Vagus Stimulation Exercises

Benefits of vagus nerve stimulation

Consider what happens when your sympathetic nervous system is keyed up —maybe you’re stuck in traffic, just received a nasty email, feel overwhelmed at your job, or had a fight with your partner or a friend. “When you’re in fight-or-flight mode, the job of the SNS is to promote survival. So, in the face of a threat, your body wants to make sure you can run for your life: Your heart rate increases, your pupils dilate, and other systems you don’t need at the moment are down-regulated. Meaning digestion, immune, and reproductive systems slow,” says D’Elia Assenza. When you employ exercises that tell your brain and body that all is well , you not only can tap into a better headspace, but your physical health benefits, too.

For example, the vagus nerve is a channel that receives signals from the gut microbiota and zips that info over to the brain, notes a 2018 paper in Frontiers in Neuroscience . The authors point out that stress inhibits the vagus nerve and may be linked to GI disorders like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) through inflammation .

The Basic Exercise

Lie on back Interweave fingers on both hands and place behind head Without turning your head, look to the right Remain here until you spontaneously yawn or swallow Return to the neutral state with head and eyes straight Repeat on the other side Rosenberg says the reason you move your eyes is there is “direct neurological connection between the eight suboccipital muscles and the muscles that move our eyeballs.”

The Half-Salamander Exercise

  1. Eyes looks right without turning head
  2. Tilt head to the right towards shoulder
  3. Hold for thirty to sixty seconds
  4. Then eyes and head straight back to neutral
  5. Eyes look left without turning head
  6. Tilt head to the left towards shoulder
  7. Hold for thirty to sixty seconds
  8. Then return to neutral state

A variation is to look in the opposite direction of the head tilt so the head tilts left and eyes look right and vice versa. Both hold their necks thirty to sixty seconds.

Full Salamander Exercise

  1. Get on all fours
  2. Head is facing down
  3. Look left without turning head
  4. Tilt head to the left
  5. Let your left spine twist with the head tilt to the left
  6. Hold for thirty to sixty seconds
  7. Bring head and spine to center to straighten out
  8. Repeat on right side

Ear Massage

The auricular branch of your vagus nerve can be stimulated with this simple practice.

  1. Place your index finger gently outside the entrance to your ear.
  2. Place your thumbs on the back side.
  3. Make small circles forward 1-2-3-4-5
  4. Reverse for 5-4-3-2-1.
  5. Be very gentle and try 10 rounds.