Getting Sciency about the Vagus Nerve

Unlock the secrets of your body's ultimate key to calm and connection! Join me, Emily, as we journey into the intricate world of the vagus nerve and discover its profound impact on our well-being. Inspired by the illuminating book "Accessing the Vagus Nerve," I'll unravel the fascinating polyvagal theory proposed by Dr. Stephen Porges. Together, we'll navigate the branches of the vagus nerve that link our brain with vital organs, influencing everything from heart rate to our emotional and social interactions. Get ready to explore the wonders of the autonomic nervous system and learn how understanding the dorsal and ventral branches can empower you to manage stress and enhance your overall wellness.

Feel the science come alive as we dissect how the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems orchestrate our body's response to life's challenges. The polyvagal theory reveals the complex dance between these systems, affecting our fight-or-flight responses and our ability to rest and connect. I'll share actionable tips and heartening stories to guide you in using vagus nerve resets and natural remedies to restore balance and take charge of your health. Embrace this transformative journey with me and discover how the power of the vagus nerve can light up your path to a more connected, calm, and fulfilling life.

Transcript

Emily : 0:00

Welcome to. It Starts at Vega, the podcast where holistic health meets modern living. I'm Emily, your guide to unlocking the power of the vagus nerve, which is your body's ultimate key to calm, connection and overall well-being. Together, we'll explore simple ways to nourish your mind and body with natural remedies, actionable tips and empowering stories. Whether you're here to reduce stress, restore balance or take charge of your health, you're in the right place, because wellness doesn't just happen. It starts at Vegas.

Emily : 0:34

Let's dive in, let's get science-y today. I'm really excited for today because this is how everything started unfolding for me and started making connections, and I really started getting a passion for the vagus nerve and started using vagus nerve resets and started sharing it with people, because it just lit a light bulb up for me. So let's go ahead and start talking about it. So what is the polyvagal nerve theory? I got it from a book called Accessing the Vagus Nerve and it just again light bulbs, and that's by. The polyvagal theory is by Dr Stephen Korgas I hope I pronounced his name right but the poly part. That means that there's more than one. So the polyvagal nerve theory involves that there's more than one nerve. Now I know what you're thinking it's all about the vagus nerve. So how can we have more than one? And what happens is that the polyvagus nerve theory talks about different branches of the vagus nerve and, if you remember me saying that, the vagus nerve is a longest cranial nerve and it wanders all over. So because of that, it does have branches. So therefore it's the polyvagal nerve theory. I love it. I think it connects so many dots and I'm excited to share it with you.

Emily : 2:13

So the vagus nerve is part of the parasympathetic nervous system and there's the sympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system is, I always think, scary sympathetic, and that's how I connect the two With the sympathetic. You're nervous, you're scared, you're calm, you feel better typically, but we'll kind of get into that. So it looks more like everything's calm. But because that there's more than one vagus nerve branch, they're kind of divided into categories. The main two that we're going to talk about are the dorsal and the ventral, and they're responsible for the different responses in the nervous system. So, going a little farther than that, we've got the autonomic nervous system and that's just your automatic stuff, the things that you don't have to think about breathing, your heart rate, things that just go without focusing. And that's a really good thing because if we had to worry about breathing and our heart rate all day, not to mention all the other things, we wouldn't make it. So it's a good thing to have that autonomic nervous system and then again from there, because it's automatic, you've got the sympathetic, that's scary, the fight or flight or the rest, and digest.

Emily : 3:59

Parasympathetic, where everything settles down. The vagus nerve kind of connects the brain and the body together. It links the brain between organs like your heart and your lungs, your gut, how your heart rate is regulated, how your emotions are regulated, and that plays a big part with the vagus nerve. And then that all connects to key social connections. When that ventral vagal branch, so the ventral part of the vagus nerve, feels safe and calm, it's ready to interact, you're ready to interact with people, you feel more social, you feel like you connect to people and that you're not withdrawing and hiding. So, like I said, this polyvagal theory it's by Dr Steven Porges Again, I hope I say his name right he just breaks it down into that ventral, the sympathetic or the dorsal part of the nervous system. So when the ventral part of your vagus nerve, when it's active, you feel calm, connected and socially engaged Again, you want to talk to people, and then you've got your fight or flight, which is activated when you're scared, you feel in danger, your body starts getting tense, your heart goes up, you start becoming alert all those things really important for survival but can become a problematic when it becomes chronic and we don't calm down.

Emily : 5:45

And then there's the dorsal part of the vagus nerve and that is a response to extreme threat, resulting where you just freeze and emotionally that's where you start becoming numb or disassociated with everybody. You don't want to be in social gatherings, you want to just hide in your bed with a pillow and a blanket and just like hide from the world. And sometimes you're able to kind of overcome that, but deep down inside you're like I just want to hide from everything. I'll go to work because I have to, but I don't feel good doing it. So that is when the dorsal part of your vagus nerve starts taking over.

Emily : 6:36

But the dorsal one I feel like is with a lot of clients that I see where they just feel so threatened, their body just feels like in survival mode, they just get exhausted, and that's resulting from that freeze state in your nervous system and though today we don't have that like lion chasing us. What we do have are those deadlines, the clock where we have to be somewhere, the fighting, the traffic, all those things where we start disassociating. And this is where I feel like it's a little tricky, because, and when you are functionable but have that chronic stress, you sometimes look to the naked eye, you look like you're calm and collected, but really internally you are just a disaster. You're just ready to crumble and fall apart. And that's what I see a lot with my clients that come in for anxiety resets, that they're so disassociated but to somebody walking in who doesn't know them, they're like, yeah, that person looks calm, but in reality they are so anxious that their body just says shut down, function. Enough to feel like you're in survival state, that you want to survive, but not enough to where you can enjoy yourself. And that is the one that I really focus on helping people break that cycle with their.

Emily : 8:21

I'm feeling physically safe in my office. So if you have a spot in your home where you feel physically safe, make that a sanctuary, so when you come in it's calming to you. And that's why they say don't bring work into your bedroom, like don't put your office in your bedroom because you start associating work with that room when it should be a sanctuary. So that really helps when you find and pick a room that you feel safe in. And I say safe and I don't mean, like you know, hiding from an abuser or something like that. What I mean by safe is somewhere that you feel you can just be yourself and, you know, drop the worries of the day. Maybe you need to journal and write those out so they get out of your head. Or paint or do something artistic so creatively you can awaken that part of you and relax and start finding and feeling like yourself again. Because then that dorsal vagus nerve, that shutdown feeling, will settle down and the ventral part of your vagus nerve, that safe and social part, that will get activated. And that's ultimately what we want. We want you to feel like yourself, we want you to feel calm and enjoying life and not just in survival mode. So kind of all.

Emily : 9:57

Recaptioning the vagus nerve affects our emotional regulation. It helps manage stress, the anxiety, trauma. It does all of that. And then it works on your physical health, supports digestion, lowers inflammation that's a big one for a lot of my clients and it maintains heart health and then it brings it back to that social connection where you can start feeling like you can foster and support those relationships in your life. Especially as women, that is extremely important to find the ladies that you love being around and that you feel supported to be with, because then that'll create calmness and when you do have a problem or a situation, you know that you have people to rely on. That social connection really is important for ladies. It's important for men too, but especially important for ladies.

Emily : 10:55

So obviously I go back to that vagus nerve reset Again. It's in my show notes. If you want to watch the video for that I'll go right to your email. But there are other ways to support it. We can do deep breathing. That helps. You can hum. Humming is a great vibration in your neck and that's kind of an area where that vagus nerve is. You can do lots of movement. Movement is good. Go ahead and dance, just dance around, move, wiggle. Awaken that silly child in you where you don't have to feel so serious. You can just be goofy that is also helpful which brings us to laughing and socializing with others.

Emily : 11:42

We need that to lift our spirits, we need that to feel good. We need that to support the vagus nerve so that we can feel social, so we can feel calm, so we don't feel so deflated. And that is really my desire for people. I want people to feel happy and ready just to enjoy life, because it's so amazing, it's a lot of fun. So I hope that you enjoy this moment and I will see you in the next episode. Thanks for listening to. It Starts at Vagus. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next. And if you're ready to take the next step toward calm, grab my free Vagus Nerve Reset video in the show notes. It's quick and easy way to start feeling better today and until next time, remember, wellness starts at Vagus.