Unforked

5 Simple Vagus Nerve Exercises for Digestion

• Haley Schroth, RDN, LD, CPT, RYT, CMWC • Season 1 • Episode 19

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Did you know that the vagus nerve, the longest cranial nerve stretching from your brain to your large intestine, plays a crucial role in your digestion, mood regulation, and overall well-being?

Tune in for practical advice on enhancing your vagal tone through exercises like diaphragmatic breathing and cold water exposure, which can significantly improve your mental wellness, gut health, and sleep quality.

For personalized coaching sessions to support your mental wellness and nutrition journey, don't hesitate to reach out and take the first step toward a healthier you.

Read the blog post version of this episode here.


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&, Thank you to YOU, the listener, for being here on this journey together.

Haley Schroth, RDN, LD, CPT, RYT, CMWC

Integrative Dietitian Nutritionist for Optimal Mental Health & Physical Performance

Haley:

Howdy friend, welcome to unforked, an unfiltered holistic nutrition and mental wellness podcast for evolving folks that crave a delicious life of fulfillment.

Haley:

Haley, here I am, your host, a trauma informed functional medicine dietitian, holistic mental wellness coach and the founder of the fulfilled fork. On this show, we dish up insights and activations while learning about sustainable mind, body, soul, lifestyle practices. It's sweet, it's savory and it'll spice up your life. To stay connected, make sure you sign up for our unforked email list at thefulfilledforkcom. Forward slash links. Let's dig into the episode. Thefulfilledforkcom. Forward slash links. Let's dig into the episode. Howdy friend, and welcome back to the Unforked podcast. We took a little break the website, so if you'd like to go and read it, be my guest. It's amazing in written form and we're going to have a conversation about it today. So before I dive into the main course of the Vegas Nerve today, I want to first thank you for being here. If you are new here, I'm so grateful to have you. If you're a returning listener, I am equally as grateful to have you here If you have not yet downloaded the Ignite, your Mental Wellness training. This is a training that is going to help you transform your mental health and physical health. It is packed full of insights. It is packed full of well an assessment. I know that's not the most fun word in the world, but I love being able to self-assess and I know, if you're here, you're probably somebody that enjoys doing that as well. So you want to learn and you want to learn about yourself and be able to grow, and so in this Ignite, your Mental Wellness training, there is an assessment that is going to help you figure out where you are currently in your mental wellness journey. So what are the things that you're struggling with and then, where do you need to go to move forward faster, with more ease? So you're going to get that in the training, and then also, we're going to talk about some of the reasons why you may not be succeeding in your health yet. So if you have not downloaded the training yet, highly, highly, highly recommend it. I would love to see you inside and when you go through it. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know. You could get some essentially free coaching if I answer your question, because, yes, I'll answer you wherever you ask me, but I'll probably end up doing a podcast episode about it and extrapolate. So you just let me know if you have any questions, and that goes for anything on the podcast here too. So wonderful, my friend.

Haley:

Let's dive in to the main course how the vagus nerve stimulation impacts digestion and mental health. If you are not yet familiar with the vagus nerve, it is the longest cranial nerve in the body, so it goes from your brain and into your large intestine. That's a long way. It covers a lot of ground in your body. The vagus nerve is involved in essential body functions, so that will be your digestion, your mood, your speech, your breathing. There are so many areas of the body that the vagus nerve touches and is so, so, so important in our overall health and mental wellness. So important, and I'm so glad that it's now getting more attention, because I think that it's been something that's it's just been overlooked right, it's been overlooked, and vagus nerve stimulation has shown to be a complementary modality for many physical and mental health concerns, and a lot of physical and mental health concerns have digestive issues that accompany those right, I know so, so so many people that have digestive issues who also have mental health concerns like anxiety, depression. A lot of the time it's just normalized, right, and it's so normalized that you don't even think about it, that there's something you can do. There are these exercises that you can do to help your body get into a more relaxed state.

Haley:

So I can't remember how much we've talked about the nervous system on the podcast at the moment, but if you, I know we've talked a little bit about rest and digest and fight and flight states in our bodies. So if we're in the fight and flight stage in the body, our nervous system is activated, our body is primed and ready to go to react. So I use the bear example. So if the bear pops out of the trees, I'm like, oh shit, my body is active, it is in the fight and flight mode and sometimes it can lead to freeze, but that's a separate conversation. Rest and digest and so that is when our body is ready to eat, it's ready to digest our foods because we are in a more relaxed state, our body has calmed down, there are digestive juices flowing, our hunger and fullness cues, they're like on point. And when we're in that fight and flight stage, that doesn't really happen. It's not to say that you can't get hungry and whatever, because there's varying degrees of nervous system activation. It's not well, you're here or you're here, on one end, total shutdown, right.

Haley:

There's many in between stages and throughout your days, throughout your weeks and your years just your whole lifetime you're going to move through different stages and that is important to know because, depending on how activated you are, like if you are chronically stressed, you could be spending more time in fight, and like if you are chronically stressed, you could be spending more time in fight and flight when you are chronically stressed. And when you are chronically stressed, usually there's some anxiety. A lot of times there's depression as well and digestive issues go along with that. I don't know if you've ever ran track, but I know a lot of track runners. So when I was in high school, and before the race they'd get really anxious and most people would say, oh my gosh, I'm so nervous, I have to go to the bathroom, like I have to go right now, and so they would plan for that before their races, right? So if you're a runner or have ever known one, you might be familiar with that, and I mean that goes for anything that makes you a little bit nervous and just in everyday life.

Haley:

So, like I said, I come across this quite often where somebody is anxious and then they're like oh my gosh, my stomach is just so not doing well and it's just so not doing well, I am not feeling good today, and we all know what that is. They're having loose stools, right. It can disrupt your everyday life, like, say you're traveling, say you are out with friends, and that keeps happening. Right, it is not something that is fun and it can actually decrease your quality of life. And to make this point, we'll look at anxiety and depression. So about 60% of individuals with anxiety and depression experience gastrointestinal disturbances, like IBS, which is irritable bowel syndrome. So they experience stomach issues and we know that stress makes these symptoms worse. And the studies also show that those with irritable bowel syndrome frequently experience anxiety and depression in addition to those gastrointestinal symptoms like diarrhea, constipation, the abdominal pain that comes along with it and then also bloating.

Haley:

So when we stimulate the vagus nerve, it can be beneficial to the brain as well as your digestive system, as well as your gut. When your vagus nerve is stimulated to turn on the rest and digest, it can even improve sleep quality, and if you've been around here, you know that your sleep quality also affects your mental health and digestion and the foods you choose to eat during the day, right, if you don't sleep well, you're going to crave certain foods which are high in sugar, sometimes high in fat. The sugar one is the one that I see most common in people. But, yeah, your brain is like hey, I didn't sleep well, give me energy. And so what does it look for? It looks for sugar, so so I digress. What does it mean to stimulate the vagus nerve? And then, how can we also like, how do we stimulate a nerve that runs from the brain all the way down to the large intestine?

Haley:

It seems like a really weird I will say weird task and also daunting, but it is possible to stimulate the vagus nerve with various exercises that you can do from home. They're super easy to learn. I have been doing vagus nerve exercises for probably four years or so at this point. It's been a while and they have been insanely helpful for me. So the exercises can help improve the health of your vagus nerve, so that vagal tone that is, strengthening the connection between your gut and your brain, which reduces your digestive symptoms. So we're going to talk a little bit more about the vagus nerve and how these vagal nerves impact the gut. By the end of our chat today you are going to learn how to stimulate your vagus nerve for improved digestion and gut health, as well as benefiting your mental health. It's going to benefiting your mental health. It's going to improve your mental health over time. It's not to say that you do one vagus nerve exercise and, oh my gosh, all my problems are gone. I mean it can happen in terms of um, like relaxing you enough for for digesting a certain meal, but in general, this is a practice just like journaling, just like healthy eating, exercising that you do continuously over time.

Haley:

So before we dive into the exercises, we need to talk more about the parasympathetic nervous system and vagal nerves. The vagus nerve and parasympathetic nervous system are really important parts of our body's autonomic nervous system. So that is the. I like to think of it as the automatic nervous system. It's just working in the background all the time. And the autonomic nervous system is working together with the sympathetic nervous system, which is our fight or flight. So the parasympathetic to go backwards a little bit is our rest and digest. So the autonomic system nervous system works together with the fight or flight and with the rest and digest branches of our nervous system, as well as the enteric nervous system, which is the nervous system that lies in our gut, which most people don't know about, and this autonomic nervous system controls a lot of those automatic processes in the body. Examples of the body processes that are controlled by the autonomic nervous system are heart rate, blood pressure, your breathing, digestion, even sexual arousal are controlled by the autonomic nervous system. And so the autonomic nervous system to make this really simple, if I have confused anyone is that like, if you think of it as a hierarchy, almost it's not a hierarchy, but if we're visualizing it here, at the very top we've got our autonomic nervous system and then we'll think of three branches coming down from that. So one branch is the sympathetic, the next branch is the parasympathetic and the next branch is the enteric nervous system. So all three of those pieces that we talked about are controlled through the autonomic nervous system. So when we're looking at the main nerves of the parasympathetic or the rest and digest nervous system branch, we are looking at the network of nerves that control digestion and other processes like going to the bathroom, sweating.

Haley:

So the vagal nerve allows the gut and the brain to communicate with each other. So this is the gut-brain connection, or the gut-brain access. So your brain is sending signals down into your gut, your gut is sending signals up to your brain. This is one way how they communicate. They communicate in other ways as well, but we won't get into that today. So this can also be known as, like the gut-brain crosstalk. I don't hear it called that very often. This can also be known as the gut-brain crosstalk. I don't hear it called that very often. Usually I hear it as the gut-brain access or the gut-brain connection. So if the gut and the brain aren't communicating as they should communicate, that's when we can have those digestive symptoms come up. And, based on studies, if there are disruptions in this talk between the gut and the brain, this is also thought to contribute to the development of some of those diagnosable gastrointestinal disorders like IBS, gerd, so the gastroesophageal reflux disease. I know nobody actually calls it that. So, yes, that is really important to take into consideration.

Haley:

It's estimated that the vagus nerve makes up about 75% of the parasympathetic nervous system. So when you engage in activities that either manually or electrically stimulate the vagus nerve, you are activating your rest and digest branch of the nervous system. So that parasympathetic branch and, of course, if you're activating the rest and digest branch of the nervous system, you're helping your body to relax and you're helping your body to digest. So in my experience and the experience of folks I work with, when the vagus nerve is stimulated, is stimulated, your body often experiences a I don't know. For me it feels like a wave of relaxation, just like a wave of calm. Sometimes it's a yawn, sometimes it's a sigh. Most of the time for me it's a yawn. That is the most common one for me and that just signals to me oh okay, this is working, this is working and you can feel it in your body working most of the time. And so when we also stimulate the vagus nerve, we are calming the sympathetic nervous system. So we're turning up the rest and digest and we're calming the fight and flight, which reduces the stress and reduces anxiety, and it also improves digestive issues like abdominal pain, diarrhea. So when we are calming the sympathetic nervous system and reducing the stress and anxiety, we're also, of course, reducing cortisol, which can then help us even sleep better and helps us regulate our hunger better, and it can even help with weight management, which, if somebody is chronically stressed this is a very common thing that I see is difficulty losing weight and also gaining weight, which can be very, very, very frustrating for folks. So now that we've covered more of the biology of the vagus nerve and the digestive system a little bit that gut-brain access let's talk about vagus nerve exercises for digestion.

Haley:

Let's look at the vagal tone a little bit. I know I've mentioned it a couple times and haven't went into it yet. So vagal tone is referring to the activity of the vagus nerve and it's almost like an indicator, a gauge if you will, to how the vagus nerve is functioning and regulating your internal body functions. And when I talk about the internal body functions, just remember that we're talking about those autonomic functions like heart rate, digestion, calmness overall and breathing, those things. So if you have a high vagal tone, that can indicate that there is strong healthy activity of the vagus nerve which is correlated with better stress resilience, so you're better able to deal and manage with your stress and it doesn't consume you and like knock you out. High vagal tone also is correlated with reduced anxiety and improved digestion. On the other hand, if you have low vagal tone, it can be associated with higher stress levels and lower stress resiliency. It's correlated with anxiety and those digestive issues.

Haley:

Maintaining a high vagal tone is really important for your overall mental wellness because it assists your body's ability to get into that rest and digest stage and also to respond more calmly and with more resilience to stress. So vagal tone can actually be measured. We're not going to go into that today, but just know for this conversation that vagal tone is a way to get insight into how that vagus nerve is functioning in your body, and when you are improving vagal tone, you are improving the gut-brain connection, which just does wonders for your health. I will say that it is crucial. It is a crucial, crucial, crucial component of nutrition and mental wellness in general. So let's talk about the five vagus nerve exercises that can improve your gut brain access and reduce those symptoms of anxiety and depression and also improve your gut health, which we know is highly correlated to anxiety and depression. Poor gut health is just. It's correlated with so many conditions health conditions and yeah, today of course you know me we're talking more about the mental health aspects.

Haley:

So first we have our diaphragmatic breathing. That's a big word. What does that even mean? So diaphragmatic breathing is a style of deep breathing that activates your parasympathetic, rest and digest branch of the nervous system and that improves your vagal tone. Vagal tone, as we talked about. One way to measure it is heart rate variability. Again, we won't dive into that today, but just know that this diaphragmatic breathing can improve your heart rate variability, which is an indication of improved vagal tone.

Haley:

And we can breathe anywhere at any time and there's many ways to do this breathing. It has a nearly instant effect on your physical and mental health. So we know that breathing is an automatic process in the body and you're probably thinking okay, haley, I know how to breathe. I know how to breathe, haley. And to that I say you might actually not know how to breathe as well as you think you do, unless you have been practicing breathwork and, as a yoga teacher who has studied in breathwork, there are a lot of different ways to breathe and most people, when you start teaching them, do not know how to breathe properly.

Haley:

We mostly breathe out of our chest, which is not a full diaphragmatic breath. We end up breathing in other ways for various reasons trauma, all the things stress. If you are taking a full diaphragmatic breath, your belly is expanding and then contracting, and it's not only expanding outward, like in front of you, if you wrap open your hands, kind of like in a C position. Wrap your hands around your rib cage. You should feel, when you breathe, even your rib cage expanding to the sides and backwards as well as forwards, right. It's also very helpful sometimes when you put a hand on your belly and then one on your chest and you can feel your belly expanding. So practice those to get a feeling of what a true diaphragmatic breath feels like, that deep belly breath where you can actually see and feel your abdomen expanding and contracting. So this is what diaphragmatic breathing is.

Haley:

And there was a study that showed that diaphragmatic breathing can improve sustained attention, reduce negativity like a negative state of being, personality in a way, negative affect right and then lower cortisol levels. So it lowers our stress levels to breathe properly. How incredible is that? Like, just think how big of an impact that could have potentially on your life. And there was another study that showed that six weeks of deep breathing could enhance vagal activity and reduce symptoms associated with constipation, predominant IBS, so that your irritable bowel syndrome and for folks who are mostly on the constipation end of the IBS spectrum.

Haley:

And I did have somebody that asked me hey, I am so amazed at the information you have written in this blog post, the information put all of my intuitive thoughts together, and that this person is going to start doing these exercises today. They did ask do you have an opinion regarding the amount of breaths per feed? So what that means is this person is asking if, when I sit down to eat, how many breaths should I be taking before I eat which is a wonderful question, very wonderful question. And the number of breaths that helps calm your nervous system before eating is going to depend on a lot of individual factors that can change day to day and even meal to meal. So for blanket recommendations, because I cannot give personalized recommendations on a podcast or a blog post, right. So I recommend listening to your intuition and your body's response when you do these deep, deep belly breaths to determine what works for you and, if you're having difficulty with it, work with a professional. So if you resonate with me, I am so happy to help you in this area and, that being said, I have found some general recommendations that seem to help for most people, so I will go ahead and share that.

Haley:

So many folks that I work with find that they feel more relaxed and ready to eat after three to six cycles of breath. So one cycle is an in and out breath. So doing a deep belly breath in and out, either three or six times, and sometimes, if you're really activated, so say you're really extra stressed, maybe you are going through a traumatic situation. This has happened to me in my life before and I just could not eat. I could not eat, not eat, I could not eat, and doing this in that instance would have probably been very, very helpful and may have primed my body to actually be able to keep the food down versus coming back up, which is what happened because my body was so stressed and so not ready to eat. Okay, so if you find that you're in a situation where you need more, again, listen to your body, start with the three cycles of in and out. If you need more work up to six, um, I wouldn't really necessarily go more than 10, unless you need like a full breath work session before you eat. Um, if that's supportive of you amazing, you know you best. So that's supportive of you amazing, you know you best. So that's what I would recommend to start with.

Haley:

If you are looking for exercises and how many to do, as I mentioned, there are many types of breathwork exercises, but those deep belly breaths are easy, really accessible and it's not like weird. If you're out in public you know you can take some deep breaths without being noticed unless you're doing some wild stuff. So the second vagus nerve exercise for digestion is cold water exposure, for digestion is cold water exposure, so it can be quite unpleasant. I know Sometimes I like it, sometimes I hate it, but cold water exposure can do wonders for our vagus nerve and that rest and digest nervous system. It kind of like I don't know, it's kind of shocking in a way. So there was a study that found 15 minutes of cold water immersion, so being in cold water exposure, could decrease the sympathetic response and increase parasympathetic activity. So in other words, it could decrease the fight and flight response of your body and increase that parasympathetic or rest and digest activity.

Haley:

For those of you who are so not fans of cold water exposure, there is some research that says that you don't necessarily have to do a full body cold water plunge to have some of the benefits. So there was a study that found that cold stimulation to the lateral neck area, specifically, so the outside of your neck, could activate the parasympathetic nervous system. You can also if you don't. So if you don't want to take a cold bath, if you don't want to go into your cold plunge or cold river or whatever it is, or your shower, totally fine, it's not for everybody. Please know that. Yes, the neck thing is more accessible for most people. As well as washing your face and neck with cold water, you could also do this by placing a cold pack on the back of your neck. That might really be beneficial to you as well. And finally, a couple other ways to use the cold. Benefit would be to place that cold pack on your chest If you end your shower with a burst of cold water, which can also actually help your hair fun fact for those of you who care about having like soft hair and also, if we're drinking ice water, that can be more stimulating of the vagus nerve.

Haley:

Our next exercise is gargling, humming and singing another fun fact if you have ever been to a doctor which I'm guessing you probably have then you've probably had your gag reflex tested by said doctor and you probably never knew why they do it. But they're testing your gag reflex to test your vagus nerve. Yes, yes, yes, yes. So we know that activating that gag reflex stimulates the vagus nerve and engages the larynx. But of course, that's not our only option to stimulate that vagus nerve, and I actually would not recommend stimulating your gag reflex frequently. Anyway, how can we do that? That is not gagging. One way is to gargle with water, and an easy way to habit stack this, or to pair the gargling with water into your routine so that it's easy to remember and easy to do is to just gargle with water whenever you brush your teeth. That'd be a really great way to stimulate your vagus nerve. The next way is you can hum a tune. So if you're a hummer, then keep on humming, and this is actually benefiting your nervous system and your gut brain access. This one is this.

Haley:

Next one is one of my favorites, which is singing along to your favorite songs. Do I ever do it in front of somebody? Hell, no, but bet your ass, I'm singing when I'm alone, right? So if you enjoy singing along to certain songs, then that can be a really wonderful way to immediately relax your body, because there's some breath work happening when you're singing, right, there's like breath control and it's like a double whammy. I don't know. I just love this one when it's accessible, right? Unless you're a little bit more confident than me, or perhaps a better singer, then sing along whenever you would like, I don't know, it could be your thing. Sing all over.

Haley:

Laughing is another one. So if you're laughing out loud, one of my favorites is actually yawning. So it's I don't want to say forcing, but it's like fake yawning. So when you fake yawn multiple times, it's actually stimulating your vagus nerve, and so this is something that I've taught in like workshops at a hospital system before for the employees, and it was just so funny because then people would come up to me and like tell me about how they were yawning. And yeah, we did this exercise in person and everyone was like, oh my gosh, yes, I feel the wave of calm come over me, and it's not that you've yawned one time and it's this calm wave. Right, it's for me. Sometimes I have to fake yawn multiple times before that happens. I just had the urge to yawn because I'm saying yawn so much, so I hope that by this point, you've yawned from me saying yawn. Okay.

Haley:

The next one is that you can stimulate the vagus nerve by chanting. So OM is one that we do in yoga. Chanting so om is one that we do in yoga and that can be really helpful if you'd like videos to follow, follow along with for chanting and it's. You can chant other things as well, but that is one that actually does help calm the body, stimulate the vagus nerve. There are YouTube videos. Just go and type it in chanting and you'll find some sort of video to follow along with if you would like. Otherwise, you can chant all sorts of things. You find what you like to chant. I'm going to throw in here that yoga, meditation and, of course, more breath work exercises. More deep breathing exercises also stimulate the vagus nerve, which just add a little like 5, 10, 15 minute yoga to your practice at some, to your practice to your day at some point. Practice it regularly. That is going to help improve your vagal tone and vagus nerve.

Haley:

The next one is interval training and Tai Chi. So, yes, interval training and Tai Chi are vagus nerve stimulation exercises. We know that exercise improves mental health and well-being, but exercise can also be beneficial to our vagal tone and our vagus nerve. So there was one study that showed that vagal nerve activity increased significantly after moderate intensity interval training. There was another study that found that Tai Chi exercise and in this study it was specifically in patients with cardiovascular disease, so heart disease, that the Tai Chi could improve their heart rate variability and vagal tone, which is really awesome.

Haley:

There was another study that looked at the effects of mild exercise on vagal nerve regulation in rats. So just, this is a rat study. This is not a human study and you need to be aware of that. And so it's interesting information though, and we can see how it could translate into humans. And so researchers found that after mild physical activity, the vagus nerve, which then put the body into rest and digest, which of course increases the gastric juices and the ability of the stomach to process the food and also motility, so that just means that the food is moving through the body. So when we extrapolate this concept into humans, it could suggest that the mild physical activity could enhance the gastrointestinal tract, so your gut's ability to process food and absorb nutrients from food, because it's in that rest and digest stage, it's not activated in the sympathetic response.

Haley:

And this is also really cool and important information, because vitamin deficiencies can also negatively affect our mental health and digestion and, of course, our overall well-being, and this includes deficiencies in vitamin B, vitamin D and choline. I have resources on that on the blog. I am hoping to do episodes in the future on those topics as well, so look out for those. But if you're interested right now and want to look more into vitamin B, d and choline and how that influences your mental health, go ahead, visit the blog. The link is going to be in the show note with those particular blog posts. And our fifth and final vagus nerve exercise for digestion is one of my favorites mindful eating. I also have a blog post on intuitive eating and mental health, so I'll link that. So if you remember from that blog post, if you've read it or if you just know a little bit about mindful and intuitive eating.

Haley:

But our eating habits, like overeating or not eating enough, can either support our mental health or be more harmful to it, right? If we're not eating enough, it can be harmful for our mental health. If we're overeating, that can be harmful to our mental health. And so eating mindfully is really really important and is, in my opinion, equally as important as eating intuitively, especially when it comes to vagus nerve stimulation. And yes, there are differences between mindful and intuitive eating. If you are somebody who is confused about the two, again, I'm not going to go into intuitive eating and intuitive eating. If you are somebody who is like confused about the two, again, I'm not going to go into intuitive eating and mindful eating on this episode. If that's something you'd like to know more about, send me a message. I would love to answer your questions or go deeper into it on future episodes, if that's something you'd like to learn more about it on future episodes, if that's something you'd like to learn more about.

Haley:

So what is mindful eating? Mindful eating is the practice of staying present with ourselves while we are eating, just like mindfulness, being in the present moment. And so one way this can look, because mindful eating looks different for every single person. Sometimes mindful eating might look like eating in a busy environment for somebody, because that helps them focus on their food, and in another instance, somebody might be way too overstimulated in a busy environment, say a restaurant, that's like loud or whatever and so then that person cannot eat. So it's all about knowing you in your body, and I just want to bring that up because mindful eating can sometimes be referred to as like an ableist practice, like an ableist way of eating, that only non-neurodivergent people can practice mindful eating, and I just want to dispel that myth right now. Everyone can practice mindful eating, but it's going to look different for everyone and mindfulness and mindful eating is not ableism in my personal and professional experience, so I digress.

Haley:

The practice of staying present is mindful eating while if we're doing it, while we're eating food, and so that can look like looking at our five senses, whatever senses are available to you. So maybe it's how the food looks, maybe it's how it tastes, how it smells, maybe it's how it sounds when you bite into, like, say, a carrot. It's gonna be different for everyone again, but paying attention to those senses can be just one part of mindful eating. And so when we are eating mindfully, versus being distracted and just totally unaware of what we're doing, mindful eating can reduce stress and it activates that rest and digest state and some of this has to do with, like us, seeing our food and actually being present with it, which, of course, improves our digestive function. If we are activating the rest and digest state of being Mindful, eating can also help folks to chew their food more thoroughly, which also helps with digestion, avoid overeating and actually like being able to pause and say, do I want to continue eating, versus just automatically shoving food in your mouth right Because it's sitting in front of you and it tastes good, or maybe it tastes bad and you're still just eating it, I don't know. And so mindful eating is really, really beneficial and it's one of, like, the cornerstones of the work that I do with people, as well as mindfulness.

Haley:

But mindful eating is a very important branch, of course, in the work I do as a functional registered dietitian, and so if you want to harness the power of mindful eating with your breathing that even gives your vagus nerve like a double dose of love at your meals, it's going to be extra powerful for you, extra rest and digest for you if you combine those two things At least I hope. Because just know that all of these exercises take practice. It is going to be more beneficial the more often you do it and the better you get at doing that thing. So, say, you're having trouble with the deep breaths. Then, oh my gosh, you could get frustrated and say, oh, it's not working. I tried to do a deep breath and I did it three times and it didn't work for me, haley. Well, you probably haven't tried it enough and you might not be doing it quite right. So just know that it takes practice, and the more you do it, the easier it's going to get to put your body into a rest and digest state, not only when it comes to meal times, but anytime, like literally anytime. You can use that diaphragmatic breathing If you're super stressed at work and you need a minute to calm your body because you feel your heart rate going up and you feel yeah, you feel the stress.

Haley:

I know you can feel it. If you're here and you're a human, I know that you have probably experienced this stress at some point in your life, and so, just if you have an office or a break room, going into there and taking a few deep breaths, go into the bathroom if you need to do it I don't know Wherever you are take a few deep breaths and get your body back into a more calm state of being, where then you can actually access the parts of your brain to make better decisions, and it'll calm you down and you'll just feel so much better. That was one of the lessons I very much had to learn was how to calm my body in times of stress, because I was just honestly, I lived in a state of chronic stress and anxiety. It was so bad. It was so so bad. If you've heard my story, you know at least parts of how bad it was right. So I hope this chat about the five vagus nerve exercises for digestion was really helpful to you.

Haley:

If you have any questions, feel free to let me know. Send me a message. There's a link in the show notes. You can also email me. I would love to hear your thoughts, your questions, all the things. If you would like more support in your nutrition, in building those lifestyle habits to support your mental health and overall mental wellness, I would love to support you on your mental wellness journey. So feel free to also book a mental wellness breakthrough session If you're not quite sure. If you want to do coaching yet, send me a message and we can set up a time to chat. If you have some questions before you want to dive in, happy to hop on a call with you.

Haley:

Wonderful, my friend. I hope you have a fantastic week. I hope you're having an incredible day. I am so glad to be chatting with you again. I missed you last week and I cannot wait for the weeks to come. I will see you on the next Unforged episode. My friend, thank you for listening to Unforged. You can find all resources and links from this episode in the show notes at thefulfilledforkcom forward slash podcast. If you enjoyed the episode, we'd love if you'd send it to a friend and rate and review the show on either Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Then email us a screenshot of your review to howdy at the fulfilled forkcom for a one-time credit to use towards our wellness services at the fulfilled fork Chat soon.

People on this episode

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Haley Schroth, RDN, LD, CPT, RYT, CMWC

Host