What is All This Talk About Vagal Tone and How Can it Improve Your Health?

“Vagal tone is activity of the vagus nerve, the 10th cranial nerve and a fundamental component of the parasympathetic nervous system ( your healing nervous system).”

The vagus nerve oversees a number of crucial bodily functions such as mood regulation, immune response, digestion and heart rate. It establishes one of the connections between the brain and the gastrointestinal tract and sends information about the state of the inner organs to the brain via afferent fibers.

Vagal tone is measured by tracking your heart-rate alongside your breathing rate. Your heart-rate speeds up a little when you breathe in, and slows down a little when you breathe out. The bigger the difference between your inhalation heart-rate and your exhalation heart-rate, the higher your vagal tone. Higher vagal tone means that your body can relax faster after stress.

Lower vagal tone is associated with cardiovascular conditions and strokes, depression, diabetes, chronic fatigue syndrome, cognitive impairment and much higher rates of inflammatory conditions and many other chronic diseases.

The good news is, you can improve your vagal tone, which will help keep you healthy and allow your brain to better adapt to stress.

Chiropractic adjustments also help the brain and nervous system better adapt to stress, so get adjusted.

Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5859128/