How to Stimulate the Vagus Nerve: 8 Exercises for Calm

Your brainstem, neck, and belly are all connected by the vagus nerve. Its primary job is to control your heart and breathing rates as well as digestion. When it's active, it will reduce your body's physiological reaction to stress, helping you to feel calmer. The good news, then? You can perform particular exercises to stimulate your vagus nerve.

To play the game of avoiding stress is impossible. Since stress is so common, how you handle it has the greatest impact on your wellbeing. Therefore, vagus nerve stimulation can be a technique you employ whenever you need to unwind.

Think about what happens when your sympathetic nervous system is activated: perhaps you're in traffic, you just got a bad email, you're feeling overworked at work, or you just got into a dispute with your partner or a friend. You can tap into a healthier mental state and improve your physical health when you use workouts that signal your brain and body that everything is fine.
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There are various ways to activate the vagus nerve, and they can be enjoyable, peaceful, or work with your existing daily routines. You can choose the ones that you now require or that resonate with you. The vagus nerve exercises listed below should be performed for a total of five minutes every day.
Physical Vagus Nerve Stimulation

• Gargling: When brushing your teeth in the morning and evening, gargle with water. Aim for between 30 and 60 seconds.
• Singing: Play your favorite song and start belting it out, regardless of your ability to carry a tune.
• Om-ing: The same om that is used during yoga practice, yes. Chant a long "om" while seated quietly. Around your ears, there should be a vibration that originates from the vagus nerve.
• Laughing: Laughing out loud when watching a hilarious TV show or movie. Or, to get in an extra nice chuckle, get together with that friend you always have fun with.

Psychological Vagus Nerve Stimulation

• Writing down three things you're grateful for, no matter how large or small, before you go to sleep or as soon as you wake up is called gratitude journaling.
• You can practice deep breathing by using the "Box Breath." Hold your breath for four counts when inhaling and holding it for four counts while exhaling. Repeat as often as necessary.
• "Contemplative techniques," such as meditation and yoga, have been discovered to induce peace, in part via activating the vagus nerve. Meditating can take numerous forms and need not be time-consuming or lengthy.
• Exposing yourself to beautiful things, such as a sunset, time spent in nature, lovely images, or playing with your pets: Positive emotions, which can manifest in a variety of ways depending on the individual, have been proven to boost vagal tone and contribute to physical wellness.

Exercises for the vagus nerve also help you have more vagal tone, which affects how well you can handle stress and how quickly you can recover from it.

Have any of these exercises been attempted by you? Which has been most effective for you?

Source: https://www.parsleyhealth.com/blog/how-to-stimulate-vagus-nerve-exercises/ 

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