How Can the Vagus Nerve Help You Calm Down?

"The vagal response reduces stress. It reduces our heart rate and blood pressure. It changes the function of certain parts of the brain, stimulates digestion, all those things that happen when we are relaxed." -- Dr. Mladen Golubic, MD, PhD, Professor, Medical Director, Center for Integrative Health and Wellness Professor of Clinical Family and Community Medicine with UC Health.

Many of us are aware of the importance of the vagus nerve, but how do you stimulate it, especially in a high-stress world?

Here are some ABCs to calm your system, or "Vagus Nerve Hacks", according to Aseem Desai, MD, FHRS,:

• Awareness

• Body

• Connection

These three golden tools, which may also be called Mindfulness, Movement and Empathy toward yourself -- are practices that together may be the most powerful medicine you can take -- one that doesn't need prescription and addiction to them could save your life.