Vagus Nerve Exercises - Rewire Your Brain From Trauma

The vagus nerve, or vagal nerves, are key to the parasympathetic nervous system. Your parasympathetic nervous system is what keeps things ticking along - it controls things like digestion, and controls many of the signals between your gut and your brain. 

Your sympathetic nervous system, on the other hand, is what we would normally think about when we talk about a ‘nervous system’. It’s what connects your skin and core internal organs to the brain through the spinal cord. When your sympathetic nervous system kicks up a gear to bring on anxiety, it can be calmed by the parasympathetic nervous system. 

Among other things, it controls your:

• eyes
• lacrimal glands that produce tears
• parotid glands that also produce saliva
• salivary glands that produce saliva
• nerves in the stomach and trunk
• nerves that go to the bladder
• nerves and blood vessels responsible for the male erection

One of the reasons your vagus nerve plays such a huge part in your bodily control and health, is its position throughout very important parts of your body. ‘Vagus’ in Latin means wandering. So, the vagus nerve roams between your:

• Neck (between your carotid artery and jugular vein)
• Chest (thorax)
• Heart
• Lungs
• Abdomen and digestive tract

The good news is, control of the vagus nerve is very possible with easy exercises. In turn, that control allows you to reduce anxiety in a long term way with some regular practice. 

Simple breath control helps to control the vagus nerve. If you have been experimenting with breathing exercises that work for you, that’s great. You can use those. 

In general, though, slow breathing is great for the vagus nerve. 

Aim for six breaths per minute.

Try with me now.

Breath from the belly, and expand the abdomen and the ribcage. Breath can go deeper than you think.

You should also exhale for longer than you inhale.

To practise this, count to 6 slowly as you breathe in. Count to 8 slowly as you breath out. Repeat this 2 or 3 times. Do you feel yourself becoming calmer?

Vagus nerve stimulation takes many forms - remember, the vagus nerve wanders. It is connected to so much of us!

Foot massage, eating fibre, and even laughter can stimulate the vagus nerve. 

You should keep these broader options in mind, but these very simple stretches for vagus nerve health are a great way to both trouble-shoot when feeling anxious and build a healthy vagus nerve over time.

Put on your head, with your fingers pressing the top of your left ear. 

Pull your head gently sideways to the right.

Move your eyes up and left.

Hold for 30 seconds. 

You should notice a sigh or a swallow - this is your vagus nerve relaxing. 

Repeat on the other side, with eyes to the right, for 30 seconds. 

You can deepen this exercise by using a hand to extend your neck into a stretch in the same way as before, while also placing a hand on your lower ribs on the opposite side and leaning into the stretch. 

You are essentially lengthening the your vagus nerve as you stretch.

Again, a sigh or a swallow indicates the exercise is working.  

These are just a couple of the easiest vagus nerve exercises. Practice them regularly - once every couple of days or so - to build towards a sustained reduction in anxiety. 

You can also use them in particularly stressful situations to provide immediate, short-term relief of anxiety symptoms.