Control your Vagus Nerve to Improve Gut Health & Anxiety

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If you have symptoms from hiatal hernia or acid reflux causing heart palpitations, anxiety, shortness of breath or more, understanding how to improve your vagus nerve function can really help these conditions.

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The vagus nerve is an incredibly complex cranial nerve traveling to your chest, lungs, diaphragm, heart, the entirety of your gut and most of your organs.

85% of your vagus is sensory, meaning that is "senses" what your organs are experiencing and reacts to it. That sense involves chemical and mechanical factors. Consider excess acid in your stomach or an overfull stomach as an example of each.

The vagus is considered to head up your parasympathetic nervous system which helps you to rest, digest, and relax. Key elements to improve the symptoms addressed above. 

If you're experiencing anxiety, a panic attack or a rapid heart rate, I'm going to describe a tool that can create immediate calm and a lowered heart rate. This tool also improves your HRV (heart rate variabiity), a metric tied to longevity but one that decreases with age unless you keep it toned.

This exercise/tool could not be easier but can create powerful impacts. It's called a physiological sign and I demonstrate it in the video. Best to watch to see it in action. It involves a 2-part inhale with a looong exhale. The key is to completely empty out your lungs from air.

You an also perform an inhale with a long exhale any time and repeat this 10 to 20 times per day to keep this important neurological pathway toned. Get a full exhale.

Directing ourselves to gut health and the gut-brain connection now. 90% of serotonin is manufactured in your gut and we previously assumed that some of that serotonin traveled to your brain. It turns out the connection is less direct. Serotonin can't pass the blood-brain barrier.

How does it get there? You guessed it - your vagus nerve.
Here's the breakdown: First you need adequate tryptophan and a balanced gut microbiome which creates short chain fatty acids (SCFA) in order to make enough serotonin in your gut.

Serotonin in your gut improves gut motility, immune strength, and overall gut health. With adequate serotonin levels your vagus nerve sends an impulse to your brain and there, serotonin is released to help stabilize your mood. But without sufficient serotonin within the gut, you won't get the message successfully to the brain! The study supporting this is cited below.

Getting adequate tryptophan in your diet shouldn't be difficult; it's found in many foods including turkey, chicken, eggs, salmon, beef, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds, cashews and oata.

Having a balanced gut microbiome is definitely harder. One home tip is to consume 1 to 4 servings of fermented foods - no sugar please. This can include yogurt, kimchi, kombucha, etc. This data was supported by a study that I list below. 

Probiotics can assist taken intermittently, but I prefer testing to help direct the proper combination of organisms for your particular microbiome. It's definitley not a one size fits all proposition.

You may need more professional assistance to test and treat your microbiome. We're here to help if you need it. 

If you'd like help we're here for you. The best next step is to contact us for a consultation and then we can determine if what we do is a good fit for you. Call 727-335-0400.

#vagusnerve #guthealth #hiatalhernia 

Research
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11818468/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5859128/

https://med.stanford.edu/news/insights/2023/02/cyclic-sighing-can-help-breathe-away