Recent research is demonstrating that the use of devices or techniques to properly stimulate the vagus nerve might help to control or eliminate several health conditions associated with chronic pain and inflammation such as Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and many others
One of the major nerve lines in our body, has been identified as playing a major role in chronic pain and inflammation. More evidence is emerging that a dysregulated vagus nerve may be what's behind many cases of inflammatory disease as well as chronic fatigue and pain disorders.
Many of these symptoms and health conditions might be effectively controlled or even eliminated with the proper use of techniques to stimulate the vagus nerve with the intention of regulating or improving the vagus nerve condition.
In this article, we will explain the basic principles of this innovative treatment and how to use it to enhance your overall health.
The vagus nerve, also known as the wanderer, is the longest cranial nerve of your body (1). Starting in the medulla region of the brain, the vagus nerve extends to several main organs of your digestive system but also the heart and lungs.
The wanderer is part of the 12 cranial nerves our bodies’ posses and is responsible for connecting your brain with other parts of your system, allowing it to process all the sensory information as well as to control crucial motor functions like the movements of your muscles and the functioning of your different systems and glands (2).
The wanderer posseses many important functions directly related to the main processes of our bodies and also the way our system reacts to infections. These are some of its functions:
The functional approach to vagus nerve disorders comes from the fact that the vagus nerve is involved in many important functions and processes within the body.
Since the wanderer extends from your brainstem to your colon and into many different organs, it is a critical nerve to investigate in many underlying issues.
The relevance that the vagus nerve has to reduce inflammation, control or eliminate chronic pain and its many health-related conditions come from the important role it plays in these processes:
As we mentioned before, the wanderer nerve is intimately connected with many important functions of our system. Most importantly through the gut-brain axis which is a connection between the brain and your gut through the vagus nerve (4).
This connection allows your brain to react to the signals sent out by gut microbes which produce many important chemicals such as serotonin (5), gamma-aminobutyricacid known as (GABA) which helps to control stress and anxiety (6) as well as playing an important role in your immune system and inflammation symptoms since it controls what passes and what is excreted from your body. The vagus nerve also(7) reacts to threats producing lipopolysaccharide (LPS) which is an inflammatory toxin that affects the functions of the vagus nerve over time.
So, if you want to improve your vagal tone, enhance your immune system and help to control or reduce inflammation and subsequent chronic pain and health conditions caused by it, you can change your gut bacteria through the intake of probiotics and prebiotics.
Some probiotics that affect the brain positively are called “psychobiotics” (8) and they are used to decrease symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression (9). On the other hand,prebiotics can regulate the levels of cortisol in your blood, reducing your stress levels (10).
Examples of these foods are fish (filled with omega 3 fatty acids) which increases good bacteria in the gut (11), fermented foods as cheese, yogurt, sauerkraut, and kefir, high-fiber foods as seeds, whole grains,nuts, fruits and vegetables (these contain the necessary prebiotics to reduce stress) (12), and tryptophan-richfoods as eggs, turkey, and cheese which transforms into serotonin (13).
Acupuncture along with a balanced diet can dramatically increase your vagus nerve function. This ancient medical practice has been widely studied to determine its effectiveness on chronic pain and reduce inflammation treatment.
The results of themost recent study show the acupuncture as an effective and safe way to treat immune system disorders through improving vagal tone with stimulation showing little to no risk at all. Acupuncture doesn’t involve the risk of surgery to install a VNS device and its associated adverse effects such as obstructive sleep apnea, cough, and throat pain(14).
Moreover, acupuncture is the safest way to correctly stimulate your immune system causing it to properly regulate thus becoming an effective method to treat systemic inflammation.
In another study madein animals, acupuncture treatment was very effective in triggering anti-inflammatory responses in the spleen by stimulating the vagus nerve (15).
A different study conducted on animals suggests that electroacupuncture (EA) plays an important role in regulating inflammation symptoms associated with physical or mental illnesses by affecting the vagus nerve function on several main organs (16).
As we can see, manual acupuncture and electroacupuncture might be the path to control several illnesses of our bodies since the direct stimuli offered by them help to ease underlying conditions in many cases.
Meta-description
Vagus nerve dysfunction can cause inflammatory conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome. Vagus nerve stimulation will decrease acute inflammation.
1. https://www.healthrising.org/blog/2016/01/11/vagus-nerve-stimulation-fibromyalgia-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-mecfs/
2. https://www.jillcarnahan.com/2020/03/03/is-the-vagus-nerve-the-secret-to-beating-chronic-fatigue/
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23790471
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4367209/
5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12851635
6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5127831/
7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27231050
8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23759244
9. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26706022
10. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4410136/
11. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5593975/
12. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4410136/
13. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/gut-brain-connection#section3
14. https://yosan.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/The-Effect-of-Acupuncture-on-the-Vagus-Nerve-by-Zaria-Valentine.pdf
15. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0151882
16. https://www.dovepress.com/electroacupuncture-therapy-in-inflammation-regulation-current-perspect-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-JIR