035 - Vagus Nerve and Autoimmunity - How to ACTIVATE your Vagus Nerve

The Autoimmune Doc Podcast w/ Dr. Taylor Krick

How to Stimulate Your Vagus Nerve with a TENS Device
UPDATED Vagus Nerve Stimulation Video with new Ear Clips
Research Studies on Vagus Nerve and Brain (video)
Vagus Nerve Stimulation "has been life-changing!" (video)
BUY a TENS and EAR CLIPS: www.autoimmunedocpodcast.com
The Vagus Nerve is the primary nerve of the parasympathetic nervous system, and it has gained wild popularity lately in the scientific and biohacking, alternative wellness, and autoimmune disease communities.
As the primary nerve of the PNS, the vagus is largely responsible for "pushing the brakes" on the stress response, the sympathetic nervous system.
The vagus innervates the heart, lungs, liver, spleen, gallbladder, diaphragm, entire digestive tract, and more. It's two way nerve 'superhighway system' acts as the modulator of the "gut-brain connection", sending sensory signals upward from all of your organs and sending signals downward regulating stomach acid, enzyme, and bile release, digestive motility, and more, and back up to your brain. Decreased vagal tone is associated with both inflammatory digestive diseases as well as psychiatric diseases like depression and PTSD.
The vagus also sends nerves to the spleen, and its activation blocks the release of Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha (TNFa), and in the liver blocks Interleukin 6 release from Kuppfer cells, all through something called the Cholinergic Anti-Inflammatory pathway.
The only place on the outside of the body that the vagus nerve travels is part of the ear, oddly enough, but the vagus nerve can be stimulated by acupressure or my preferred method which I talk about in the podcast - using an inexpensive TENS Device with an ear clip.
The vagus nerve can also be stimulated by yoga, mediation, acupuncture, chiropractic, deep breathing, contrast showers, humming, gargling, and gagging, and I speak on all of these things in this episode!