WEBVTT - VIva Las Vagus Nerve 0:00:08.520 --> 0:00:11.360 This is the Anxiety Bites podcast, and I am your host, 0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:18.360 Jen Kirkman. While I'm doing another episode of Anxiety Bites, 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:22.599 I am your host, Jen Kirkman. Let's talk about the 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:27.320 Vegas nerve. Now, I've heard this term, and I can't 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:31.440 believe in my billions of years working on my anxiety 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:35.639 that no one really ever mentioned it to me. I mean, 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:38.320 I guess you don't need to know what it is, 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:43.000 but it's pretty fascinating to know that we have this 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:48.800 nerve that send signals to almost every part of our body. 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:52.280 And there are ways to stimulate this nerve that don't 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:54.720 involve touching it directly. It's not like a muscle that 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:58.120 you would get a massage on, but that when this 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:03.160 nerve is sort of poop, doubt, it disrupts the signals 0:01:03.160 --> 0:01:04.920 it's trying to send to certain parts of our body 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:10.160 for digestion or for you know, thinking. Clearly, it covers 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:13.120 so many different things, and so I guess it's just 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:17.360 more knowledge so that when you think about doing a 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:21.080 relaxation exercise or doing a meditation, you might think, well, 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:23.160 I don't need to do that. I feel okay mentally, 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:25.120 I'm in a good mood. And it's like wessage just 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:28.600 about your mood. You know, you want to stimulate your 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:32.760 vaguas nerve so that things are running a okay in 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:34.320 your body. And it's not something that we have to 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:37.280 like obsess over and worry about. Oh my god, I 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:40.280 didn't stimulate my veguas nerve today, But it's just something 0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:42.760 to be aware of that it kind of contributes to 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:45.920 the overall And so there's so much that this nerve 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:48.920 does that I actually have two episodes coming out about it. 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:53.080 Today I'm talking to Dr Novaz Habib about more physical 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:55.800 aspects of the vegas nerve, and he has a book 0:01:56.360 --> 0:02:00.880 titled Activate your Vagus Nerve. Unleash your body natural ability 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:05.360 to heal, gut sensitivities, inflammation, brain fog, anxiety, autoimmunity, depression. 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:09.320 And then next week's episode, I'll be talking to someone about, 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:14.640 you know, healing emotional trauma and what emotional trauma does 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:19.000 to the vagus nerves. So at the end of this episode, 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:22.280 before I get to the takeaways, I will read to 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:27.880 you from Dr Habib's book about some of the exercises 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:31.640 that you can do, whether it's daily or ones that 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:35.920 are better to do. Just weakly to help activate the 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:37.600 vagus nerves. I will give you all of them. You 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:39.440 can get the rest in his book, but just to 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:42.760 give you an idea. So I'm just going to get 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:45.720 right to this episode because this is all kind of 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:50.080 newer to me. So let's just let the expert talk 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:53.600 about it, and I don't need to keep babbling about 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:56.520 the vagus nerve. But yeah, I mean this is almost like, 0:02:57.160 --> 0:03:00.600 you know, a like the cliff note. It's a version 0:03:01.280 --> 0:03:03.440 of what the vagus nerve does. I mean, if you 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:05.639 know a lot about it, you're probably going to sit 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:09.160 there and be like, oh my god, there's so much more, 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:12.560 and it's like I know, I know. Um So anyway, 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:15.239 my guest today, Dr Novas Habb is an author. He's 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:18.400 also the founder of Health Upgraded, a functional medicine and 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:22.119 health optimization clinic in Toronto, Canada. He works with high 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:25.160 performing professionals, athletes, and entrepreneurs to dig a little deeper 0:03:25.480 --> 0:03:29.000 and find the answers to what's holding back their health again. 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:33.760 He's also the author of Activate Your Vegas Nerve and 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:38.200 all uh. All links will be in the show notes 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:40.480 right here where you can get the book and find 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:43.960 out more about dr have and for now, let's find 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:52.760 out more about the Vegas nerve. Well, the vagus nerve, 0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:55.160 and everyone listening it's not spelled like las Vegas v 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:57.920 A g U S. Sure they know because they're reading along. 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:05.160 But I had heard of the vagus nerve, and throughout 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:10.320 this podcast, smart people I've talked to have casually mentioned it, 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:11.720 and I kept thinking, I have to do a Vegas 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:14.440 nerve episode. And when I read your book, Activate your 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:17.920 Vagus Nerve, unleash your body's natural ability to heal, I 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:23.440 was blown away by everything that our vagus nerve. I'm 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:25.120 not sure if controls is the right word, but I 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:29.400 will say casually controls or has a hand in. And 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:33.000 so let's just start real basic. What is the vagus 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:36.279 nerve and what are the main things in the body 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:38.719 it controls? Yeah, the book, the book goes into a 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:41.280 lot more depth, but we can definitely cover the basics 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:44.920 here and so, um, we we have lots of nerves 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:48.000 in our body. And the reason I talked about this 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:50.120 one is because it's a special nerve. It it really 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:53.080 does a lot more than people realize. It connects to 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:55.560 so many different places. That's in fact why they named it. 0:04:55.600 --> 0:04:58.720 The vagus nerve came from the root word of vague 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:02.080 or like I guess it means wandering, meaning that it 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:05.120 goes to so many different places. So it's one of 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:07.960 twelve pairs of cranial nerves that comes out of the 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:11.680 brain stem, which is that little projection just below the 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:14.880 brain as we know it where if you've ever watched 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:19.120 Um the Water Boy, he talks about the medulla oblong dada. 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:24.440 That's exactly where the vegas nerve actually comes out. Where 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:26.279 it comes out. It comes out one on each side. 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:28.480 There's four roots and then they come out and they 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:31.080 connect and then they actually blend together. The right side 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:33.480 and the left side blend together, and it has different 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:35.919 branches that go to a bunch of different areas. Like 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:39.760 all of the other twelve cranial nerves, primarily they're going 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:43.240 to hit areas in the head and face area, so 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:49.280 things like I control and facial muscles are controlled through 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:52.839 the cranial nerves. But the vagus nerve does a bit 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:54.840 more than that, so it does have a little bit 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:56.479 of control in and around the head and neck. It 0:05:56.560 --> 0:06:01.200 actually sends a branch to the ear for skin sensation. 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:04.080 It sends a couple of branches to the throat, to 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:06.679 the pharynx, and to the larynx. Those are the muscles 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:08.320 at the back of the throat that allow the airway 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:12.000 to remain open, and the laryngeal muscles, so it helps 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:15.760 to pull and push the the vocal cards. So that 0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:18.039 in fact, is what gives us pitch and tone in 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:19.840 our voice. So the reason that can go really really 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:22.320 low or really really high with my voice is because 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:26.000 I have tone or tonally within my vagus nerve sending 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:29.239 signals through there to stretch the muscles and pull the 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:33.120 vocal chords accordingly. But then it continues down and it 0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:36.320 actually courses in the neck right beside the carotid artery 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:41.239 in the jugular vein, and what makes things I always 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:44.000 feel like you don't want to hit those exactly. So 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:47.400 it's actually funny enough. It's inside the same sheet that's 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:50.400 inside the same tissue as those two blood vessels. So 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:52.680 those are the blood vessels that supply blood to the 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:55.920 brain and take blood away from the brain. And so 0:06:56.120 --> 0:06:59.320 it just goes to show how important this nerve truly is. 0:06:59.360 --> 0:07:02.240 Because it gets severed or if anything within that sheath 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:04.520 gets severed, the function of our body is going to 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:08.039 be severely limited. And so as it goes down, it 0:07:08.080 --> 0:07:11.040 then enters into the thorax, into the chest area, where 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:13.760 it innervates the heart to control heart rate and do 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:16.000 a whole bunch of other stuff. It goes to the 0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:18.720 lungs to monitor the breath rate. Doesn't control it, but 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:21.520 it doesn't monitor it, and that's really important. And it 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:25.080 talks about inflammation, supports the inflammation response within all of 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:28.320 these organs as well. But it doesn't stop there, continues 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:31.560 on down with the esophagus and goes through the diaphragm 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:35.320 into our abdomen, into our belly, where it then innervates 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:38.800 essentially every single organ within the entire belly. There's no 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:41.360 other nerve in the body that does anything like this. 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:46.080 It's going to innervate the spleen, the kidneys, the liver, stomach, 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:50.000 small intestine, large intestine, you name it. Every organ has 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:52.200 some sort of connection to the vegus nerve. And that's 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:54.960 what really stuck out to me about the topic about 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:56.440 this nerve. It's always stuck out to me. I'm a 0:07:56.480 --> 0:08:00.920 chiropractor by profession, and so like nerve a system, brain 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:04.280 function has always been a huge piece of my my 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:07.120 journey and understanding health, and so this one always stuck 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:09.320 out as a really important piece of the puzzle, and 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:11.200 so that's why I wanted to share once I learned 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:13.600 a bit more about what it does, that it needed 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:16.000 to be told to people because there's such an important 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:19.680 controlling mechanism here and you were using a word is 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:21.640 it innervate? Is that what you were saying? It means 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:26.640 supplyect right, So it means connect to and send signals to. 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:30.920 More from I do want to talk about this concept 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:33.240 that you do mention in the book that the vagus 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:37.360 nerve has a function in which is gut health. But 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:40.000 before we even get to that, I just have a 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:44.640 really silly question why. I mean, this is just a 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:50.360 philosophical question, but why why have this one nerve do 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:54.360 so much? Isn't that dangerous? And shouldn't it delegate to 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:57.880 other nerves? Is it? Or is there an advantage to 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:02.400 having one nerve do so much? It's a really great question. Um. 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:04.800 If I knew the full answer to that, I think 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:08.640 it would be on par with whatever ultimate being there 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:14.240 is out there. I don't have a full answer to that. Um, 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:17.960 we do know that the parasympathetic nervous system, which is 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:22.280 kind of what that rest digest recovery system is signaled 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:24.199 through the vegas nerve. And yeah, it is a single 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:29.360 point of failure potentially right and certain indices. But I 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:33.360 don't think it was built out with the intention of 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:38.280 ever having been injured, uh severely right, um And so 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:41.199 that's why it's it's encased in a very important sheet. 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:44.920 It connects left and right. It has a couple of 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:47.520 different kind of backup plans. Essentially it can go up 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:50.360 through either side and connect to the same area and 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:54.480 send signals accordingly. Um So, so there is a bit 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:57.200 of a backup plan built into it, but it just 0:09:58.320 --> 0:10:01.600 it's more of a therm stat type of function than 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:05.120 it is a signaling out from the brain function. And 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:09.920 so it's not as worries some if anything does happen 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:14.000 that said trauma and injury to the nerve would creative 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:17.920 does create significant challenges to a lot of people. I 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:22.320 want to address this because the words gut health and 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:27.280 mind body connection and inflammation are very popular in our culture. 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:30.840 I think a lot of people take those terms and 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:33.320 run with it in ways that I think are damaging. 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:38.640 So let's demystify these things, because your book goes so 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:41.840 well into explaining and honestly, it's like taking a college 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:45.960 course in you know, biology, but you say in this 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:47.840 bum to read your book to you. One of the 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:50.439 most likely low grade stressors that you may not be 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:53.040 aware of is the bacteria living in and around you. 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:55.600 The population of bacteria living in your gut and on 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:58.480 your skin has a significant effect on us, and if 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:02.760 that population is optimally balanced, it can be a major 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:06.800 stressor on your body. So so let's start there. What 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:09.000 what does that mean? What is gut health? How does 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:11.040 it relate to being a stress around the body, which 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:14.000 I assume would come up in the form of stress, anxiety, 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:19.440 even pain. Yeah. Absolutely. Um. The best way to kind 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:24.640 of simplify this and understand it within context is that 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:29.120 we have between forty and sixty trillion human cells in 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:33.880 our body, and these forty six trillion human cells can't 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:36.960 function on their own in the environment that we are in. 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:45.040 They require support from some external ah cells and organisms, 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:48.439 and these are things that we generally can't see, and 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:53.800 those are the bacteria, parasites, viruses, east horns that are 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:59.199 all around us. With the majority of these other organisms. 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:02.040 We have a sim biotic relationship, meaning that we work 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:04.440 really well with them, and they work really well with us. 0:12:04.960 --> 0:12:08.719 Our body provides them with nutrients that they need, they 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:14.240 assimilate and provide us nutrients that we need, and over 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:20.720 the millennia of our revolution, we have evolved to have 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:24.320 this very positive relationship with the vast majority of these 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:31.440 microbiome supporting a microbiome producing populations. So I said, we 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:34.200 have between fourty and sixty trillion human cells in our body. 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:37.080 Just in our large intestine alone, we have over a 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:43.559 hundred trillion bacteria HM. So that population is really quite important. 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:47.160 And I know it sounds a little hokey when we 0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:49.560 talk about gut help when we talk about microbiome, but 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:52.520 the scientists finally starting to catch up and it's actually 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:57.000 starting to identify exactly where these challenges can come from 0:12:57.040 --> 0:13:02.679 and what this disbiosis meaning imbalance within the gut can 0:13:02.760 --> 0:13:09.280 lead to. Okay, I having instituted testing in my own practice, 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:13.679 so I actually help people identify where the challenges are 0:13:13.679 --> 0:13:18.200 coming from. Adam microbiome level using stool testing, using DNA 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:22.080 based stool testing to identify exactly what types of bacteria 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:24.640 are around. Yeah, you know, I talk a lot about 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:27.920 on this podcast about the concept of chemical imbalance when 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:30.599 it comes to treating anxiety depression with medication. There's just 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:32.600 no test, you know, and something like this we hear 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:35.640 gut health. I'm glad to hear that there is actually 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:38.840 a way to find out what's in there, what's imbalanced. Yeah, 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:42.280 so this is what what I kind of practice in 0:13:42.600 --> 0:13:45.520 my own life and my own journey. I found functional 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:48.920 medicine which really helped me to support my own health. 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:51.000 I used to way to enter fifty pounds, high blood pressure, 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:54.440 borderline diabetes in my twenties and just was dealing with 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:58.560 significant health challenges. Energy was always low, and when I 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:00.160 was introduced to this it was a bit of a 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:02.520 shock to my system. I was going through chiropractic college. 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:04.319 I thought I knew everything about health. I'm gonna be 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:05.920 able to share this with so many people, but I 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:10.120 wasn't implementing it myself. And then when functional medicine came around, 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:15.040 it really helped open my eyes too beyond what we 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:18.280 tend to kind of see in the conventional system. And 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:22.400 the testing was key to this. When we understand biochemically 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:26.160 what's truly going on within our body when we have UH, 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:30.800 the step by step process is shown to us based 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:35.240 on the actual testing that we see through gut testing, 0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:39.160 through urinary organic acid testing, through hormone testing. These can 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:42.960 help us to really pick out the specific areas where 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:47.080 we as an individual or having issues. And then this 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:50.920 is where we can kind of marry new world scientific 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:54.240 insights and tools that we have through testing with old 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:58.040 world wisdom that's been there through traditional Chinese medicine, ire 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:02.760 vetic medicine, Mediterranean medicine, and has truly slowly transformed into 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:06.440 kind of this natural alternative care type of idea. Even 0:15:06.440 --> 0:15:08.840 though it's not truly alternative, it's something that's been there 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:11.480 for much longer than the conventional system that we're in. Right, 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:13.720 it's an alternative to the newer thing we made up 0:15:13.960 --> 0:15:18.160 exactly exactly. So, I've worked with many people that are 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:20.880 dealing with mental health struggles, a lot of people with 0:15:20.920 --> 0:15:24.840 autoimmune conditions, a lot of people with these underlying root causes. 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:27.280 And when we identify what that root causes, and it's 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:32.920 often about the time I can identify that microbiome imbalance, 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:36.240 that disbiosis that's going on within the gut, that's affecting 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:40.480 the gut health, and so we actually have scientific like 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:43.680 proof of why the problem is occurring, why we're leading 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:48.080 down this path of inflammatory reactions within the gut that's 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:51.600 leading elsewhere. We also, just as a side note, seventy 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:55.200 percent of our immune cells by volume are located in 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:58.200 the lining of the gut, and so this is where 0:15:58.240 --> 0:16:01.200 inflammation will often come up. We have this protective mechanism 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:03.880 because we know that not all good things are in 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:08.000 the gut. It's not all good bacteria, um parasites, worms, 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:10.560 candid to all these things do pop up, and so 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:12.880 we need to protect ourselves from it. And if we're 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:15.440 not providing the right tools for the immune system to 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:19.160 be able to handle those threats, that's where the problems 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:22.760 tend to occur. Um That comes down to diet, that 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:26.960 comes down to breathing, That comes down to vagus nerve activity, 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:31.600 because the vagus nervous supplying information to that area, to 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:35.360 the gut lining, to the inflammatory cells that in fact 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:39.160 controls an entire system called the coolinergic anti inflammatory system 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:43.320 literally is controlled through the vagus nerve. If that signaling 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:46.640 isn't present, then we can't put the brakes on an 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:49.480 accelerator basically, So what I like to say is our 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:52.160 our bodies aren't like a car, and the accelerator is 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:54.120 like the sympathetic nervous system where we go in to 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:57.040 fight or flight. We're in go mode. But when we 0:16:57.120 --> 0:16:58.640 get to a red lighter, when we get to a 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:01.200 yellow light, we need to slow down. We need to 0:17:01.240 --> 0:17:05.560 be able to shut off or decrease the speed by 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:07.639 which we're going. If we can't do that, we're gonna 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:09.639 cause major issues. Right we're going to go through a 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:13.399 red light, We're gonna hurt somebody potentially. And so the 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:17.000 brakes are the parasympathetic nervous system. The vaguest nerve is 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:30.120 the brakes to the entire system. We'll be right back, Okay, 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:34.359 So the vagus nerve monitors what's going on in the 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:38.800 gut and and again at the end of the episode 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:42.119 will get more solution based. But so there's a world 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:46.200 where not just through diet, which I know does affect 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:49.720 the vaguest nerve, but certain exercises we can do, whether 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:55.520 it's acupuncture or massage or changing our sleep that can 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:59.800 change how the vagus nerve monitors the gut and somehow 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:03.080 help heal or am I kind of relating that in 0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:07.119 a way that's not correct. Oftentimes, what exacerbates the issues 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:09.800 that we are experiencing is the fact that the vegas 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:13.359 nerve is under too much pressure. So when we if 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:14.960 we go back to the brakes a little bit, as 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:19.160 a very simple example, brake pads wear out the same 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:21.760 way the vegas nerve can get overworked. If we're constantly 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:26.320 providing inflammatory um challenges to the body, the brakes are 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:29.439 gonna wear out. The vegas nerve can't handle a ton 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:34.720 of constant chronic inflammatory issues that are constantly coming up, 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:37.840 and so slowly and surely the vegas tone is going 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:40.840 to decrease. The ability for our vegas nerve to send 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:43.600 these signals on a regular basis is going to come down. 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:46.919 And so what we need to do is to do 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:50.120 the exercises, do the tools, and provide the vagus nerve 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:52.439 and opportunity to do the work that it needs to 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:58.240 do without providing more chronic inflammatory reactions on a regular basis. 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:01.600 So this is what they do. Um when when we 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:04.000 do the deep breathing exercise, when we do the meditation, 0:19:04.040 --> 0:19:07.440 when we do the the good gut health cleanses and 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:10.440 the detoxes, if that's the plan that you want to 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:14.040 go down. Um, what we're essentially doing is we're decreasing 0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:17.960 the inflammatory triggers and we're giving the body a chance 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:20.359 to heal itself. The body truly does know how to 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:23.040 heal itself, but we have to give it the right environment, 0:19:23.080 --> 0:19:25.080 the right tools, the right inputs to be able to 0:19:25.119 --> 0:19:29.120 do so. And so that's where the exercises will help 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:33.040 to provide that initial step. And for some people we 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:35.119 might need to go a step further where we actually 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:39.800 change the microbiome using probiotics, where we actually address specific, 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:47.080 potentially genetic, some somewhat functional imbalances with certain supplements or 0:19:47.119 --> 0:19:50.560 certain ingredients that need to be included within their diet. 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:53.440 And that's where we can work on the optimization side 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:55.480 of things, where we can actually help the body to 0:19:55.560 --> 0:19:58.639 function at a slightly better level. It's almost like a 0:19:58.720 --> 0:20:01.440 bio hacking type of idea, but in a very clinical 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:04.280 and very test based sense, so we know exactly what 0:20:04.280 --> 0:20:07.920 we're trying to accomplish. And that's why the vast majority 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:11.800 of people that work with a properly trained functional medicine 0:20:11.800 --> 0:20:15.440 practitioner somebody that understands the function of the body really well, 0:20:16.040 --> 0:20:19.400 often have really good results. When I think about inflammation, 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:21.439 I often say, if I'm feeling off, I don't know 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:22.840 how to allow us to put it. I might say, 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:24.679 I feel like there's inflammation somewhere. I don't know what 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:27.480 I'm talking about, but it's just become a new word 0:20:27.560 --> 0:20:31.480 in my life. And what exactly is inflammation? I mean, 0:20:31.680 --> 0:20:37.200 I assume something is literally inflamed or uh. And then 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:40.600 so how does it happen? How do we bring it down? 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:44.199 And kind of demystified this other buzzword I hear a 0:20:44.200 --> 0:20:50.160 lot totally. So inflammation is our body's response to trauma 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:54.359 and stress within different ways. And there's there's four different 0:20:54.359 --> 0:20:59.159 types of stressors that can trigger inflammatory responses. Emotional stress 0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:01.800 is one. We can have this brain inflammation that pops 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:04.760 up that leads to brain fogginess and ability to think clearly, 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:08.280 memory challenges. And this can happen because we're dealing with 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:13.280 relationship stress or financial stress on a day to day basis, kids, etcetera. 0:21:13.560 --> 0:21:15.399 And really rough nite with my kids last night, so 0:21:15.440 --> 0:21:22.959 I can um. So, emotional stress is one, Psychological stress 0:21:23.000 --> 0:21:25.399 is another one. And you may say, well, what's the 0:21:25.400 --> 0:21:29.000 difference between emotional and psychological. Psychological is more kind of 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:32.560 past related. What are the challenges that we experienced potentially 0:21:32.600 --> 0:21:35.560 as a child, potentially as we were growing up that 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:39.440 created the scratches on the lens through which we see 0:21:39.480 --> 0:21:43.040 the world. Right, So I only see the world in 0:21:43.040 --> 0:21:45.200 this way because I was affected in a negative way 0:21:45.440 --> 0:21:48.439 in the past. Right, What are those emotional attachments that 0:21:48.480 --> 0:21:52.320 we have that have created that that scuff on the lens? Okay, 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:54.720 so a little bit different. We always want to look 0:21:54.720 --> 0:21:57.720 at the timeline when we're looking at a certain case, 0:21:57.720 --> 0:22:01.119 when somebody's experienced potentially trauma or something they were younger, 0:22:02.119 --> 0:22:05.000 and then we have physical stress. These are the things 0:22:05.000 --> 0:22:07.680 that we think of when we think of inflammation. More commonly, 0:22:08.160 --> 0:22:13.639 we're thinking about car accident and we've hurt ourselves whiplash, etcetera. 0:22:13.640 --> 0:22:16.000 And now we have to send all of these cells 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:18.360 to this area to help repair the damage. And that's 0:22:18.359 --> 0:22:21.879 what inflammation is. Initially in the acute sense, inflammation is 0:22:21.920 --> 0:22:24.720 sending these cells to an area that's damage to help 0:22:24.760 --> 0:22:27.720 support repair of it. Inflammation is a good thing in 0:22:27.720 --> 0:22:31.440 an acute scenario. When that inflammation can't be controlled is 0:22:31.440 --> 0:22:34.000 when it becomes a bad thing. And so the physical 0:22:34.040 --> 0:22:36.320 sense is like, let's think of a bruise on our arm. 0:22:36.720 --> 0:22:40.720 We get this big swelling, we get that inflammatory warm response. 0:22:40.760 --> 0:22:43.119 That's because the blood flow is going to that area 0:22:43.200 --> 0:22:46.080 to help to repair that damage. So that's a really 0:22:46.160 --> 0:22:49.840 simple way to think about it. But physical uh, stress 0:22:49.880 --> 0:22:53.640 will create that. And then the last one is biochemical stress, 0:22:53.720 --> 0:22:56.040 and this is generally the stuff that we don't see 0:22:56.600 --> 0:22:58.840 until it's maybe a little bit late. This is where 0:22:58.880 --> 0:23:01.000 food sensitivities can come in for a lot of people 0:23:01.040 --> 0:23:05.000 that are dealing with specific sensitivities too. For some people, 0:23:05.040 --> 0:23:08.680 gluten for some people, dairy for some people, um, nightshade, 0:23:08.760 --> 0:23:11.359 vegetables can do it, for some people, meat can do it. Right, Like, 0:23:11.520 --> 0:23:15.600 different people have different triggers that can create this biochemical response, 0:23:16.640 --> 0:23:18.480 So for some people it's a food based thing, but 0:23:18.520 --> 0:23:20.080 for a lot of other people. We have to add 0:23:20.080 --> 0:23:24.400 it to this entire realm of toxic ingredients that are 0:23:24.440 --> 0:23:27.760 around us, right, the pesticides that are sprayed on our foods, 0:23:28.160 --> 0:23:34.600 the inorganic laundry detergent that we use, or the chemicals 0:23:34.640 --> 0:23:36.800 that are on receipt paper when we get our receipt 0:23:36.800 --> 0:23:39.320