Natural Cure for IBS: The Role of the Vagus Nerve

Author's Bio: Katie Bailey, MS, RD, LD, FNC

Hi everyone. Welcome back to our channel.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome, also known as IBS, is a common and often frustrating disorder characterized by abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, and for some individuals, gas and bloating. While traditional treatment often focuses on dietary changes and medications, emerging research is highlighting the crucial role of the vagus nerve on the onset and the relief of IBS symptoms.

So in today's video, we'll be discussing what is the vagus nerve?

What is the gut-brain access?

What is the connection between the vagus nerve and IBS?

How does the dysregulation of the vagus nerve affect IBS symptoms?

And lastly, what are some strategies for regulating and supporting the vagus nerve?

Hi, I'm Katie Bailey. I'm a gut health dietitian at Oswald Digestive Clinic, where we help individuals improve and resolve their bothersome gut issues.

If you're interested in learning more about gut health, I'll have our free guide, Five Ways to Improve Your Gut Health here.

Alright, let's get started on today's topic.

[Video Transcript Below Video - it is the same information]

What is the vagus nerve?

The vagus nerve is also known as the 10th perennial nerve, and it is the longest cial nerve in the body and plays a central role in the parasympathetic nervous system, which is often referred to as our rest and digest system. It extends from the brainstem through the neck, chest, and abdomen, connecting the brain to various organs, including the heart, lungs, and many organs in the digestive tract. Functionally, the vagus nerve regulates essential involuntary bodily movements or functions such as heart rate, breathing and digestion. This means that it helps to calm the body after stress. It lowers our heart rate, it stimulates digestion, and it maintains internal balance.

Additionally, the vagus nerve is involved in sensory functions, including conveying information between our organs and our brain, as well as motor functions stimulating the muscles in the throat, the heart, and the digestive tract. The vagus nerve acts as a communication highway between our gut and our brain.

What is the gut-brain axis?

So the gut-brain axis refers to the complex and bidirectional communication system between the brain or our central nervous system and our digestive tract. This system involves neural, hormonal, immune and biochemical signaling pathways. With the vagus nerve serving as the primary communication channel, the vagus nerve conveys sensory information from the gut to the brain and motor signals from the brain to the gut, helping to regulate digestion, inflammation, and even emotional and cognitive responses. This connection means that the gut can influence our mood, our stress levels, and our behavior, while factors such as anxiety and stress can directly impact gut function and health. Disruptions in this access are linked to various conditions, including IBS, anxiety and depression.

What is the connection between the vagus nerve and IBS?

So the vagus nerve plays a crucial role in the communication and the connection between the gut and the brain. This connection is essential for healthy digestive function In individuals with IBS, there's growing research suggesting that dysregulation of the vagus nerve may contribute to the development as well as persistence of IBS symptoms. The vagus nerve plays a crucial role in the body's stress response and stress can affect vagal tone, potentially disrupting gut motility and secretion, which can cause a bunch of uncomfortable IBS symptoms.

How does dysregulation of the vagus nerve impact IBS symptoms?

So the dysregulation of the vagus nerve can manifest in several different ways, contributing to the development as well as exacerbation of IBS symptoms. So the first way is through altered gut brain communication. So the vagus nerve facilitates communication between the gut and the brain, and dysregulation can lead to miscommunication or misinterpretation of signals that can cause increased pain sensitivity, altered bowel movements or altered gut motility, as well as an exaggerated stress response that can impact gut function.

Next is through parasympathetic nervous system imbalance. So the vagus nerve is part of our parasympathetic nervous system, also called rest and digest and dysfunction can impair the regulation of our digestive processes, altered gut motility as well as secretion. The next way is through inflammation and immune function. So the vagus nerve has anti-inflammatory properties and dysregulation can actually contribute to inflammation as well as altered immune responses in the gut. And then lastly, through our stress response. So the vagus nerve plays a crucial role in the body's stress response. So dysregulation can lead to heightened sensitivity to stress in the gut as well as increased intestinal permeability and exacerbation of IBS symptoms during times of stress.

Natural Cure for IBS: Supporting the Vagus Nerve

Given the role that vagus nerve dysregulation plays in IBS, it's important to support this important nerve with some natural cure for IBS.

Vagus nerve stimulation

So we can do that through something called vagus nerve stimulation. Now, there are many different ways to stimulate the vagus nerve. Naturally, things like deep and slow breathing, making certain sounds like humming, singing loudly or gargling, cold exposure, physical exercise, acupuncture, and massage, all of those different ways can really help to stimulate that vagus nerve.

Practicing stress management

The next thing we want to pay attention to is practicing stress management. So mindfulness, yoga, meditation, anything we can do to really help bring down those stress levels because reduce this is going to help to reduce our stress as well as regulate vagus nerve function.

Diet and exercise

Alright, so next is diet and exercise. So really choosing those anti-inflammatory foods, a balanced whole foods diet, focusing on avoiding our trigger foods or food sensitivities while we really start to focus on our overall gut health. All these things can be really supportive to our vagus nerve.

Herbal remedies

Next is herbal remedies, things like ginger, turmeric, and chamomile. These are all anti-inflammatory and they can help to support vagus nerve function as well as digestive function.

Mind body therapies

And then lastly, mind body therapies. Cognitive behavioral therapy as well as gut directed psychotherapy can really help to regulate that gut-brain access and support vagus nerve function.

To wrap up our topic for today,

The connection between the vagus nerve and IBS should not be overlooked as it can significantly impact IBS symptoms through altered gut motility and digestion, gut brain miscommunication, immune dysregulation and stress response, addressing a vagus nerve dysregulation through vagus nerve stimulation, mind body practices, stress management, diet and exercise as well as herbal support can potentially alleviate IBS symptoms and improve quality of life. However, it's essential to recognize that IBS is not a one size fits all and individual factors need to be considered for effective treatment.

If you're struggling with IBS and nothing that you've tried so far has worked for you, I encourage you to consider whether the vagus nerve is playing a role in your symptoms.

That's it for today's video. If you liked this video, please hit the like button and subscribe for more nutrition videos. If you're interested in working with our clinic, you could click the link here to schedule an appointment. We do take insurance and you can find more information about that on our website.

Thank you for watching. I'll see you next time. Bye.

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