The Vagus Nerve: Your Built-In Reset Button

Ever tried to think your way out of anxiety… and it just doesn’t work?

That’s because anxiety isn’t just in your mind.  It’s in your body.

In this episode of The Anxiety Compass, Sammy and Nat explore the role of the Vagus nerve...your body’s built-in pathway to calm, safety, and regulation.

Because when your nervous system feels unsafe, no amount of positive thinking will override it.

And when your body does feel safe… everything changes.

We unpack:

✨ What the vagus nerve actually is (in simple, real-life terms)
 ✨ Why anxiety is a full-body experience, not just a mental one
 ✨ The connection between your brain, gut, and nervous system
 ✨ Why digestion, breath, and anxiety are all linked
 ✨ What happens in the body during fight, flight, or freeze
 ✨ Why your “compass” feels like it’s spinning when you’re dysregulated
 ✨ Practical, body-based tools to help you feel calmer (without forcing it)

This episode is for anyone who has ever:

•  Tried to “logic” their way out of anxiety 
•  Felt stuck in their head but disconnected from their body 
•  Experienced physical symptoms like a racing heart, tight chest, or gut issues 
•  Wondered why calm feels so hard to access 

Because the goal isn’t to control anxiety.

It’s to create safety in the body so anxiety doesn’t need to shout at you.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

It's Emmy and Natalie here, and welcome to the Anxiety Company. Where anxiety isn't the enemy, it's our tour guide.

SPEAKER_01 0:11

We'll swap stories, share tools, and have a laugh while we find our way back to true north. Come along.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode. I can never know how to start uh an episode. I know it's just yeah, hi. Hi everyone. Uh welcome to the Anxiety Compass. We are going to be talking about something really amazing. I absolutely love learning about this particular thing in the body, and I don't think a lot of people know it even exists. Uh in our in our circles, yes, for nutritionists and natural paths and all that, uh, but not so much out in the real world. I don't really hear much about it, to be honest, like on news or reports or anything like that, like mainstream. It's yeah. Um, so we are going to be talking about uh your body's reset button. I'm gonna call it that, uh, the vagus nerve, which is also I've heard it be called the wandering nerve because it goes all over your body. Um yeah, the vagus nerve is what stabilizes your compass. So if we're referring to our beautiful anxiety compass, it really helps to stabilize that compass so you can read it clearly. There's nothing worse than running around uh, you know, with a compass that's you know shaky and full of sweat and all the things. This um this is a great little thing that happens in your body. Do you want to sort of share what the Vegas nerve actually is, Nat? Sure. So it's a big nerve. It's not in Vegas.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

No, it's not in Vegas. Uh it's within our body, and it actually is it's like a highway and it connects our brain, it runs down through our face, down through our throat, so on either side of our voice box, down around our heart, through our lungs, down into our uh like attached to our gut. So when you're talking about that mind, the gut brain axis, for example, this is literally the nerve that connects, this is the highway that connects the gut to the brain. Um and I was so excited when I learnt about that because you know, obviously through university, when we were doing our degrees, her, you know, we were learning all about the gut-brain axis, and and that's a quite a common thing. A lot of people hear about that now. But I didn't really understand why, and no one really explained it. Then when I after um graduating and and a few years ago and and really starting to understand, you know, coming across the vagus nerve and really understanding, I was like, oh, that is why. That is literally the gut brain axis. That's what's connecting. Because I could I was like, how does what's going on in our gut affect our brain? It's so far from each other. Where's the connection? This is the connection.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

Why do I feel butterflies when I'm nervous in my tummy?

SPEAKER_00 3:19

Yes, it's all so it's part of it's part of our parasympathetic nervous system. Yep. That which is our calm, safe mode. Rest and digest. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

And you want to call the other, the other, so the and what is it called? Atomic atomic nervous system.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

Autonomic nervous system.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

Yeah, because it actually affects our heart rate.

unknown 3:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

Um, you know. So there's two branches off that. So we have this beautiful system, this nervous system that runs without us even thinking about like you're sitting there, your heart's beating, your food's digesting, all these things are happening to keep you uh, you know, balanced and and safe. But it will either branch out into sympathetic, which is your flight, fight, what's an alarm, something's not right, we need to fix it, there's a tiger chasing us, or the parasympathetic, which is which is you know, switching on that beautiful calm-safe mode. Let's digest our food. I say rest, digest, repair, and reproduce. Because people don't realize that you can't, you know, have a baby and fall pregnant when you're in flight or fight either. The body's not saying why would it do that? Exactly. There's so many, you know, benefits to to being karma, and um, yeah, I I didn't realize just how much it was connected to my gut until I started reading a lot about gut bacteria and how it can manipulate our thoughts and all sorts, and I didn't realize just how much was happening in my gut. It I actually read something the other day, Nat, and it talked about you know how people call it your second brain, your gut. They were talking about it actually being your first brain.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

Your first, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:59

I was like, because the bacteria living in there have been around longer than our brains have formed into the you know modern brains right now.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

So exactly just found that fascinating. I I love I know the body is incredible, and the bacteria that we and there's we have more bacteria in our body and on our body than we do cells in our body. We are bacteria, we're just big alien vests.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

We are who's actually thinking all the thoughts? Is it you or is it your bacteria? Food for thought, people. Food for thought exactly. No, that's valid. Yeah, so your vegas nerve is basically your body's safety switch, yeah. So it's it's it's constantly sussing out and learning, and and we can actually use it and and I wasn't I keep going to use the word manipulate, but you can actually do things to strengthen that connection so it works better. And there are so many things um that people don't realize. Like, is singing one of them? Like the the vibrations and like we've talked about.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

So singing, humming, even um chanting, that's that's why these ancient civilizations would do all this singing and chanting and stuff. They knew, and you know, at that subconscious level, just how beneficial because it's literally anything that's or gargling, anything that stimulates your throat, because the vagus nerve is literally running down either side of your throat, you're literally stimulating it. Yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_02 6:35

I love that. So I just wanted to tap a little bit more on the science because some people are probably thinking, so so how does that influence blah blah blah blah? If you're seeing things that are making your body think it's unsafe or perhaps an external thing, your brain's picking that up. It sends a message through the vagus nerve to think, okay, we need to switch on sympathetic. So all of a sudden, all of those nerves and everything that's controlling your digestion, your heart rate will go faster because it's pumping all that blood into your arms and legs to run away because something's not safe. All of the beautiful digestive enzymes and blood that's flowing in your gut is going to leave, you're gonna get shallow breath. Um, and yeah, basically your digestion is gonna switch off. If your body senses that it feels safe, maybe you're being kinder to what you're putting in your body because it can work both ways. Um, all of a sudden, things are going to digest better, your breathing's going to slow down, your heart rate's going to slow down. All of that, like we were saying, is connected through the vagus nerve. And what you were saying was singing before, it helps to strengthen that um and and reinvent. Vagal tone. Yeah, vagal tone. Um, you could be, and this is something that that is very huge for me. I could be eating the most nutritious food, but if my body feels unsafe, it completely overrides everything. My vagus nerve just is like, nope, summer's not right, and everything just goes into chaos. I won't absorb food, I won't absorb the nutrients. Um, I feel sick, and then that leads to feeling more unbalanced and that absolutely yeah, or alternatively, not being able to eat at all. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

Because you know, um anxiety, um up to 62% of people with eating disorders actually also have anxiety, so and vice versa. Like, so anxiety disorders are often um the precursor to um eating disorders, which is what I had because I couldn't eat. It was like I had a big store st steel ball. Oh my god, now I can't talk. Steel ball in my stomach. So I didn't want to eat, I couldn't eat. I mean, you think about when you are really anxious, sometimes you just can't eat. Yeah, so then you go into starvation mode.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

Ah, that's so true. Yeah, even more well, your body's thinking something even more, you know, we're not eating, we're not hungry.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Everything's just kind of exactly uh so coming back to the you know, doing the these sorts of things, which we'll talk about, but I thought I'd just mention that because a lot of it, because I didn't understand why can't I eat? You know, I knew that I had I felt, you know, it was because I felt anxious, but it's because your vagal tone is is low that so you've got dysbiosis and you're not being able to digest, but sometimes you literally just can't eat at all.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:24

So being able to do what we'll talk about, you know, the practical tools can actually help. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

So what are some other tools that we can we can look at? Like we're we're trying to regulate this this vagus nerve, we're gonna stop that carpet from spinning, we're gonna make sure things feel safe. Um, I mean, we always look at the diet, we always look at gut health, um, we look at ways to you know meditate and calm the mind. But what can we do, Nat, to help strengthen that vagal tone, not just singing.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

Um, because so well, number one, breathing. So, and especially that longer exhale. So doing four, seven, eight breathing or something is really great for that. Cold exposure. So sticking your face in cold water. Now, back in the day, that before cold exposure became a thing here in you know our society, it's huge over in Scandinavian countries, but before it became a thing and having ice bars, because I'm talking about like 20 odd years ago, I was actually told by my doctor to go and stick my head in the freezer. That will shock me out of that panic. Well, it's the same thing as sticking your head, your head, your face into a bowl of ice water. But we weren't that advanced there yet.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

Yeah, yeah. I like that.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

So having that cold exposure does um sh tone your vegas.

SPEAKER_02 10:45

I like that because I was just thinking, I was watching a Tony Robinson the other day, and how he all of a sudden Alison swears in front of your face and shakes you, and you're like, ugh. And but it's his method to change state, like quickly change the pattern in your body. And I'm just thinking that sort of you know, quickly putting your face in the cold, is is doing a similar sort of thing in your body.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

But it is, it's it's shocking your body out. It's almost like jump starting your car.

SPEAKER_02 11:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

You know. Um, and as we talk about with shaking and stuff before, we have mentioned like Dr. Peter Levine first discovering, you know, that what animals do, like when a bear uh a deer is being chased by the lion and manages to get away, and the first thing they do once they're out of danger is stand there and shake. They're literally resetting their vagus nerve, then their nervous system.

SPEAKER_02 11:35

So we've got cold splash on the face, we've got humming and singing. I'm gonna I I whistle a lot. I don't know if that's the same thing. Someone said to me the other day, if you whistle a lot, you're a serial killer, and I whistle all the time. What's going on there? I'd say it's okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

I watch myself when I'm living. I'll watch my matcha.

SPEAKER_02 12:00

No, that's not. I'm not that. No, I don't know. No, you're no, you're really not.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

You're the opposite.

SPEAKER_02 12:05

You're the end of the I don't think I can live in that. Um, I lost sleep because I ran over a possum the other day. For goodness sake. Oh no, oh, that's devastating. Oh, yeah. Yeah, no, I'm too, yeah, no. Um, but the breathing, which is obviously well, I shouldn't say obviously, but uh it's something that's an incredibly powerful tool that people it's for free, people. Why are we not taking and singing's free too? Let's just singing's free, humming, humming is free, cold therapy exposures free.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

Yeah, um, what about we have all these beautiful tools at our fingertips?

SPEAKER_02 12:41

So, what if I got up in the morning and I sort of shaked my body while I was singing and humming, and then um took a deep breath and shoved my face in cold water? Would that help if I did that? It would, absolutely, and this is yeah, what about laughing? Does that help with vaping?

SPEAKER_00 13:05

Well, yeah, I mean, you think about there was laughing therapy, it was a huge thing about 20 years ago. They have laughing yoga, so absolutely, it does the same thing.

SPEAKER_02 13:15

Yeah, yeah, it has this. My friend, my beautiful friend, she might be listening. She does laughing yoga, and she put a post up on her Instagram the other day, and she was standing outside my grandma's um care place. She went in with all the all of the people at my grandma's facility. Like, I shouldn't say facility, but her aged care area. And I was like, Oh, they did laughing therapy together. She would have loved that. Yeah, gorgeous. I know, I just find that so beautiful. So there's one other thing I wanted to look at, which I've just noticed in my notes. What about the tone of voice and connection and safety to other people? Does that help to regulate your vegas nerve? Like if you're constantly yelling and and tech because I find some people I'm tight and tense when I'm talking, and I have a different sort of tone in in my voice. Whereas, like when I'm with you, you have such a beautiful, soft sort of tone of voice, and it's it's yeah, I'm assuming the way that we talk as well. It's like it's absolutely well.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

I mean, you think about the throat chakra. You know, I talk a lot about throat chakra, and a lot of people that come into my world who have got anxiety when I do Reiki with them and I'm you know tuning into their chakras, their throat chakra is blocked. So, you know, when you've got, you know, you you are you think about when you're anxious, you're oftentimes you well, I know that I did, and and from what I've experienced with other people, uh you start talking s smaller, littler, because you're scared. You we usually don't I mean some some people, I mean this is general, um, but you know, usually when we're scared, we quite we don't yell and scream usually. Some people do, but they react in fear. But generally there's this contraction, so absolutely our tone of voice, because again, also our body is always listening, so it's having an effect if we if uh if we're speaking harshly or yelling or you know, we're giving that that signal to our body that we're not safe, so it's reinforcing, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

That that tone. Ah, I love all that. I love all of that. You don't calm anxiety by force, you calm it by creating safety, and that also happens in um your tone of voice as well. I'm just um I just realize that for me, I I get very like at the I'm I mean, I got on here today and I was telling you how much I have on today.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

I've got so much on today.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

And I um when I'm overwhelmed, I talk really, really fast because that's just who I am when I'm feeling this way.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

I shouldn't that's true, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

But um I'm the same, actually. I mean, when I'm feeling scared, that's like the the softer, quieter, I don't know how much. But when I'm I I talk really really really fast and I have to catch myself on that and really slow my tempo. And I'm wondering if the people looking at their heart rate's going simply because I think when you're around people take a breath and laugh a little every now and then. They um bring that that they put you into that parasympathetic parasympathetic mode. But if I start talking really, really fast again and I start like you know, really all of a sudden it's like your whole body's just like, oh my god, what's she saying? I can't keep up, what's going on?

SPEAKER_00 17:18

Well, you notice, so we'll get a bit sciencey here, because obviously I'm a singer as well. Yeah, um did you notice just then when you were talking calm, okay, and and steady, where was the energy being held? Where was your voice coming from? It was coming from your diaphragm. Yes, whereas when you start to be fasting, no no no no, where's it coming from? Your chest and your throat. Yeah, so it's the same premise. That's it's because it's breathing, like you're not activating your parasympathetic nerves and that vagus nerve when you're up here in your throat and your chest. I guess absolutely no.

SPEAKER_02 17:57

I find a lot of people say to me, Oh, I love hanging around you because you you just energize me and I want to do so much. But on the other side, it's it's not calming. Like I'm very energetic, and it can be a great pick-me-up, and it can, you know, you you know, you leave, you know, with a conversation when then you leave going, Yeah, I gotta do this, I'm gonna do that. But when I leave having a conversation with you, I actually feel really calm. And I wonder how many people leave conversations with me feeling calm or energized. So maybe meet up with me first thing in the morning, not before you go to bed.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

So that's why we get on so well because we're literally the yin and the yang. We are I'm gonna I mean, I could be like, ah, too, and you can be calm, but yeah, we balance each other out.

SPEAKER_02 18:43

I think I'm gonna be very more I mean, we're always learning, right? People I had a client once say to me, How do you do it? Like, how do you all of a sudden change everything? And I was like, I'm not, I'm not fully healed, no one's fully healed and and and made it. I said, I have, you know, constantly every day I'm picking myself up on things that I've done and and correct, not correcting, but being aware and making different choices. And one of the things that I need to work on is slowing down my um my my speed at which I talk. Um, yeah. So I'm gonna be mindful of that.

unknown 19:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

Perfect. Do we want to go into because we even in like media, anyone that does talk about the vagus nerve, um, and even if you Google it, you'll find, you know, a lot of the information that we've talked about, but there's not a lot of information out there on how we can actually be get low vagal tone in the first place. Because there are a number of different reasons why we can get low vagal tone. Yeah. So obviously, number one is you know, is chronic that chronic stress or unaddressed trauma, um, as we've talked about, that gut dysbiosis and poor diet, um, lack of exercise, but also over-exercising, which is a big one with some people with anxiety, they go and try and outrun your anxiety, our gym. Because because our vagus nerve actually works on um actually affects our heart rate variability. If you are over-exercising when you've got anxiety and you don't have a recovery period, so you're out you're you're pretty much at the gym smashing it out every day, basically, right? Sort of thing. Um, that can actually lower your heart rate variability, which in turn you know loses that vagal tone.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

That's interesting.

SPEAKER_00 20:43

So that's yes.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

Yeah, see, that was me for a while. I mean, I find I can be quite competitive with myself, and sometimes I get lost at the gym where I just keep pushing and pushing, and I lose that connection at some point. Um, and I don't allow for the rest because I'm so like you know how they say mind over matter. I'm really good at doing that. Um, to the point where I completely go, I'm my mind's stronger than my body, but it's like but your body isn't keeping up. So I don't know if that's an something that anyone else listening might do, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:18

Well, I was like that, absolutely. Mind over matter. Yeah, I couldn't go outside, I couldn't do anything, but I'd still go into the theater and choreograph 80 people because I could do it. And then collapse and be carried out to the car afterwards after a six-hour rehearsal. But I could do it.

SPEAKER_02 21:34

I know, right? And I'm also building resilience and building strength and building muscle, but you do need to have break breaks and rests in, otherwise, your body has no time to repair.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

Exactly. Absolutely. So other reasons why is chronic inflammation, it's often linked to autoimmune conditions as well, that low vagal tone. Yes, um, so it can reduce your your vagal tone. So having that Chronic inflammation in the body, which anxiety disorder can create again because of the gut dysbiosis and everything else we've talked about. Infections, certain infections, especially if you contracted some infections when you were a child, can actually affect your vagal tone. Another big thing, I've had a couple of patients in the last 18 months who had severe anxiety, sometimes it can actually be a structural issue. So in your neck. So if you've got neck issues that are actually affecting your cervical curve in your spine, that can actually affect the nerve function of your vagus nerve. So sometimes, you know, if if you find that you've got anxiety and a lot of the things that, especially what we talk about, isn't actually really helping, maybe go and get your you know an osteopath or a chiropractor or someone to check your spine because it can be a structural issue as well.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

Misalignment. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

Yeah, absolutely. And then, of course, exposure to molds and toxins are another big one that affect our vagal tone. So, you know, looking at all of those things, do a checklist. And if you've got an anxiety disorder, look at those sort of things. Have you got any of those in your environment? Have you experienced any any of those things? That could be a reason why your vagus um tone is is low.

SPEAKER_02 23:29

So and I'm just gonna add to that because I I'm starting to I don't know why this came up, but when I had severe anxiety disorder, I became obsessed with trying to get rid of everything that was upsetting me. So all the things that Nat has listed, uh definitely look into, but don't do it all at once. No, no, God, no, no, because I know I know you people, and if you're anything like I used to be, you've just written a huge list and you're gonna go and and tick them all.

SPEAKER_00 24:01

Do everything in the next 10 minutes, no, no, again, curiosity as opposed to obsession.

SPEAKER_02 24:09

Yes, yeah, it's a fine line, fine line, yeah, absolutely. Um, yeah, it's been really interesting. Is there anything else that we need to know about the Vegas, the wandering nerve, Nat?

SPEAKER_00 24:21

Because I'm sure No, I mean we could we could talk for hours on it, but yeah, for the purposes of this podcast, it's probably enough. Yeah, definitely. But it is it is such a big a big part component of anxiety disorder.

SPEAKER_02 24:37

Absolutely, because you you can't think your way out of anxiety, it just doesn't work. It's anxiety isn't just in your mind, it's in your body, and there's this beautiful nerve that that's all over your body that we can really um tidy up a little bit so those highways are working much clearer. It's nothing worse than being stuck in a traffic jam, um, Nat.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

I don't know another thing I was thinking about because I've always used the word um highway too. But coming back to language, which is what we were talking about the previous episode. Sometimes when I think about highway, that actually makes me feel a little bit anxious because you think about highway, it's like a I was like, what else could I call it? What could we call it? And a really lovely um word is bridge.

SPEAKER_02 25:23

Using it as a bridge, a bridge, so just being up and cleaning and reinforcing that bridge so it's stronger. Yeah, going for a stroll through over your bridge. I love that. I love that amazing. Well, let's throw a reflective question in. I think we've done really well with timing today, Nat. We have. I'm proud of myself. I've been hitting the timer to make sure we're not going too.

SPEAKER_00 25:48

I know. We usually go so off track. I think we just, I mean, we're up to what? How many is this? We're doing like 31 or 32. This is 30. Yeah, 30. I don't know. So slowly we're getting better at our time.

SPEAKER_02 25:59

Yeah, meanwhile, we've just wasted you know five minutes. Oh no, yeah. Um, so reflected question for our lovely audience. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, I'm sure it's amazing. Uh, what does your body need right now to feel safe? Not perfect, but just safe. Like, what could you be doing? Maybe switch me off with my really fast talking and um go and put on some bird song radio. Or uh maybe, you know, maybe I found for me to make me feel safe, I had this constant sense of urgency. My perception of urgency was out of control, and for me, I felt like I had to do everything. I started delegating tasks and it started clearing up space for me to feel safer and slower and more connected with myself. So uh one of the things that I did the other day is I wrote down all the tasks that uh other people could do that I don't need to do, and I showed everyone in the house.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

Nice, I love that.

SPEAKER_02 26:56

Um yeah, I just said you guys can do this yourself. Why am I doing all this? Like I'm happy to help that I need to uh right now I'm just literally moving from one task to the other to keep up with whatever life I've created. It's my own doing, let's be honest. I'll limit that. Um, but I think the need for space is is very much warranted lately and uh allowing me to be present and talk. So yeah, that's my reflection on my own self.

SPEAKER_00 27:28

I love that, I really do. Yeah, self-awareness is key, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 27:33

It always is, it always is something we come back to in every episode that we do, right? Yeah, amazing. All right, on that note, we will um we'll see you in the next episode.

SPEAKER_00 27:44

Bye.

SPEAKER_01 27:45

Thanks for joining us on the Anxiety Compass. If you love this episode, share it with a friend who needs a little laugh and low calm. We'll see you in the next one. Keep following your true norm. Disclaimer time. Sammy and Natalie may be clinical nutritionists, but we're not your personal doctors.

SPEAKER_02 28:11

What you hear is for learning and laughing. Not diagnosing or prescribing. If things feel bigger than you, call your doctor or