The Vagus Nerve: A Trending Topic

It is just me? Are you seeing posts all over your social media about the vagus nerve and "vagal detoning" too? I'm gonna go ahead and assume that its not just my algorithm.

But what does it all mean? This week let's talk about the ins and outs of this trending self-care topic and how it plays a role in peri and menopausal health.

First, the basics.

The vagus nerve is one of the main nerves involved with the parasympathetic nervous system ( PNS). The PNS is the division of our central nervous system (CNS) that allows us to “rest and digest”. I'd like to pause and thank my 10th grade biology teacher, Mrs. Delta Fay Maillet, for teaching us about "rest and digest". I can't be her only student that remembers her teachings well int adulthood. The PNS, along with the vagus nerve, control body functions including heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, and mood. 

The vagus nerve also regulates the release of sex hormones. This includes estrogen and progesterone from the ovaries, FSH and LH from the pituitary and GnRH from the hypothalamus.  

This can become a nasty loop for women trying to conceive, for perimenopausal women experiencing hormonal fluctuations, or women with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) leading to further dysregulation of stress processing.

Fun fact.

The vagus nerve is one of the longest nerves in the human body. The vagus nerve starts from the brainstem and travels down through the neck then keeps going all the way down into the chest and abdomen. 

Words, huh?

Reading all sorts of words that look alike? What is the difference between vagus and vagal? This one is simple: the vagus nerve is also known as "the vagal nerves". What about "vasovagal"? This is another common and related term. When someone goes “vasovagal” it generally relates to “vasovagal syncope” i.e. fainting. This can happen if the vagus nerve overreacts to stimuli such as heat, anxiety, stress, hunger or pain. It causes a quick drop in blood pressure which can make you dizzy or faint. 

Peri and Menopause.

Circling back to the nasty loop that can be vagal tone dysregulation and sex hormones. If the vagus nerve is dysregulated, estrogen decreases. During perimenopause, a woman's estrogen levels can fluctuate wildly. Following menopause estrogen levels are tanked. This can turn into a nasty dance of vagus nerve dysregulation causing decreasing estrogen, then the reduced estrogen further dysregulating the vagus nerve.

How does this show up?

Dysregulation can look like:

• Poor stress management

• Mood disorders

• Anxiety

• High blood pressure

• Hight heart rate

There is evidence that vagus nerve dysregulation can have negative impacts on:

• Hot flashes - more often, more wild

• Weight management - more challenges with satiety and weight loss

• Gut motility - moving food through our bowels.

Implications.

Medications.

How many women in mid-life increase their use of statins, beta blockers, anxiety medications or SSRIs? And, more recently, GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic. Could better vagus nerve function and stress management help women reduce the need for or avoid some of these medications altogether?

Cortisol.

Speaking of stress, let's touch on another hot (and related) buzz-word. Cortisol. Cortisol is a stress hormone. A dysregulated vagus nerve can cause cortisol levels to be higher, while a regulated vagus nerve can decrease cortisol production. 

Weight Management and the Vagus Nerve:

Cortisol management is only part of the story. The other piece is in the gut. Reduced satiety (you feel hungry more often or have to eat more before you feel full) and decreased gastric motility (your gut is too slow) can also be tied to vagus nerve dysfunction. Either or both can be part of the post-menopausal weight loss challenge.

And now, to the self-help.

What is Vagal Nerve de-toning also known as Vagus Nerve Stimulation?

These activities help to give positive input to the vagus nerve, helping it to work better and allow better functioning of our “rest and digest” (PNS) mode. 

My top favorite de-toning techniques!

⭐️ Car singing: shamelessly sing all of the wrong (or right, you do you!) words to a favorite song. While my personal jams vary, songs from The Greatest Showman show up regularly in my own rotation as do any other songs allowing for air or steering-wheel tamboreen or drumming. Shower singing or a sing along with your pets or kids are highly encouraged too!

⭐️ Brushing the back of the tongue to create a mild gag reflex. Feels gross but can induce calm. Try this at night before bed!

⭐️ Massage: gently massage your neck and shoulders to increase space around where your vagus nerve travels at its most easy-to-reach point and to increase a sense of calm. Plus it just feels so darn good!

⭐️ Exercise: My hiking partner, Badger, and I jokingly call hiking our "cortisol reduction” activity. Other endurance activities such as swimming can have the same effect. 

⭐️ Breath-work: box breathing, take-5 breathing, belly breathing, and Nadi Shodhana breathing are all great for the vagus nerve and PNS. Nadi Shodhana is a nasal breathing technique that my yoga instructor recently introduced into my practice. After the recent fires this quickly became a staple activity for stress reduction.

Other techniques for your consideration:

⭐️ Humming: similar effect to the singing, vibratory effect is the stimulator. Less drama than the all-out singing and perhaps more appropriate for situations not allowing for your to showcase your inner Hugh Jackman?

⭐️Meditation and yoga. Combine multiple of the above. No wonder they are popular!

⭐️ Tongue on roof of the mouth: Sound bizarre but try it! We are so rarely aware of where our tongue is positioned. Placing it onto the roof of your mouth can provide grounding. 

Let's go girls!

A little february chill after the longest January of all time? Don't mind if we do! Join me in some silly car singing or try some of these other activites. See if they bring you calm. We all need more calm. If you've been doing this for awhile, or have a favorite that I missed, I'd love to hear about it! Tell me all about what has worked for you in the comments!