Vagus Nerve: Relieve Anxiety, Reduce Chronic Inflammation, and Prevent Illness by Stimulating Vagal Tone to Restore Balance

By Rhys Tucker

You may have heard of it, but you may not know everything about it. 

But, you will with this book.

One of the most significant discoveries about the human body's complex mechanism is the vagus nerve. The more scientists understood this nerve, the more they realized that they were discovering a complex network that answered vital questions about health.

How can you energize yourself?

How is it possible for you to manage stress and other debilitating mental health issues?

How is it possible for you to power-up your nervous system?

Is it possible for you to live your best life and maximize the health benefits?

You can answer all of the questions above by understanding the vagus nerve which is a crucial part of the parasympathetic nervous system, commonly known as the rest and digest system. Not only is this network of nerves strongly connected to vital physiological processes such as heart and breathing rates, but it is so important for the functions of various organs including smooth functioning of digestive systems.

Now, you have the power to improve your life with the information and techniques mentioned in this book.

More importantly, you will learn how to make use of the vagus nerve to transform your health, improve your mental focus, and lead a fulfilling life!

Delve into Vagus Nerve to understand:

·         What the vagus nerve is and its connection to the nervous system

·         The reasons for inflammation and what you can do about it

·         How the Polyvagal Theory came about to be and why it is important

·         Practical applications to help you stimulate and strengthen it

·         Nutrition information to boost your health

·         And a lot more information!

The collection of ideas and suggestions presented in this book will not just help those looking to improve their physical health, but those who seek relief from the effects of stress and depression as well.

You will learn how to bring your body to a state where it can self-heal, allowing you to truly live life to its full potential.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rhys Tucker
• Release date: Feb 9, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201001148

Book preview

Introduction

An Empowering Guide

Meet your vagus nerve. You are about to discover an amazing part of your body that is relatively unknown outside of medical circles, yet is surprisingly influential; a multi-branched nerve that controls or influences many of your most essential functions, from heart and breathing rates to the entire digestive process.

You can control your vagus nerve; and in doing so, you can control your reflexes and responses:

Why you should read this book:

An affirmative response to any of these is usually due to our life in a hurry-up world of overachievement, and with more to do than our time can possibly allow. Somewhere in our evolution, our species seems to have lost the ability to enjoy and experience life. We worry about what we could have, or should have done, and are occupied with what we need to do tomorrow and beyond; we're obsessing with the past and the future, and not living in the present.

The poet Robert Burns long ago recognized the folly of worrying about what we can’t experience at the moment. If you’ll forgive the Scottish inflections, you will appreciate, as he did, the advantage a mouse has by only dealing with the immediate:

But dear Mousie … in proving that foresight may be in vain;

The best laid schemes o’ (plans of) mice and’ men Gang aft agley (often go wrong) and lea’e (leave) us nought (nothing) but grief and pain.

Still thou art blest (blessed) compar’d wi’ (with) me!

The present only toucheth thee.

—The Poetical Works of Robert Burns

The poem continues to cite the writer’s backward cast of the eye on prospects drear, and forward, tho’ I canna (cannot) see, I guess an’ fear. The past, we need to acknowledge, is exactly that; it’s passed. And the future is completely unpredictable, so let’s not be afraid of it. Let’s see how to more effectively deal with the here and now.

Fight-and-Flight or Rest-and-Digest

In this book, you will gain a clear understanding of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems and will come to appreciate how much they influence our states of over-energized anxiety and tension, as well as how they can generate peace, calm, and well-being.

It’s our fears, our worries, our uncertainties that are triggering our body’s defensive mechanism, the sympathetic nervous response. What evolved as a practical surge of energy to help our ancestors escape from danger has stayed with us in calmer, less dangerous times, but this fight-0r-flight mechanism remains primed and ready for fast and decisive action, even if the threat is only our concern about deadlines or frustration over something we might have done differently. At those times, your vagus nerve comes into action, inciting all of the body’s sensory and motor functions into high gear. It’s not just momentary; your sympathetic energization can continue over time, causing long-term or chronic stress, anxiety, and inflammation.

But quite the opposite can occur when its counterpart, the parasympathetic nervous system, slows and calms things down. The vagus nerve controls or influences many bodily functions, and when the vagus nerve is toned and relaxed, we are in a state of homeostasis, or normalcy: Heart rates and breathing rates are normal; sensory reflexes are functioning, and food is passing through the digestive system as it should. This is the parasympathetic nervous system performing at the optimal level and is referred to as rest-and-digest.

As we proceed, you will learn how to influence the vagus nerve, and put it to work to reduce the pressures and tensions of the sympathetic nervous by activating the parasympathetic nervous system’s calming influence. You also learn of newer findings that the parasympathetic response can go too far—a condition called polyvagal syncope—that shuts down the body to the extent that unconsciousness can occur.

Your Vagus Nerve

Let’s begin by understanding what the vagus nerve is, where it's located in our bodies, and what functions it performs. It is among the longest, most branched, and diverse nerves in our entire nervous system. Its name derives from, vagary, the Latin word for wandering, and as you will see, it does indeed wander, from head to abdomen, with branches affecting your face, ears, and neck; your heart and respiratory system; and your entire gastrointestinal digestive system.

The vagus nerve is one of 12 cranial nerves; two of these nerves descend from the cerebellum, and the remaining 10—including the vagus nerve—descend from the brainstem, which is the small, most primitive part of our brain, which connects the rest of the brain with the spinal cord. The vagus nerve descends from the last part of the brainstem, the medulla oblongata, and is designated cranial nerve 10, or X.

Looking closer at the wide range of vagus nerve functions, you can see just how diverse it is. Some cranial nerves send sensory information, like sight, smell, sounds, and taste, and others control motor movements of muscles and gland functions. But the vagus nerve performs both sensory and motor functions in its lengthy and diverse branching from head to colon:

Meet the Author

Vagus Nerve has been written with a dedication to individuals of any age, any gender, who have an interest in improving their health through the reduction of stress and anxiety. This book is for those who want to learn how to apply natural and safe self-help measures to improve their health and well-being, by eliminating inflammation and its physiological and emotional consequences.

The subject of our nervous system, and how the vagus nerve influences—and can be influenced favorably—can be a medically complex subject, and many books have been written for the advanced scientific person. However, this author wants to make this valuable and insightful information available to the non-medical, non-scientific reader. It is written in an easy-to-understand style, knowing that the reader wants to get to know the vagus nerve and learn how to put it to practical and beneficial use.

Bringing technical subjects down to earth and making complex subjects understandable is the author's specialty. He has written over 30 books on self-help, motivation, diet and exercise, meditation and mindfulness, and these subjects are integrated into this book for the reader’s further edification.

The Ground We’ll Cover

Your exploration of the vagus nerve, and the nervous system it is a part of, and the ways to manage, reset, tone, and control your vagus nerve, will be covered in these nine chapters:

Your Nervous System: What is a nerve? The 12 cranial nerves; the central and peripheral nervous systems; the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems; the vagus nerve: pathways and branches.

Inflammation: Causes and Consequences: What is inflammation? Acute and chronic stress; causes of inflammation; inflammation links to disease; physiological and autoimmune consequences of inflammation; emotional consequences of inflammation.

Treatments to Control Inflammation: Anti-inflammatory drugs: NSAIDs and corticosteroids; anti-inflammatory diet, herbs, and supplements; osteopathic manipulative treatment; immune system-nervous system cooperation.

Overreaction: The Polyvagal Theory: The parasympathetic system (review); evolutionary stages from animal to man; prolonged defensive activities; internal physiological responses.

Body-Centered Techniques for Self-Regulation: Body sensations for safety; trauma and emotional dysregulation; positive experiences and sensations; social engagement and interaction.

Exercises to Reset the Vagus Nerve (I): Diaphragmatic breathing exercises; neck stretches; trapezius stretches with ball; combined stretches.

Exercises to Reset the Vagus Nerve (II): The basic exercise of Stanley Rosenberg; the salamander exercise of Stanley Rosenberg; neurofascial release-osteopathic manipulation; sternocleidomastoid muscle exercise; massage to relieve migraines.

Phytotherapy and Nutrition to Relieve Inflammation: Phytotherapy: the power of plants; rhodiola rosea; eleutherococcus and griffonia; a rebuilt

Reviews for Vagus Nerve

[brian su · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very good book and got a lot of information...

Comprehensive!