Vagus Nerve Series- Part 4- Vagus Nerve Exercises
- lisa039464
- Mar 20
- 7 min read
There are many ways to stimulate your Vagus Nerve to help manage symptoms and improve overall wellness.
Previous Articles in This Series:
As mentioned in the previous three articles, the vagus nerve plays a crucial role in regulating many bodily functions, including heart rate, digestion, and relaxation responses. The activities below target the vagus nerve with the goal of stimulating and supporting its function and promoting overall well-being.
Vagus Nerve Stimulation Activities & Exercises
Listed below is a brief overview of a variety of techniques that are believed to stimulate the vagus nerve. Please note that the effectiveness of vagus nerve exercises may vary among individuals and specific conditions.
It is recommended that you do further research on the specific techniques that interest you so that you gain a complete understanding of how they may impact your body.
1. Deep Breathing
Mechanism of Action: Deep, diaphragmatic breathing is one of the most effective ways to stimulate the vagus nerve and trigger the relaxation response. Practices such as belly breathing, alternate nostril breathing, or coherent breathing (breathing at a steady pace) can help activate the vagus nerve and promote relaxation. There are many different methods of deep breathing. Here are a few:
Instructions:
3-6-9 Breathing Breathe in for three seconds, hold for six seconds, then breath out for 9 seconds.
3 sec in– 8-30 seconds out. This is a very quick inhalation for 2 seconds followed by a very slow exhalation of 8-30 seconds. The goal is to increase the length of the exhale as you practice.
Box Breathing: Inhale x4 seconds– hold x4 seconds– exhale x4 seconds– hold x4 seconds.
2. Eye Press
Mechanism: Eye pressing, or “ocular compression,” is a technique that involves applying VERY gentle pressure to the front of your closed eyes. This can quickly promote relaxation, reduce heart rate, and lower blood pressure.
Instructions:
Press EXTREMELY gently with base of palms
Vision should be black, but not enough to activate optic nerve (colors)
Hold x3 breaths. Repeat x3
Reassess
3. Ear Roll & Acupoints
Mechanism: Acupressure is applied to general or specific points to stimulate the vagus nerve and regulate autonomic function.
Instructions:
Tragus Pull: Very gentle (5g of pull) pull away from your skull
Ear Rolling: Vigorously, but gently roll and unrolling the curled part of your ear lobe. Gently pull the ear lobe in different areas along its length.
Acupoints: Using your thumb or index finger, apply firm pressure (enough to feel a mild sensation, but not enough to cause discomfort) massage the acupoint with small circular motions. Diagrams of the vagus nerve points are available online.
Ear Seeds: Ear seeds are tiny metal or ceramic balls embedded into a small sticker that is placed on specific points and can be left in place for long periods of time.
4. Voice
Mechanism: The health of the vagus nerve can often be detected in the quality of our voice, including pitch, steadiness, and power. Vocalizations such as chanting, singing, or humming can stimulate the muscles in the throat and activate the vagus nerve. When you vocalize, the vocal cords and muscles in your throat vibrate. This gently stimulates the branches of the branches of vagus nerve located in the back of the throat. Perform regularly for best results.
Humming/ Chanting
Hum softly, Or chant (“Om”, “Ah”) Feel the vibrations in your throat and chest.
Experiment with varying pitches, tones and scales (e.g., do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do).
Try to hum as low of a tone as you can carry without your voice becoming shaky
Hum for several minutes, allowing the vibrations to resonate
Gargling
Gargling with water, especially when done vigorously, can stimulate the muscles in the back of the throat connected to the vagus nerve.
Bonus Tip– Use cold water.
5. Laughter
Laughter is believed to activate the vagus nerve and promote overall relaxation. It is of no surprise that engaging in activities that bring joy and laughter can have positive effects on overall well-being.
6. Massage the Front of Your Neck
Mechanism: When gently applied to the carotid sinuses on the sides of your neck, massage can stimulate the vagus nerve through a reflex mechanism. The carotid sinuses contain baroreceptors that detect stretching of the arterial wall due to changes in blood pressure. When gently massaged, the stimulation of these baroreceptors sends a reflex response message to decrease heart rate, vasodilate and activate the parasympathetic nervous system response. This can result in decreased blood pressure and overall relaxation.
Instructions:
Massage in GENTLE circles at the point of your carotid pulse for about 5 minutes. Stop if you feel dizzy. This should be done under the guidance of a medical professional!
7. Cold Exposure
Purpose: Brief exposure to cold temperatures, such as taking cold showers or splashing cold water on the face, are known to stimulate the vagus nerve’s response to acute stress. This can promote resilience to stress and enhance vagal tone over time. It can take some time to build up a tolerance, but the results are often worth the effort.
Instructions: Start with splashing face and work up to ending shower with 60 seconds of cold water. Cold exposure can also be helpful when experiencing acute symptoms such as low blood pressure or anxiety. You can also try placing a cold cloth on your face and neck, or going outside for a few minutes during the winter.
8. Tapping
Mechanism: This involves gently tapping or stimulating specific acupressure points on the face, upper body, and hands while repeating phrases of positive affirmation. It is theorized that this helps stimulate the vagus nerve and reduces “fight-or-flight’ response, thereby, allowing the parasympathetic nervous system, including the vagus nerve, to function more effectively.
The combination of physical stimulation (tapping on acupressure points) and cognitive re-framing (focusing on emotions or issues) is thought to help rewire neural pathways and potentially influence the vagus nerve’s activity through the brain-body connection. Here are two simplified methods of tapping:
Instructions:
1. Tap the center of your chest for 20 seconds
2. While touching the back of the ear with 2 fingers, tap the following areas separately x5 each:
1. Right of belly button
2. Belly button
3. Left of belly button
9. Kinesiotaping
Mechanism: This technique uses the gentle pressure of kinesiotape along the neck or chest to enhance vagus nerve activity that can lead to a cascade of positive physiological responses.
Instructions: It is advised that this technique be performed under the guidance of a trained professional, but there are several videos that can provide further information. Link Here
10. Mindfulness and Meditation- Body Scan
Mechanism: Meditation practices that focus on present-moment awareness, such as mindfulness meditation or body scan meditation, can help regulate the ANS, including the vagus nerve, by promoting and reducing stress. There are many different approaches to mindfulness and meditation.
Summary of Body Scan Instructions:
While sitting comfortably tense and relax each body part one by one ( ex: toes, ankle, calf, thigh, hip, etc.)
Start at one end of the body and end at the other
Incorporate breathing and visualization
Pay attention to how this feels in each areas
Videos of various versions are available on YouTube
Other Interventions that are often recommended include: Yoga, tai chi, probiotics to improve gut health and mind/body communication, socialization, exercise, and fasting.
SUMMARY
These activities are geared to improve and support healthy vagal tone, decrease symptoms of vagal dysregulation, and promote overall well-being. Integrating these practices into your daily routine may help reduce stress, improve relaxation, and support overall health.
It’s important to recognizing that what works for one person may not work the same way for another. If you have specific health concerns or medical conditions it is advised that you consult a healthcare professional before trying these activities, especially those that involve changes to breathing patterns or cold exposure.
Self-Monitoring Techniques For Determining Which
Activities Are Best For You
Even though the activities below are meant to be helpful, your body may not interpret all nervous stimulation as such. Inevitably, some activities are going to be better received by your nervous system than other. It is important to not barrage your already sensitive nervous system with a bunch of new stimulation that it may not like. There are easy ways to determine which activities will best help your body- activities that your nervous system likes and does not consider threatening.
You must establish a baseline so that you can test how your body reacts to each activity. This will help you to determine which ones are most likely to be helpful. If we neglect this step, we risk stimulating the nervous system in a way that is not helpful or that it does not like.
1. Self-monitoring requires a certain level of self awareness. Sit quietly and take a few deep breaths. Pay specific attention to the symptoms that you are trying to improve, such as heart rate, breathing, or blood pressure. Take note of your level of anxiety, fatigue, overall vitality, and pain. It may be helpful to actually take your vital signs or rate subjective symptoms on a 0-10 scale. These findings will be the basis of comparison for each activity.
2. Now, perform your selected activity as directed.
3. Reassess the qualities you had previously noted. Are they the same? Better? Worse? If symptoms have reduced, it is a good sign that this specific technique may be helpful. Put this one on the list! If you feel worse, discontinue this particular activity.
4. Make a list of the activities that helped and continue to to these regularly. Reassess periodically to see if your body’s preferences have changed.
I discuss more nervous system self-monitoring techniques in Mind-Body Connection: DIY Biofeedback Test. These nervous system self-testing methods can also be applied here.
REFERENCES
Hayden, Wendy. The Vagus Nerve Gut Brain Connection: Heal your Vagus Nerve and Improve Gut Health. 2021.
Park, Yumi. Unleash Your Vagus Nerve. Stimulate Your Vagal Tone and Activate Its Healing Power with Daily Exercises to overcome Anxiety, Depression, Inflammation, Autoimmunity, Brain Fog, and Gut Sensitivities. 2022.
Rosenberg, S; Shield; B, Porges, S. Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve: Self-Help Exercises for Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, and Autism. North Atlantic Books, 2017.
Weller, Melanie. The Vitality Code: Vagus Nerve Activation. 2018, 2020. Professional continuing education course. https://www.melanieweller.com/
Weller, Melanie. The Vagus Nerve Decompression Course. September 2022. Professional continuing education course. https://www.melanieweller.com/
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