Your vagus nerve is the tenth cranial nerve, and it rules over many vital bodily functions: including digestion, heart rate, respiration, and other things including stomach acid production, nausea and anxiety levels. Many times, those who have experienced injuries or trauma have an under-stimulated or over-stimulated vagus nerve. This is also known as vagal dysfunction, and it can contribute to various ailments that will have mild to serious repercussions. Oftentimes, my 1:1 clients who are not aware of the fact that their vagus nerve is playing a significant role in their health situation. When my clients have SIBO especially, the vagus nerve needs to be supported. Nutritional support in conjunction with lifestyle changes (which typically means self care of avoiding harmful activities), are what can contribute to radical improvements in health.

Try to gargle for at least 30 seconds daily.

To help you begin supporting your vagus nerve, here are three daily additions that will take hardly any time, yet can significantly improve your wellbeing. The first tool you can implement is gargling.

Gargling is of course a common suggestion by dentists for oral health, but did you know that through gargling, you are stimulating the vagus nerve? Because this nerve begins in the neck region the act of gargling is very impactful through the strengthening of what is called vagal tone. Vagal tone is defined as: the activity of the vagus nerve, the 10th cranial nerve and a fundamental component of the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. This branch of the nervous system is not under conscious control and is largely responsible for the regulation of several body compartments at rest.

Singing is an amazing way to support the vagus nerve.

The second daily addition that will support your vagus nerve is by singing. Even if you are just a shower singer, incorporating daily singing is an amazing way to support your vagal tone. When singing, try to breathe from your diaphragm instead of from your chest. If you want to take this method of vagus nerve support to the next level, you can even try vocal exercises and warmups, which will stimulate the full range of your vocal chords and overtime, you will notice that you have more strength and control within your vocal range and ability. If you are not much of a singer, you can hum (loudly, if possible) as well, and you will still be stimulating your vagus nerve via your vocal chords.

Alternating nasal breathing is a great way to

support the vagus nerve & calm the mind.

The final, easy addition is to practice alternating nasal breathing. You can do this by:

• Sitting in a comfortable position with your legs crossed

• Placing your left hand on your left knee

• Lift your right hand up toward your nose

• Exhale completely and then use your right thumb to close your right nostril

• Inhale through your left nostril and then close the left nostril with your fingers

• Open the right nostril and exhale through this side

• Inhale through the right nostril and then close this nostril

• Open the left nostril and exhale through the left side

• Continue for up to 5 minutes.

• Tip: aim to complete the practice by finishing with an exhale on the left side

If you are on a mission to support your vagus nerve, then it is also important to know what you can do to avoid vagal nerve damage. Avoiding chronic stress, excess alcohol, c-sections, negative thinking or psychological stress, excess exercise, undernourishment, unnecessary antibiotic usage (or long term usage), the birth control pill and the IUD, and under-sleeping are at the top of the list of things to avoid if you are focusing on supporting the vagus nerve.