The vagus nerve: the key to your well-being.
The vagus nerve is the two-way communicator between your organs and your brain.
Your heart and brain are always communicating and working together via the vagus nerve, to regulate your emotions and your physiology.
Higher heart rate variability improves your self-regulatory capacity. It’s a window to the functioning of your vagus nerve, or what’s called vagal tone. It assesses your vagus nerve’s ability to regulate the beats of your heart, especially when facing demands.
When you have high vagal tone, under stress you won’t be as overwhelmed by your emotions and you will be calmer when challenges arise.
On the other hand, low heart rate variability and low vagal tone is associated with prolonged stress, anxiety, shut-down, depression and emotional dysregulation that continues long after something stressful has ended.
Low heart rate variability and low vagal tone keep you stuck in stress responses that are only meant to be short term, and this takes a toll on your emotional and physical health, but also your personal and professional relationships.
By harnessing the vagus nerve you can improve heart rate variability and build flexibility and resilience in your nervous system. This means your vagus nerve will be able to bring you back to the state where you feel calm, centred and can work on a more even keel.
Neural exercises are powerful, evidence-based ways to improve both your heart rate variability and your vagal tone. Short daily practices that you use in the “heat of the moment” can create powerful shifts to your nervous system. This can help you stay calm under pressure, handle the fear that might be holding you back and can improve how you relate to others when you’re stressed.
As the vagus nerve has a regulating affect on other organs and systems, your physical health also improves. It can help to improve stress related symptoms like digestive issues, chronic pain, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammation, chronic fatigue and migraines.
This becomes even more important following periods of chronic or traumatic stress.
Want to learn more? The Vagus Nerve Masterclass is coming up soon and teaches you the tools and resources to improve heart rate variability and vagal tone.