Polyvagal Theory Made Simple: Learn how your Nervous System Works to Unleash the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve with Self-help Exercises to Significantly Reduce Anxiety, Stress and other Diseases

By Eric Hermann

Do you want to easily understand how generic traumas, anxiety, stress and chronic diseases may influence your nervous system and consequently your mental and physical health? Well, you should keep reading.
 

The Polyvagal theory was published some years ago, thanks to the brilliant intuition of Dr. Stephen Porges, who published an extremely technical book, that was not accessible to everyone. The understanding of some diseases, and the way the influence our nervous system and our body, is at the basis of this theory. The polyvagal theory helps us understand how we can defend ourselves, and how we can face diseases better, especially mental disorders, such as anxiety, stress, depression, etc.

 

The aim of this book is helping people understand the polyvagal theory, its interconnection with the vagus nerve, and the extremely effective benefits that it could bring to our body and our health.

 

So, this is what you will learn at the end of the reading:

• The main principles of the polyvagal theory, explained in a simple way
• Why the nervous system is so important in the management of chronic diseases
• How to face traumas in the best way
• What is the vagus nerve and why its function is important
• How to stimulate the vagus nerve with advices and exercises
• Understand and face stress, anxiety, depression, PTSD, etc

If you are not an expert in scientific issues or you don't know how to face those problems, this book will help you in an easy way, directed to a clear understanding of the polyvagal theory, unleashing your vagus nerve and improving your everyday life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eric Hermann
• Release date: Feb 24, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224803354

Book preview

Introduction

The vagus nerve plays a big part in the functions of our bodies. This nerve, which goes from the brain stem downwards throughout the body, wraps itself around many different organs, and it plays a vital role in some of the key processes of our body.

With that being said, there is more to the vagus nerve than just its existence. The polyvagal theory came about, and it plays a key role in fully understanding the vagus nerve, and what it means.

The best way to imagine our brain chemistry is kind of like a hurricane. Hurricanes are usually strong, deadly, and oftentimes something we can’t fully prepare for. But the polyvagal theory says that at the middle of it all, at the eye of our bodies, is of course the vagus nerve, and it’s imperative to understand how this affects our parasympathetic nervous system.

But, how does this play into anything? Why does it matter? What can we do with this valuable information? That’s where this book comes in.

In this book, we’ll highlight everything you need to know about the polyvagal theory, including what Stephen Porges, the father of the modern polyvagal theory, was trying to explain, and why it’s so important to understand our nervous system, and the way the vagus nerve connects to it all.

The vagus nerve is a nerve that plays a critical role in our systemic functions. But it’s the nerve you’ve never heard about before. It’s so important to understand this, since it is a big part of balancing out the nervous system in its own way. Luckily, we have here the information necessary to help you understand and grasp the polyvagal theory in practice, and make it work.

Most of us don’t have a stimulated vagus nerve. We’re running with a vagus nerve that isn’t properly working, which is part of the reason why many people struggle with this. Luckily, with the right parts and the right understanding, you’ll be able to fully comprehend what this means, and the prospects behind the polyvagal theory.

So, you’ll get a full grasp of this here, and we’ll go over in detail what this means, and how you can apply it to your body, and to your life as well.

Chapter 1:

What is the Polyvagal Theory?

The Polyvagal Theory has a lot of basis on our nervous system, and there is a deep and involved explanation about our anatomy, and how this nerve stimulates everything.

The vagus nerve is a key part of our parasympathetic nervous system, which is essentially the calming of our body. We’ll discuss the nervous system in detail later on, but the parasympathetic part of our nervous system is how we stay calm, relaxed, and more focused and happier.

Our sympathetic nervous system, in contrast, is the more active part, and these two systems need to be in complete balance in order to have a healthy, happy body.

The theory in it of itself involves understanding our autonomic nervous system, which is of course the natural functions of the body we can’t control. Digestion, relaxation, and even our own personal health and happiness are all parts of this nerve. The polyvagal theory does outline the different functions and structures of each of these two different branches of your vagus, which is where they affect the body. Both of these are part of your medulla, which is a part of your brain, close to the brainstem.

With the Polyvagal Theory, you have two branches, and each of these is associated with different adaptive behaviors, and of course both are inhibitory via your parasympathetic nervous system.

Our vagal system is the polar opposite of the sympathetic adrenal system, which is part of our mobilization behaviors. That consists of our alertness, our stress, and our fear. Both of these systems are opposite one another, and they’re arranged that way.

About the Vagus Nerve

You may know what the vagus nerve is already, but let’s have a refresher shall we?

Our vagus nerve, or vagus, is a nerve that’s part of our body. It’s one of the 12 cranial nerves, the 10th to be exact, and it’s actually a way for us to identify the different experiences we have between the functions of our lungs, heart, and stomach. Our digestion, our heart rate, and our breathing rate are all a part of this, and the vagus nerve is said to control all of these.

Now, the theory was developed and introduced all the way back in 1994 by a man named Stephen Porges, who was the director of the Brain Body Center at the University of Illinois.

Now, according to this theory and of course the evidence that comes from this, our autonomic system is connected with everything, and it’s incredibly sensitive. That of course, influences our body and brain. These different influences are what’s called afferent influences.

What’s an Afferent Influence?

Afferent influences mean the afferent nerve fibers. These are the ones that arrive to the brain region, which is of course, the difference tween these and the efferent nerve projections which are exiting this.

This usually is different in the central and the peripheral nervous system.

In our peripheral nervous system, these projections are usually in the perspective of our spinal cord, and these are the axons of sensory neurons responsible for bringing the information throughout the body, into our spine, and this affects the spinal cord motor neurons and controls the motor control signals.

Now, we want to focus on the afferent nerves in our CNS, which is of course, the brain. Remember the vagus nerve is a cranial nerve, so it would project from there. Each time our projections happen here, it’s usually in the perspective of the brain region. So, what that means is, every single region has its own set of different projections, both afferent and efferent. In the case of a vagus nerve, you will be affecting the signals as they arrive at the brain more than anything, than exiting the brain.

That’s why many times, the habits and actions we take in our body will affect the vagus nerve and is part of the reason why the vagus nerve might not be properly stimulated. It’s because these afferent nerve fibers are being negatively affected, and from there, that’s creating a problem.

The Theory Itself

As we’ve said before, the vagus nerve is a big part of the parasympathetic nervous system. But, how much does it affect the afferent nerves? Well, various studies have been seen and demonstrated, and adaptive reactivity that’s dependent on the neural circuits and the phylogenic development happens as well.

This there is actually influence by Charles Darwin, and the vagus nerve was referred to Darwin as the pneumogastric nerve" since it affects the lungs, heart, and the stomach.

The theory itself claims that the reactions in our bodies, such as those involving our digestive and cardiovascular system, are actually associated with our facial expressions.

You read that right; our facial expressions influence our vagus nerve. This can be seen in a sense, since a lot of the solutions for stimulating the vagus nerve include facial expressions and different changes. You can see this from the evolutionary and the neurology standpoints too.

The vagus nerve has different evolutionary stress responses within animals, based on how primitive their behaviors are. The most primitive of these branches actually will cause immobilization. When the vagus nerve is stimulated, sometimes it’ll cause you to feel fear, which is what happens when you’re paralyzed with fear.