At Flourish!, the vagus nerve is the connector between our treatment models in psychotherapy and our nutritional services and programs. By working with clients to develop vagal tone so they can regulate their cognitive, emotional and social behavior response they can accept the body’s anxious response—rather than resist it—ensuring healthy communication and processing during stressful times. Eating the right foods to ensure healthy digestion and elimination also plays a big role in developing vagal tone.

It’s an impossible game to try to avoid stress. Since stress is ubiquitous, it’s how you react to it that counts the most when it comes to your wellbeing. So vagus nerve stimulation can be a tool you use during any moment you need to de-stress.

“Stimulating the vagus nerve tricks your brain into thinking that everything is okay,” says D’Elia Assenza. A great time to stimulate the vagus nerve, she says, is when you’re experiencing a heightened state of anxiety or stress.

When we have experienced trauma, our brain communicates that message to our gut via the vagus nerve. This can result in symptoms of IBS, stomach ulcers and more. But when the messages of trauma continue repeatedly, that long term disruption can have lasting effects on our gut microbiome.