Ever heard of the vagus nerve? No?
Well, neither had I until the day before I sat my oral exam to finish my degree course in Nutrition Science & Practice. Even though by that time, I had completed my training to become a Kundalini yoga teacher.
It makes you wonder about the number of yoga teachers out there who are not aware of the main underlying reason for all the benefits we can get out of practicing yoga such as
- reducing stress and anxiety
- sleeping better
- improving our digestion
- counteracting depression
and so on.
During my teacher training, nobody ever mentioned that everything we do during a Kundalini yoga class - be it tuning in, deep breathing, meditating, relaxing, chanting or yoga postures - stimulates the most important nerve of the parasympathetic nervous system - the vagus nerve.
The vagus nerve is the major communication highway between our gut and the brain. And stimulating it is the best way to get us out of the proverbial 'fight-and-flight'-response - which can also be triggered by emotional stress - and into 'rest-and-digest'-mode which literally helps us digest our food better.
Stimulating the vagus nerve in one way or another helps to relax all the smooth muscles which in turn helps to move food along the whole digestive tract. It also allows more blood to be pumped into the stomach instead of into the heart and limbs. And all this creates the right environment for our beneficial gut bacteria to thrive. The true gatekeepers of our health.
Now, what has all this got to do with cold showers? Well, if you are not a fan of activities such as singing, humming, chanting, deep breathing, meditating, yoga or gong baths, there is yet another way of improving vagal tone which is having 'cold showers' as part of your morning routine.
Cold water running down the front of your chest helps activate the frontal part of the vagus nerve which is most commonly blocked. Incidentally, this also boosts your immune system by increasing blood flow and movement in your lymphatic system: the lymph nodes located in your neck, the thymus gland in your chest and the spleen and lymphoid tissue in your abdomen.
The lymphatic system plays a crucial role in eliminating toxins from the body and in training white blood cells in recognising both foreign invaders and cancerous cells.
As the lymphatic system doesn't have a pump (like the heart), exercise and daily activities such as climbing stairs, (infrared) saunas or hydrotherapy help in strengthening this often overlooked detoxification system.
From personal experience, I can truly say that the benefits of cold showers far outweigh the initial shock. I started having regular cold morning 'ablutions' after my husband died. At first, the idea behind them was to boost my mental stamina. But soon, I discovered that they also helped to keep me going when I only managed to get 3 or 4 hours of sleep at night. This cold hydrotherapy would 'shock' me into motion and provide me with the energy I needed to get through yet another day on my grief journey.
Now, more than 5 years later, cold showers are still part of my regular morning routine. Why? Because I can feel the big difference they make to how well I get through the day. They have also kept my immune system strong which can be severely impacted by prolonged periods of intense stress.
Still not keen on having a cold shower in the morning? You can also stimulate the vagus nerve by engaging in some or all of the following activities throughout the day:
- deep breathing while driving or watching tv
- singing under a warm shower
- gargling when brushing your teeth
- humming when doing household chores or gardening
- playing music, singing (in a choir) or
- washing only your face with cold water