Why do we care about the Vagus nerve? ( Yoga addiction podcast no. 53- Nat & Sandy yoga)

https://theyogaaddiction.castos.com/episodes/53-why-do-we-care-about-the-vagus-nerve

In This Episode

• The vagus nerve exits the brain, not the spine (4:13)
• The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems overlap and help us navigate our daily lives (Fight or Flight and Rest and Digest) (9:47)
• Vagal Tone: the ability to regulate the transition from sympathetic to parasympathetic (12:13)
• What does the vagus nerve do? (16:24)
• What is polyvagal theory? (27:58)
• The reptilian freeze response is accessed through the parasympathetic system, not the sympathetic system (35:10)
• Study: How Breathing Can Help You Make Better Decisions (46:34)
•  Study: Breath of Life: The Respiratory Vagal Stimulation Model of Contemplative Activity (55:59) 

two podcasts to understand the basics of nervous system/parasympathetic nervous system

https://theyogaaddiction.com/podcast/34-meghan-johnston-your-brain-and-nervous-system-on-restorative-yoga/

https://theyogaaddiction.com/podcast/12-understanding-the-parasympathetic-nervous-system/

a recommended book

https://www.amazon.ca/Body-Keeps-Score-Transformation-Trauma/dp/0141978619

What causes people to continually relive what they most want to forget, and what treatments could help restore them to a life with purpose and joy? Here, Dr Bessel van der Kolk offers a new paradigm for effectively treating traumatic stress. Neither talking nor drug therapies have proven entirely satisfactory. With stories of his own work and those of specialists around the globe, The Body Keeps the Score sheds new light on the routes away from trauma - which lie in the regulation and syncing of body and mind, using sport, drama, yoga, mindfulness, meditation and other routes to equilibrium.

study abstracts listed

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30826382/

Abstract

Deep slow breathing can increase vagal nerve activity, indexed by heart rate variability (HRV). HRV is also associated with better decision-making. This research examined the effects of two breathing patterns on HRV (Study 1) and on stress and decision-making performance (Study 2). In Study 1, 30 healthy people performed either a symmetric breathing pattern (equal ratio of inhaling/exhalation timing), a skewed pattern (exhalation longer than inhalation), or watched an emotionally neutral film (sham), following a baseline period. Both types of breathing patterns significantly increased time and frequency domain HRV parameters, while viewing the film did not. In Study 2, 56 students were randomized to perform 2 min of the skewed vagal breathing (experimental group) or to wait for 2 min (controls), before performing a 30-minute business challenging decision-making task with multiple choice answers. Stress levels were self-reported before and after the task. While controls reported elevations in stress levels, those in the experimental group did not. Importantly, participants in the experimental group provided a significantly higher percentage of correct answers than controls. These studies show that brief vagal breathing patterns reliably increase HRV and improve decision-making. Limitations, possible mechanisms and implications for business decision-making are discussed.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6189422/

Breath of Life: The Respiratory Vagal Stimulation Model of Contemplative Activity

Roderik J. S. Gerritsen and Guido P. H. Band

 114 page article on eastern practices/autonomic nervous system

  

                                                                     Nerd Nite - New Science of Safety and and Trauma

polyvagal theory in 5 minutes

https://images.app.goo.gl/w6hGAFjrK9zqZzsr9

Visible is also the facial nerve. I feel both of these intensely now. This seems all connected and to chakras and organs and breath. They talk of mantras and music. I feel chakras while doing mantras. Vagus nerve slows heart so I guess when yogis consciously slow the heart it is over the vagus nerve.