Vagus Nerve: The Key to Calm

Season 4- Episode 44

Today we’re diving into one of the most fascinating parts of your nervous system: the vagus nerve. Often called the body’s "superhighway of calm," the vagus nerve plays a crucial role in regulating your stress response and overall well-being. From chaos to calm - here we go!

If you haven't already, check out Five Ives to see how strategies like this can be applied to adults, especially in the workplace. Five Ives works with staff in high burnout jobs to help them incorporate regulation strategies into their daily routines.

Try at Home Tip: Try one of these vagal nerve toning tips this week!

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Transcript:

“Back for more nervous system talk, but this time we're going to focus a little bit more on a particular nerve that I feel like, why haven't more of us learned about this? Why has this never been shared with us? Why is this never talked about? Because it just feels like this is a piece of magic, like this nervous magic. So it's the vagus nerve. And genuinely, I feel like it's the key to calm. It is the key to just fixing so many things. And it's so easy to, I think, understand this particular nerve, how it works, what it does, and how to kind of co—I would say, correct it, stimulate it to reach a sense of calm, but also just to reset your nervous system. So today we're talking about the vagus nerve and how it plays a crucial role in just regulating your stress response and overall well-being, because it connects to more than just your stress response and your nervous system. It connects to, like, a whole bunch of other parts of your body. So we'll explore: What does the vagus nerve do? How does it influence your autonomic nervous system? And most importantly, what can we do to stimulate it? Because that will help you to mitigate and manage your stress, and it will help you to build resilience. And there are a lot of things in our lives—work, family, relationships, children, whatever it is—we can't make the stressors go away. So mitigating their effects or managing the stress better sometimes might be a better option than trying to stop the stress from happening. Because the reality is all stress isn't going to go away. We're going to have some level of stress always, and that's okay, and that's normal. And we do get stronger and build resiliency from that. But what are some things that we can do with this vagus nerve?

Let's deepen your understanding of this and give you some tools that you can use right away. Vagus nerve. What is it? Why is it so important? Why have we never talked about this before? I've talked about it, but, like, why? Why don't schools teach this? Why don't colleges teach us? Why don't athletic programs teach this? Why don't jobs teach this? So it is the longest—let me get a little sciencey here, a little nerdy, but stay with me—the longest cranial nerve in your body, and it comes from a Latin word that means to wander. And I... I wonder. I wonder if I should clarify. Wander is what it means. I wonder if the reason that it is called that or named that is because it's so long, just wanders on forever. But it starts at the base of your brain. So for those of you who've listened to other episodes that I've done on the emotional parts of the brain, we've talked about your prefrontal cortex in the front of your brain, your thinking brain, your emotional parts in the middle of your brain, your brain stem that comes out kind of the bottom of your brain.

The vagus nerve actually comes out of your brainstem, which is directly tied to that fight-flight response. But it comes out of the medulla oblongata, which y'all don't really need to know—it's just kind of fun to say. But anyhow, it comes out of the brainstem. So there's a strong correlation between your stress response and your fight-flight being activated and your vagus nerve. So it starts at the base of your brain, coming out of your brainstem, and it travels through your neck, your chest, your abdomen, and connects to your heart, your lungs, and your digestive system. Just in case you missed that, I'm going to say this again—neck, chest, abdomen, heart, lungs, digestive organs—all connected by the vagus nerve. Essentially, it's like a superhighway that communicates between your brain, your gut, and your body. So it's really important, and I still can't quite figure out why we haven't talked more about this nerve in general society. It's a key player in your autonomic nervous system, particularly the parasympathetic branch. If you all remember, I talked about this window of tolerance—it's like three boxes stacked on top of each other. The middle box is your window of tolerance; it's how much you can tolerate before you get stressed out and something upsets you, triggers you, or knocks you off balance. When you leave your window of tolerance, you either go to the upper tier, the upper box, which is the sympathetic side—that's your fight, flight, tense, defensive, anxiety-driven side of the nervous system—or you drop to the bottom tier, which is the parasympathetic side, more of that rest state. But when you go there and get stuck—like when you're overly, overly stressed and become disconnected, dissociative, or antisocial because you just don't have the reserves to be social—that's your parasympathetic side. The vagus nerve is a key player in that parasympathetic side, that bottom side, and when it's activated, when that super long superhighway nerve is stimulated, it signals to your body, "Hey, slow down, relax, take some time to recover." Naturally, that makes it a really powerful tool for managing stress, emotional regulation, and building resiliency. Wild. It's wild to me. And what's even more wild is that there are so many ways to stimulate it.

So let's just say for a second—hypothetically—what happens if the vagus nerve isn't functioning optimally? It's not being stimulated. Chronic stress leads to poor diet, lack of rest, exhaustion, and fatigue, making it harder for your body to return to a state of calm—because returning to a state of calm depends on this nerve. And that is why basically everything like think about all those body parts. Hung. Hung. I would say lungs and heart. I said hung heart, lungs, digestive system, neck, chest, abdomen, gut, they're all connected through this. So naturally, if it's not functioning optimally, those areas are all impacted. Neg. So that's why stimulating this nerve is a hugely valuable practice. So let's talk about how to do that. How do we regulate our body by stimulating the vagus nerve? Okay, so let's talk kind of maybe through some of these parts that we, that the lungs, the heart, the digestive system, all the things. So let's start with, let's start with heart and particularly breathing. Because when you, when you breathe it circulates your blood better through your body and it moves oxygen through the bloodstream and takes oxygen to the brain. So let's talk about like heart and breathing. So the vagus nerve helps to regulate your heart rate and your breathing patterns. Cuz if you don't know this, when you are stressed out or you get activated into a stressed out state or trauma state, you, you might start to breathe really fast or maybe even get like more shallow breathing. Cuz you've been knocked into a state of like disconnectedness and you're just kind of like wobbly and, and, and spaced out. But when activated, the vagus nerve, it slows down your heart rate and it promotes deep, slow, steady breathing, which helps to calm your body.

So basically what happens is when you're in that sympathetic side, you, you are feeling tight and defensive. You want to do something that's the opposite. You want to do something that slows you down. So when you activate the, the vagus nerve and it kind of resets your breathing into a slower, steady breathing rate that naturally is, is doing the opposite of that. Tense, defensive, tight and it's Kind of bringing you into a state of homeostasis. Okay, what about digestive systems? So really deeply involved in digestive systems and track. System and track because it has a direct correlation to stomach acid production and moving food through the digestive track. And a super important one I feel like we always overlook is nutrient absorption. So we don't want too much acid in our body. We know that causes disease, acid deteriorates. Thanks. Some acid is good. Too much acid not so good. We want our food to move through digestive tract. Cause if it's not, it's taking a lot of our energy away, could cause us uncomfortable things like bloating, constipation. But we also really need that nutrient absorption not just to help with digestion, but to have energy and to feel good. So when your vagus nerve is stimulated it helps to kind of balance out your gut health and that's going to help your food digest faster. That's going to help your nutrients absorb better and that's going to produce the right amount of stomach acid that helps kind of eat your food down but not too much where it's kind of eating away at your, your systems that are good systems. Okay. Probably one of my favorite cuz I feel like we have so much inflammation in our bodies from stress and overwhelm, burnout, but also from the poor quality of food that we eat. I think we think we have good food in the US and if you're not in the US you might have better food than we have. But us wide us wise, the foods that we eat are pretty highly inflammatory.

But the vagus nerve has a lot of anti-inflammatory properties and it when stimulated sends signals to reduce the production of like pro inflammatory molecules, I guess we'll say chemicals, things that help to keep your inflammation rates and numbers down. Which I feel like anytime I hear about ways to reduce inflammation I feel like anybody can benefit from that. And when your inflammation stays down, it's not eating away at your good systems or it's not causing your good systems to have to like try harder, do more. But it helps your body recover from the stress and it helps prevent illness or if you do get sick, it helps to fight off the illness. If your body is too busy trying to manage and mitigate the high levels of inflammation, it doesn't help the energy to give to stress management or illness management. So controlling inflammation through the vagus nerve is, is I think one of the most important of these, another one I think y'all may be interested in is emotional regulation. So the vagus Nerve is tied to social and emotional well being.

And a lot of this content that I'm talking today is really a part of Dr. Stephen Porges work and he's a wonderful human. I had the pleasure of meeting him with my business partner and I've always, not always, but as long as I. It's been a long time, it's probably been 10 years, maybe more that I followed his work and read a lot about the, the polyvagal theory and he has, when he talks about emotional regulation but really like social and emotional connection and well being, he has what he calls the social engagement system. And it really basically influences your ability to feel safe and connect with others. Well if you're in a high stressed out state and you're lodged in that parasympathetic or even if you're in the sympathetic side, it's hard to have the energy feel safe. There's psychological factors, there's physiological factors that get in the way of you connecting with other people. But if you activate your vagus nerve when it calms your body, it allows your body to start to come out of those states into balance, into equilibrium and then you do and can access social connection, deeper connection, regulating connection. Because there's a lot of oxytocin that comes from, from connecting with people. If those of you don't know. Oxytocin is a love chemical. So you don't just have to make love to get access to love chemical. It could be like a hug, it could be like a really great deep conversation with someone. Um, just someone's physical presence can, can release a lot of that happy healthy loving hormone. So oxytocin, we want more of that and that's all correlated to vagus nerve and stimulating it. Okay so like those are the, I would say the, the core areas that your, your vagus nerve hits. So your heart and your breathing getting oxygen to your brain, thinking more clearly, digestive system, inflammation, emotional regulation. Okay, let's talk about the last part, which is probably what you are waiting for. Like K learn. Thanks Science. All this stuff. Wonderful. Just tell me what to do. Like that's really what I want to know. Okay. Simple, easy ways. These are backed by research. They're scientifically proven to stimulate your vagus nerve. The first one is just deep breathing. So slow diaphragmatic. You can't really see my—I mean, you can if you're watching this video on YouTube—but you can't see my stomach and ribs. Your diaphragmatic breathing is like, oh gosh, I wish I could get up higher. If you put your hands on your rib cage, kind of half on the rib cage and half on your upper abdominal, when you're doing diaphragmatic breathing, it's not really your stomach, your lower stomach that's rising and falling, or at least it shouldn't be. It's your diaphragm. It's this area above that that expands really wide out and shrinks back in. This really slow, deep, diaphragmatic, methodical breathing is one of the easiest ways to activate the vagus nerve.

As humans today, we breathe really fast. Sometimes we don't breathe; we hold our breath. I'm sorry, we don't breathe slow. We breathe really fast. That's what I meant to say. We should be breathing slow. We breathe fast, we hold our breath quite regularly, and we often breathe through our mouth. If you can be a little more intentional about breathing through your nose, slowing down your breathing, and just not holding your breath—not that breath-holding is a bad thing, it has some perks. But I know, for example, when I used to work out, my boxing coach would always say, "Hope, you're not breathing, you're holding your breath." So just being mindful that we are breathing deeply.

There are a couple different types of breathwork exercises that are good for this. I like one that's breathe in for five, hold for six, breathe out for seven. You can do box breathing, which is breathe in for four, hold for four, breathe out for four, hold for four. When I used to teach kids breathwork, we would do a crazy eight with our fingers, tracing the eight, or we would trace a box. You can connect anything to a breathwork practice. If you don't know, search online, search ChatGPT: "What are some ways to diaphragmatically breathe?" or "What are some ways to activate your vagus nerve by breathing?" and I'll give you some examples.

Cold exposure is another one. I hate this one. I'll be honest, I do it infrequently. I do not like it. But when we think cold exposure, I think we immediately think one of two things: one, a cold plunge, like an ice-cold bucket of water. Yes, that is one. But you could also do it by turning your shower cold—not the whole time, but maybe at the end. End cold. Or for me, if I just rub my hands under cold water, maybe splash my face with cold water, that to me is not quite as bad as the rest of my body getting doused in cold water. I will do cold plunging, and I bought a very simplistic, cheap cold plunge, but I don't use it regularly because I really don't love it. I'll be honest. Cold exposure is not my favorite, but it does have a lot of benefits.

So again, cold shower, cold plunge, cold water on your face or hands—all of this stimulates the vagus nerve. The sudden temperature change triggers what we call the diving reflex, which activates your parasympathetic nervous system. Ultimately, it's just activating that lower tier of your nervous system to reset you.

Humming or singing. This is the one I feel like is talked about the most when people discuss the vagus nerve. I always hear about humming, singing, or chanting "ohm." The vibration of your vocal cords and inner ear stimulates the vagus nerve. So humming a song you like, chanting, singing—any of those things would stimulate the vagus nerve through your vocal cords and inner ear.

Mindfulness and meditation. These have been around for a while but are always worth mentioning. Mindfulness and meditation are different but can overlap. You can have mindful meditations. Meditation, as you probably know, involves pausing, trying not to let thoughts take over your mind, focusing on your breath, closing your eyes, or keeping them open—whatever works for you. Meditation practices can look different for everyone, but just having a stillness practice is beneficial.

Mindfulness could be a zillion things. For me, a hike I did with my two-year-old was a mindfulness practice. At first, I felt like we had to keep moving and not stop every three feet. But once I let go of that control, we started noticing animal holes, rock formations, ants—things I wouldn't have paid attention to otherwise. That's an example of a mindful hike.

Yoga, stretching, movement. You can use a foam roller, bands, go to a stretching studio, or follow a stretching video. Yoga is great because it typically combines breathwork with slow movement, which activates the vagus nerve. A favorite of mine (that I also hate) is yin yoga. You hold positions for 1–4 minutes. It sounds like forever, but it goes fast. It's deep stretching, and I know I don't like it because I need it. So think about that. Even doing inversions like downward dog, lying with your head back, or a handstand can help.

Social connection. Engaging with peers on a deeper level—not just seeing people, but making eye contact, sharing a hug. This tells our body, "Hey, I'm with this person. It's safe. They bring me joy." It releases oxytocin and improves mood.

Laughter, humor, play. Obviously, laughing feels good, but it also stimulates the vagus nerve. Think of the vibration we talked about with humming and singing. It doesn't have to be just laughing—it could be fun or playful activities. Watching a funny video, playing with kids, playing a game—anything humorous or playful stimulates the vagus nerve and brings your body back to a balanced state.

You can do these things in reaction to stress, but also preventatively to keep your vagal tone strong. Think of it like strengthening a muscle—you won’t always see immediate results, but your body will thank you. We focus so much on the exterior—how people look, what they eat, their workouts. But you can have someone who looks healthy on the outside while their nervous system and stress management are a mess. If you care about health, focus on the inside too.

If that wasn't enough to convince you, let this: stimulating your vagus nerve can lower heart rate and blood pressure (great as you age), reduce anxiety and depression, improve digestion and gut health, enhance emotional resilience and mood regulation, boost your immune system, and help with stress recovery. Try pairing these activities with something you already do, like brushing your teeth or having coffee. The more you practice, the stronger your vagus nerve gets.

So, vagus nerve: from the bottom of your brain through almost your whole body. Stimulating it mitigates stress, improving various systems and keeping you functioning better overall.

Try-it-at-home tip: Pick one vagal nerve toning activity from above and do it.

If you need more support with stress, trauma, or brain behavior, Jessica Joring and I created Five Ives. We work with organizations—police, medical, education, nonprofits—to reduce burnout. We analyze key areas of an organization and implement research-based, trauma-informed practices to create a high-functioning workplace. This improves productivity, retention, and culture. If you're interested, visit 5ives.com to learn more. You can schedule a call, and if we can’t help, we’ll send you resources.

Until next episode, I’m Lauren Spiegelmaier. Thanks for joining me.”

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Calming & Coping, Emotional RegulationLauren SpigelmyerComment