Did you know that you can’t THINK your way out of anxiety, you have to FEEL your way out of anxiety.
When we are anxious, our Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) gets activated. The amygdala, located in your brain, gets triggered and instantly releases stress hormones which spread through the body causing your heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure to increase. Digestion, logical thinking, and problem-solving abilities get turned off as the body goes into a protective mode with the primary goal to get you out of danger.
Imagine you’re walking alone in a dark alley, and you hear a scary noise? The panicky feeling, rapid heart rate and breathing, are the work of your SNS’s fight or flight response. It’s an important function to have to protect you from danger. The problem is when the situation isn’t always life or death. The same sympathetic reactions–nervous feeling, increased breathing and heart rate–happen when you are standing in front of a crowd of people to speak and unfortunately you CANNOT run or hide. The emotional response is mismatched from the actual situation. So, what’s a person to do?
The answer lies in your nervous system, specifically, your Parasympathetic Nervous System (PSNS), which balances out the SNS. It acts like the brakes on the car, slowing your body down to a rest and relax state where we can calm down, digest our food and problem solve.
Learning how to ACTIVATE your PSNS on DEMAND is your superpower. Think of it as hijacking your nervous system to allow you to instantly take charge of your anxiety symptom. When the PSNS is activated, the amygdala quiets down and the prefrontal cortex becomes engaged so that you can think logically again. So if the PSNS is the braking system, the SNS is the gas. Knowing “how” and “when” to use the brakes is the KEY to taking control of your anxiety.
The vagus nerve is the main nerve in the PSNS that sends messages from the body to the brain and vice versa. What you would want to do is ACTIVATE it. There’s not a one-size-fits-all solution; it is important to find a handful of techniques that work well for you. The more you activate the vagus nerve, the quicker you will be able to reduce your stress and anxiety symptoms as well as build up strength and resilience.
Here are 3 QUICK and EASY ways to activate the vagus nerve to calm you down quickly.
- Singing out loud, humming, gargling water, or yawning (even when you’re not tired) can activate the vagus nerve, which is located in the back of your throat. My personal favorite technique is pulling my ear back slightly as it instantly allows me to take a huge deep breath and calm down instantly.
- Cold therapy is a fantastic technique that works very well. It is quick, easy to use and very effective. You can jump in a cold shower, splash freezing cold water on your face a few times, put your hand in icy water, or put an ice pack on your cheeks or the back of your neck.
- Apply a weighted vest, weighted blanket or get a deep tissue massage.
Like with most tips, just make sure to check with your doctor before you try anything to make sure it is right for you or for further guidance and strategies. The good news is anxiety is fixable. You can take charge of your anxiety symptoms by learning more about the magic of one’s own nervous system and the vagus nerve.
To learn more about my 5-step A.L.A.R.M. program to reduce anxiety, check out my latest book The Instant Anxiety Solution. For more information, go to www.michellebiton.com or follow me on Instagam @bitonmichelle.
Michelle Biton is a Health and Wellness Coach and Educator. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, Master’s Degree in Holistic Nutrition and a Certificate in Kinesiology, Health and Fitness Studies. She has been invited to write for the Encyclopedia of Natural Health, Alive Magazine, a variety of online publications, and has been featured on various television, radio shows and magazines as a health and fitness expert. She is the author of The Instant Anxiety Solution.
