Vagus Nerve and Anxiety: Your Secret Weapon for Anxiety Relief

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The vagus nerve is truly a superpower within your body, especially when it comes to anxiety as it can counteract your fight/flight system and be activated to induce calm during or after an episode of anxiety or a panic attack. A healthy vagus nerve function also allows you to feel calmer, clearer and more compassionate on a regular basis, amongst many other things that boost your mental health and wellbeing. By learning how your vagus nerve and anxiety go hand-in-hand, you can start working with your nervous system instead of feeling trapped by it.

What is the Vagus Nerve?

The vagus nerve is the longest cranial nerve in the body, connecting your brain to various parts of your body ranging from your head to your toe. It performs four primary functions: sensory, special sensory, motor, and parasympathetic.

Your parasympathetic nervous system is a network of nerves that help relax your body after periods of stress or danger. For example, when your brain detects a threat, it initiates the fight or flight response through the sympathetic nervous system. On the other hand, the parasympathetic nervous system functions as its counterpart, working to bring a sense of calmness and relaxation. Once the danger has passed, such as being safely pulled out of harm’s way, the parasympathetic nervous system kicks in, signaling that the distress is over and it’s time to rest.

Vagus Nerve and Anxiety

To understand your vagus nerve and anxiety, it can help to know the makeup of this powerful nerve. Your vagus nerve has dorsal and ventral parts, with the dorsal being in the back and the ventral being in the front. During periods of neuroception, when your neural circuits are determining whether situations or people are safe, dangerous, or life threatening, danger activates the dorsal and safety cues activate the ventral.

By learning vagus nerve stimulation, you can activate the ventral parts of  your vagus nerve when you’re experiencing anxiety to activate calmness and relaxation. This also allows you to respond more mindfully, as you are able to cultivate a greater sense of awareness and make conscious choices in your actions and reactions. Put all of this together and using agus nerve stimulation can help you maintain a balanced, calm state of being enriched with mindfulness and intention.

But that’s not all; with vagus nerve stimulation you can also:

• Ignite a sense of care and concern for yourself and others: People with a strong vagal nerve function experience greater compassion and love for others. They’re the ones who are more likely to step in and stand up against bullies or willingly sacrifice their time to help someone else.
• Manage stress and fears: The vagus nerve not only plays a vital role in managing fears but also contributes to your overall response to stress and anxiety. It helps facilitate the “gut feeling” when something feels off or dangerous, helping you navigate and cope with stressful, anxiety-inducing, and fearful situations.
• Regulate your emotions: Studies have found that a healthy vagus nerve function enhances a person’s ability to recognize emotions, allowing for stronger emotional regulation.

Triggers That Disrupt a Healthy Vagus Nerve Function

It’s important to recognize the triggers that can disrupt your vagus nerve function, so you know when to activate your vagus nerve for an extra boost of calmness, relaxation and emotional support.

There are various triggers that can disrupt a healthy vagus nerve function, such as:

• Emotional stress
• Fear
• Having bloodwork done or seeing blood
• Heat
• Hunger
• Gastrointestinal illnesses
• Pain
• Standing for a long period of time
• Standing up too quickly
• Trauma
• Viral infections

Vagus Nerve Location

To harness the benefits your vagus nerve has to offer, you need to first know where to find the vagus nerve location. The vagus nerve runs from the brain to the abdomen. It runs down the left side and right side of your neck. These are the areas you’ll want to focus on when using vagus nerve stimulation.

Benefits of Vagus Nerve Stimulation

The health and balance of your vagus nerve is crucial for both your physical and mental health and wellbeing. When your vagus nerve function is out of balance, it can potentially impact various aspects of your health. However, the good news is that you can maintaining a healthy vagus nerve or taking the steps to stimulate and improve the function of your vagus nerve can produce many powerful benefits, such as:

• Cultivate more compassion
• Minimize seizures in those with epilepsy
• Treat depression
• Regulate your emotions
• Increase feelings of calmness
• Lower your heart rate – particularly helpful during an anxiety attack
• Reduce inflammation
• Minimize headaches and migraines
• Decrease blood pressure
• Reduce symptoms of chronic depression
• Boost immune system
• Induce relaxation to combat anxiety
• Treat PTSD

How to Stimulate Your Vagus Nerve At Home

Not only can you use vagus nerve stimulation to help in times of high stress and anxiety, but you can also learn how to maintain a healthy vagus nerve function so it works even without activation. We have a complete list of ways to activate your vagus nerve. In the meantime, here are some simple ways you can stimulate your vagus nerve to get it working properly or to induce calmness and relaxation during times of high stress and anxiety:

• Truvaga Vagus Nerve Stimulation Device (Save $10 on any order with code Nerve10)
• Deep breathing
• Meditation
• Exercise
• Massage
• Listening to music
• Singing, humming, chanting and gargling
• Dancing
• Cold water therapy
• Probiotics
• A healthy diet
• Socializing and laughing

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Vagus Nerve Infographics

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Chantal McCulligh

Owner at Anxiety Gone

Chantal is the heart and soul behind our mental health and wellness community, serving as the beloved Editor-in-Chief. Her journey into the world of mental health is deeply personal, stemming from their own battles with panic disorder. This personal connection fuels her passion for making mental health discussions more accessible, relatable, and free of stigma.

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