Gut Health & IBS: Is the vagus nerve the root of your poor gut health?
The Vagus nerve is the body’s superhighway connecting the brain to the rest of the body. The word vagus means’ wanderer’ as this nerve wanders throughout the body.
Starting from the brain, it passes through the neck and throat, heart and lungs, and moves down the gut and digestive system to the uterus. It is the largest nerve that originates in the brain and is responsible for regulating the autonomic nervous system.
The major functions of this nervous system include breathing, digestion, liver and kidney function and managing the inflammatory system. This ANS consists of the sympathetic nervous system a.k.a SNS (fight and flight response) and the parasympathetic nervous system a.k.a PSNS (rest and digest).
When the body is under stress, it activates the sympathetic system while when not under stress, it activates the PSNS. When the fight and flight response is activated, heart rate increases, digestion slows down and adrenaline is released.
While when the rest and digest system is activated, blood pressure lowers down, digestion occurs and waste is eliminated from the body. These two systems: SNS and PSNS are always active, and maintain a balance to respond to the external stimulus. The vagus nerve comes into play over here, as it is the driving factor behind the parasympathetic nervous system
Poor gut health? Could this be your issue?
About ten percent of the vagus nerve cells are connected to the digestive system and send signals from the brain to allow the passage of food through the gut. There is a communication line between the brain and the GI tract known as the gut-brain axis and the vagus nerve is an essential part of this axis. The gut is home to trillions of microbes. The vagus nerve can sense these microbiomes and then transfer signals to the central nervous system. Some strains of good bacteria send signals to the brain from the gut via vagus nerves. This helps to improve oxytocin production, which increases social bonding. While, some strains of good microbes improve levels of the neurochemical GABA, which helps to lower stress and improve sleep. This increased level of GABA occurs in those with higher vagal nerve function. This is because GABA interacts with neurons and the vagus nerve has several GABA receptors on its surface. Several species of good bacteria such as Lactobacillus can bind to the vagus nerve and send signals to the GABA centre in the brain. Another relation between gut microbes and the vagus nerve is the increase in production of butyrate from good microbes present in the gut. Butyrates are fatty acids produced by the gut microbes and are important for digestion and brain health. Higher production of this acid helps to keep the vagus nerve strong.
Stimulating the Vagus nerve for better gut health.
Consume more omega-3 rich foods as they help to increase good bacteria in the gut. Including foods such as salmon, mackerel, flaxseed, chia seeds, walnuts and plant oils are helpful.
Intake of fermented foods such as yoghurt and cheese is beneficial as they contain lactic acid bacteria.
Choose prebiotic foods in the regular diet as they help the bacteria to break down and create metabolites, required for healthy brain function. Some examples of prebiotics are fresh fruits and vegetables.
Include polyphenols such as green tea and dark cocoa as they help to increase the population of healthy bacteria.
What about IBS? Is the Vagus nerve my issue?
The vagus nerve is closely related to the digestive system due to the gut-brain axis. Also, as the vagus nerve also comes into action during the rest and digest mode, this nerve regulates and stimulates digestion.
The vagus nerve is responsible for secreting digestive juices and producing digestive enzymes. Reduced vagus nerve functioning can be due to stress, anxiety or fatigue.
If the vagus nerve is poorly functioning, the digestion can get affected leading to heartburn, chronic constipation, inflammatory bowel disease or ulcerative colitis.
Irritable bowel syndrome can be distinguished by constipation, diarrhea along with abdominal discomfort or pain. If the vagus nerve is not working properly, it is unable to send the correct signal to the stomach and gut, which can result in the slow mixing of food with acid. This can lead to the overgrowth of bacteria and slow movements of toxins that need to be eliminated from the body.
High populations of bacteria increase the risk of IBS. Also, it has been seen that individuals with IBS have reduced stomach acid, which is also seen during poor vagal functioning. Vagal dysfunction can also result in pain, which is a common symptom of IBS. It has been observed that in IBS, the transmission of a signal between the brain and the gut is disrupted. Common symptoms of IBS such as altered gut function, psychological dysfunction can be due to changes in the brain-gut axis.
Stimulating the Vagus Nerve for Improving IBS:
Eating slowly, chewing meals well before swallowing can help improve digestion. Including practices such as deep breathing and meditation can help to activate rest and digest mode. This, in turn, will help to activate the vagus nerve.
Taking a cold shower can help to improve stress response and hence reduce stress.
A low impact workout such as yoga or a light walk will help to improve digestion and thus the vagus nerve.
Other tips for stimulating the vagus nerve
Gargling with water: It helps to activate the vocal cord which stimulates the vagus nerve.
Including fibre-rich meals can make the person feel full after meals and slow the gut movements.
Deep breathing and meditation help to activate PNS and hence improve pain, appetite, sleep and reduce anxiety.
Yoga sessions are found to increase the contraction of gastric muscles, which is important for the food to move through the digestive tract. This, in turn, helps to stimulate the vagus nerve.
Try to stay in the healthy weight range: Being obese can affect the activity of vagus nerves and negatively impact the brain and GI connection.
Reducing consumption of refined sugars from daily routine: High intake of refined sugars alters the signalling system between gut and brain. Include unrefined sugars such as coconut sugar, jaggery or natural sweeteners such as stevia.
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