that gentle or full inversions, a flow sequence that involves moving into each asana from Sun Salutations and gentle backbends all “optimize the vagal tone, gradually warm up the body and the cardiovascular system, and strengthen and stretch the connective tissue and muscles that line the abdomen thus facilitating more efficient flow of blood.” And he says that calming breath practices modify the energy flow through the vagus nerve and thereby alter the nervous system as well

More Information About the Vagus Nerve

 Vagal Tone and Yoga by Ram Rao: Has background information about what the function of the vagus nerve and what happens for people  who have a high vagal tone vs. for those those have a low vagal tone.

Yoga Practices to Optimize Vagal Tone by Ram Rao: Has information about which yoga practices to use to tone your vagus nerve and why.

 Understanding Vagal Tone by Bridget Frederick: Contains more background about the importance of the vagus nerve, something she has been studied in her anatomy classes.

The Vagus Nerve, Part 2 by Bridget Frederick: Contains information about how to keep your vagus nerve safe from injury, by focusing on  spinal alignment in your yoga practice and being cautious with inversions that place pressure on the cervical vertebrae.

Background Information on Your Nervous System

For background information on your entire nervous system, which the vagus nerve is an essential part of, and how you can influence the part of your nervous system that is supposedly “automatic,” see these posts:

Understanding Your Autonomic Nervous System by Nina Zolotow: Describes your autonomic nervous system so you can see how the vagus nerve fits into the big picture.

Coming into Balance: How Stress and Relaxation Work Together by Baxter Bell and Nina Zolotow: Describes how both sides of your autonomic nervous stem—stress and relaxation—work together because you need both to thrive in your everyday life.

The Relaxation Response and Yoga by Nina Zolotow: Lists various techniques you can use to stimulate your vagus nerve to take you from a state of stress into a state of relaxation.

 

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