Reducing Anxiety By Working With the Vagus Nerve

If you've been struggling with Anxiety you may have found that therapies like CBT just seem to go quit far enough in resolving the issue for you.  The physical feeling remains even though you've learned how to observe and correct unhelpful thoughts. Hypnotherapy provides a more holistic solution to Anxiety, because as well as dealing with the unhelpful thinking styles, hypnosis addresses the physical experience ​of excessive anxiety.   Hypnosis taps into the limbic system,  creating a state of profound focus during which the brain is given an opportunity to reset it's processes.  

In my practice I use a combination of Counselling (including CBT techniques), Hypnosis and EFT (Emotional freedom technique or tapping) to create this reset while also increasing the Vagus Nerve Activity and thus generating the parasympathetic relaxation response.

Have you heard of the Vagus Nerve? 
 
It’s the longest cranial nerve in the body and it connects your brain to many critical organs including the gut, heart and lungs. The word Vagus comes from the Latin word wanderer, which is apt because the nerve does wander all over the body to reach organs.
 
The Vagus nerve is intrinsic to the Parasympathetic 'rest and digest’ nervous system and so has an influence on breathing, digestive function and heart rate, all of which are linked to mental health.
 
According to Dr Mladin Golubic, Medical Cirector at the Cleveland Clinic the Vagus response reduces stress, heart rate, blood pressure, changes the function of certain parts of the brain as well as stimulating digestion; changes which all happen while we’re relaxed.
 
By stimulating the Vagus Nerve we increase Vagal tone and this has been shown to help with a wide variety of brain and mental health conditions including Anxiety, Depression, Migraine, Alzheimer's disease, Alcohol Addiction, personality disorders, poor memory, MS, OCD, chronic fatigue and autism. 
 
Some ways to stimulate the Vagus Nerve and improve Vagal Tone are:

1. Exposure to extreme cold. Research has shown this lowers the fight and flight response and increases parasympathetic activity by the Vagus Nerve.  Try turning the cold water on for 30 seconds at the end of every show increasing the time as you get used to it.  You can start by allowing the cold water to run over your wrists.
2. Breathe slowly and deeply all the way down to your diaphragm, slow your breathing race down by about half so instead of the usual 10 to 14 breaths each minute, aim to take about six breaths in a minute, exhaling very slowly.
3. As the Vagus Nerve is connected to the vocal cords and the muscles at the rear of the throat so it can be stimulated by singing, humming, chanting and even gargling. This is been shown to improve vagal tone.  Simply gargling water when you brush your teeth will help, extending it for as long as you can.
4. EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique or Tapping) and acupuncture are both effective at stimulating the Vagus Neve, by tapping or needling on points where there are nerve endings close to the surface. 
5. Yoga, Tai Chi and Qi Gong are all wonderful ways of increasing parasympathetic activity through movement, stimulation and stretching.
6. Probiotics improve the gut bacteria and improve brain function having been transported via the Vagus Nerve system
7. Exercise also stimulates the Vagus Nerve, increases the brain’s growth hormone and helps reverse cognitive decline.

If you'd like to find out how I can help you overcome Anxiety please give me a call on 0435 923 817 or use the contact me using this Hypfocus Hypnotherapy Melbourne form on my Hypnotherapy for Anxiety page.  I look forward to hearing from you.

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