Our body is miraculous, we just have to make ourselves aware of what it can do with some help from the outside. According to Dr Awadhesh Pandey, the longest nerve in our body called the vagus nerve can help us with conditions like stress, depression, and gastric conditions, and also improves our blood flow etc with the right stimulation.
The vagus nerves are also called vagal nerves; they are the main nerves of the parasympathetic nervous system. The involuntary body movements like heart rate, digestion and immune system are controlled by this system. The nerve runs from the person’s brain to the neck, chest and abdomen. These nerves are also responsible for stimulating cough, sneezing, swallowing and vomiting.
Vagus nerve stimulation has a lot of benefits. It improves digestion and stress, lowers blood pressure, increases blood flow to the important parts of the brain etc. There are certain ways through which you can stimulate your vagus nerve for relief from the ailments mentioned above. Let us take a look:
– Breathe slowly and deeply, aim to expand your abdomen and widen your rib cage while inhaling. Make sure to exhale longer, because that will trigger the response on the nerve.
– Gargling loudly and singing is also a technique to trigger your vagus nerve, it activates the vocal cords and triggers the vagus nerve stimulation.
– Immersing your face in cold water is another way to trigger the nerve. It helps in decreasing the heart rate.
– You can stimulate the nerves by squatting or sitting down, it helps with the condition of constipation.
– There is an advanced way to stimulate your vagus nerve, in which a small device is implanted in your chest, under your skin. A wire connects the device and the vagus nerve. It sends painless electrical signals to the brain through the nerve which relieves the brain of irregular electrical activities. The device could be adjusted to stimulate every five minutes for thirty seconds.
This stimulation is used during epilepsy, depression, and even a stroke, as approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration, US).
