You May Need a Vagus Nerve Reset–Here’s How to Do It

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A vagus nerve reset involves a set of interventions that can alter brain activity and address autonomic nervous system dysfunction. While there’s still a lot of exploration to be done in the scientific and medical communities to more thoroughly understand vagus nerve dysfunction and how to treat it from a practical and clinical standpoint, we have enough information to create an educated approach.

Key Takeaways:

• The vagus nerve is the longest nerve in the body and connects nearly every organ system to the brain stem and cortex.
• Vagus nerve dysfunction can lead to a number of mental and physical health problems, like lightheadedness, anxiety, digestive distress, and sleep issues.
• Healthy lifestyle choices like gentle exercise, meditation, and a nutrient-dense diet act as non-invasive forms of vagus nerve reset.
• Other holistic interventions include multiple types of massage, breathwork, and laughter.
• Heart rate variability (HRV) is the best way to indirectly measure vagal activity, also called vagal tone.
• Electrical vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is the conventional approach to vagus nerve stimulation but is only FDA-approved for a small number of conditions, is invasive, and has a higher potential for side effects.

Your vagus nerve connects from the bottom of your brain stem to many of your internal organs (including your gut), and a growing body of research suggests that through vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), you may be able to treat a number of ailments and diseases. If you’ve been struggling with anxiety, low mood, migraines, elevated heart rate, or slow digestion, it’s possibly time for a vagus nerve reset.