Relax Them Shoulders
Do you ever notice throughout the day the manner in which you have held your body?
Is it full of tightness? Do our muscles crave relaxation? Are we grinding our teeth at night? Do we have a high heart rate and trouble catching our breath?
These are important signs to pay attention to as they alert us that our sympathetic nervous system is activated. Our sympathetic nervous system is the system in our body that engages the fight, flight or freeze response. These responses have historically been important when we are in danger, however, over time due to anxiety, trauma, and chronic stress our sympathetic nervous system could engage more frequently than needed.
Research has found that the vagus nerve plays a HUGE role in taking our system from flight, fight or freeze into a state of relaxation, associated with our parasympathetic nervous system.
Wait, wait wait. Back it up. What’s a vagus nerve?
The vagus nerve is one of our 12 cranial nerves that connects brain to body. It begins in the brain stem and travels through our neck, chest and into the gut. The vagus nerve promotes relaxation, digestion and recovery. It helps to regulate our heart rate, blood pressure and respiration within our autonomic nervous system.
This nerve is so critical in moving us from a state of panic into a state of regulation. The vagus nerve is something that we can activate throughout the day when we are experiencing some tension, stressors, and especially when we are feeling good. Remember, these skills are still important to utilize even on our peaceful days so that during difficult times we can implement them easier.
Let’s learn some ways to activate our vagus nerve.
Breathing
Diaphragmatic breathing is the best type of breath work for vagus stimulation. This involves breathing deep into the belly rather than taking quick, short breaths. One way to ensure that you’re activating the diaphragm is to place a hand on your belly making sure it expands when you inhale and contracts when you exhale. When doing breathing exercises with my clients we start with an inhale for two seconds, brief pause and then an exhale for four seconds. Work your way up as needed but the most important piece of breath work is keep the exhale longer than your inhale. This takes practice! Be patient.
Cold Exposure
Cold water is great for de-escalating our system due to an innate physiological response also known as the mammalian diving reflex, which engages our vagus nerve and assists in slowing down our heart rate. You can practice cold exposure through cold plunges, cold showers, submerging your face in a bowl of ice water, holding ice packs to various parts of your face or neck. My personal favorite way is to utilize an ice roller!
Humming
At any given point in our day we have a song stuck in our head. Time to hum that song! The vibrations from humming or even singing activate muscles in your throat, which are directly linked to the vagus nerve. I usually advise my clients to hum for at least a minute.
Exercise
We know that exercise releases endorphins as well as dopamine and serotonin. Did you also know that exercise stimulates a variety of hormones that activate your vagus nerve? Remember the vagus nerve is tied to blood pressure and heart rate. Exercise forces our heart rate to increase while encouraging our body to manage breathing. Exercise needs a strong connection between the heart and brain. We can engage this connection by going for a long walk, or a zone two run.
Rocking
There’s a reason children fall asleep during car rides. The rocking motion is so calming for the nervous system as a whole. When our body rocks or sways in a rhythm we provide sensory input into the body, specifically the neck and torso, which are connected to the vagus nerve. You can achieve a rocking motion by laying on your back or stomach and swaying your hips back and forth. This naturally moves our entire body and can assist our body into moving to a relaxed state.
Sour Candy
Fun fact for my candy lovers: Research shows that you can't be activated and eating sour candy! The vagus nerve is tied to taste. As soon as you start eating sour candy your brain has to divert from any panic or anxiety due to the direct stimulation of taste. Go get some warheads, sour skittles or any sour candy of your choice!
Life is full of demands, things to do, and expectations to be met. It is easy to get caught up in the urgency and chaos but let this be a reminder to pay attention to our body. The increased heart rate, muscle tension, anxiety, etc. are all signs that something is going on and the exercises discussed are great ways to put our system back into a restful, safe state through the engagement of our vagus nerve.
Let me know which ones you try or if there’s any you implement that aren’t listed!
For further reading on this topic I recommend Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve by Stanley Rosenberg!
Until then:
Take a deep breath.
Unclench your jaw.
Relax your shoulders.
