Meditation and the Vagus Nerve
Scientific interest in Vagus nerve stimulation is exploding, with investigations into its potential as a treatment for many conditions.
Recent studies link conditions like chronic fatigue, HRV (heart rate variability), anxiety, brain fog, depression, digestive problems, chronic pain, dysautonomia and POTS to a damaged Vagus nerve.
The Vagus nerve plays an important role in maintaining physiological homeostasis, which includes reflex pathways that regulate cardiac function. The link between Vagus nerve activity and the high-frequency component of heart rate variability (HRV) has been well established, correlating with vagal tone.
Dysautonomia is a nervous system disorder (one of the effects of long-Covid) that disrupts the autonomic body processes such as blood pressure and heart rate and has been linked to Vagus nerve inflammation.
What exactly is the Vagus Nerve?
The Vagus nerve is actually a pair of nerves that provide two-way communication between the brain and the heart, lungs and abdominal organs, plus structures such as the oesophagus and voice box, helping to control involuntary processes, including breathing, heart rate, digestion and immune responses.
The Vagus nerve – or vagal nerves – are the main nerves of the parasympathetic nervous system which controls specific body functions that are involuntary – like digestion, heart rate and immune system – that we can’t consciously control. The vagus nerve governs the “rest and digest” processes that relax the body after periods of stress or danger and activates our sympathetic “fight or flight” responses.
Neuroscientist Ivan De Araujo and colleagues have shown that the Vagus nerve transmits signals from the body to the brain, potentially explaining how stimulation of the nerve leads to emotional changes.
In the past Vagus nerve stimulation was used for patients with epilepsy and depression – using pulses of electricity. Modern techniques using sound stimulation are, much gentler, non-invasive, and probably far more effective.
Vagus nerve stimulation combined with an auditory experience has now been proven to help with a range of neurological disorders.
Even simply humming can stimulate the Vagus nerve (see the healing power of bees in our last blog).
Our tracks, with binaural beats at varying hertz, have proved to be very powerful and extremely effective in aiding meditation and healing.
This track is particularly popular:
Strengthen Nervous System: Vagus Nerve Activating Frequency • 30Hz Binaural Beats
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Image by TungArt7 @Pixabay