Activate Your Vagus Nerve: Unleash Your Body’s Natural Ability to Overcome Gut Sensitivities, Inflammation, Autoimmunity, Brain Fog, Anxiety and Depression

by Navaz Habib

And, if a wire is frayed, the signal will not be sent strongly and

may dissipate and weaken before it gets to the brain.

Any damage to these Schwann cells can actually lead to “fraying” of the insulation and ineffective signaling along the nerve.

This rate of myelination remains approximately the same until we reach adolescent age,

when it begins to decline.

Urinary organic acid functional lab testing can help ensure that this process is occurring smoothly and nutrients are present to fulfill these obligations.

egg yolks, soy, and beef, chicken, and turkey livers.

This process ensures that the second requirement of nerve function is fulfilled—release of a neurotransmitter into the space near the desired cell to be effected.

The neurotransmitter is released into the synapse and must be present in high enough quantities to find its way to receptor proteins on the next cell.

Diaphragmatic breathing is the process of using this major muscle rather than accessory muscles for breathing.

Did your belly expand as you took this deep breath or did your shoulders rise to accommodate the expansion of your lungs?

The consistent expansion and contraction of our abdomen is not considered attractive, so we learn to breathe in a different way.

We start to use our accessory muscles for breathing—the backup muscles that are more important and useful during stressful situations.

We are now understanding through research that repetitive motions and muscle training actually have a greater effect on the signaling nerves than on the muscle itself.

The important factor to take away from this is that we can train nerves to signal more efficiently and improve their function.

if we do not train a specific type of muscle or nerve, the function of that nerve becomes dysfunctional and slow.

This less efficient nerve signaling is the first step of nerve dysfunction and dysfunction of a specific...

The phrenic nerve has not been trained to breathe correctly, as we don’t generally use our diaphragms to breathe with our bellies.

Another symptom of incorrect breathing patterns is the inability to control stress levels.

Those who feel chronically overwhelmed by emotional and physical stressors often have very poor breathing habits.

Those with poor vagal tone tend not to be able to control their anger, so they will often lash out quickly and raise their voice, altering their breathing patterns toward these shallower and quicker breaths.

The first is dysfunctional posture.

In a slouched posture, it is actually much easier and less painful to breathe using the accessory muscles.

This leads to very slight change in the tension of the cords, and thus, inability to control pitch or tone of voice.

dysfunctional digestive rhythm is directly correlated to vagus nerve dysfunction.

If digestion occurs too quickly (i.e., in less than 10 hours), you are likely dealing with a lack of nutrient absorption, while digestion taking longer than 24 hours is associated with increased toxin build-up, a rise in opportunistic bacteria, and leaky gut.

The taste of each bite is signaled to the brain to determine how

much protein, fat, and carbohydrate is present.

You may have noticed that food actually tastes better when you take your time eating, rather than when you are in a rush.

This is because you are actually taking the time to chew and send signals up to the brain.

People who do this with each meal will actually eat less food than people who eat in a rush, but feel just as satiated and digest thei...

Digestion can only occur in the correct sequence if it is given the right signals from the VN and the proper amount of time for each step to do its part.

emulsifiers and preservatives

Most food products with more than four ingredients listed on the package are likely to be poor options.

This includes the basics like crackers, breakfast cereals, beverages with added sugar or sweeteners, etc.

The good fats in our diet can improve the insulation around these nerves and trigger proper signaling within the vagus nerve itself.

They stimulate the bad, dysbiotic bacteria that lead to cravings for foods we know we shouldn’t eat.

Crops such as corn, soy, canola, cotton, alfalfa, and sugar beets are genetically modified to not be affected by the glyphosate molecule.

But the glyphosate depletes these crops of a very important micronutrient called manganese, which is required for many functions in our bodies.

The effects of glyphosate and low levels of manganese have been linked to many conditions including anxiety, celiac disease, mitochondrial dysfunction, gout, liver damage affecting bile production, arthritis, osteoporosis...

immune dysregulation, and even ...

Manganese is required for certain pathways to function in the brain and a deficiency leads to increased immune activation and high levels of inflammatory cytokine release.

vagus nerve innervates the stomach and sends information back to the brain regarding the amount the stomach has stretched.

The inability to feel full or satiated near the end of a meal is a sign that the vagus is not able to send these signals.

When we do not take the time to rest and digest in the parasympathetic

state, it is nearly impossible for us to regulate our food intake,

The environment in which you eat determines the ability to train your vagus nerve to send these signals to your brain.

loss of diversity in the core microbiota groups is associated with increased frailty.”

Balancing the microbial population in your gut is one of the major steps you can take to ensure that the gut is functioning optimally and that vagus nerve signaling is working as it should be.

Once we are able to test for, determine, and eliminate