09/03/2025
If you are experiencing symptoms of IBS you may experience abdominal pain, gas, bloating, nausea, diarrhea, constipation or a combination of both. You may find mucus in your stool, have fatigue or even worse exhaustion.
Of course, diet plays a significant role in how IBS expresses itself. However, managing or alleviating symptoms lies in more than just altering your diet, taking supplements or medications. It requires considering the body and mind as a whole, and everything affecting your overall health and wellness.
Have you ever considered that your unhappy digestive symptoms are a manifestation of dysfunctional communication between your brain and gut? Maybe you've heard of a long nerve named the vagus nerve, also known as "the wandering nerve", that travels and is utilized as the communication highway from the brain to many organs such as the stomach, the heart, lungs, spleen, liver gallbladder, pancreas, kidneys, throat and ear. A healthy nervous system requires a stable functioning vagal nerve for proper information loop between the brain, the gut and all of these organs.
What happens when you have an irritated vagus nerve? Besides symptoms mentioned above, you could also experience headaches, dizziness, acid reflux or other digestive complaints, changes in heart rate, blood pressure and sometimes even vomiting. Are you experiencing changes in your vocal cords like hoarse voice or difficulty swallowing,? Are you living with anxiety or depression? Even tinnitus
can be due to a dysfunction of your vagal nerve.
So how do you support your gut-brain connection and your nervous system? You can do this in a variety of ways.
Giving your body the fuel from prebiotics and probiotics to support a healthy microbiome is a great start.
Prebiotics are fibers that provide beneficial gut bacteria needed in smooth communication between the brain and gut. Adding more foods like leafy greens, dandelion greens, brussel sprouts, bananas, raw garlic, onions, jicama, asparagus, and apples. Inulin containing foods like psyllium husk and chicory root are beneficial for creating good gut bugs. Other prebiotic foods are flax seeds, other nuts and seeds, beans, lentils and peas contain both soluble and insoluble fiber that promote good bacteria in the gut. Some people have limitations for consumption of grains or soluble fiber, but just add in foods that agree with your unique system. The standard American diet doesn't contain enough fiber and if you aren't used to it, you will want to start slowly, adding gradually to your diet.
Probiotics that support a healthy vagal nerve include fermented foods like kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, tempeh and yogurt. When purchasing these items, always read labels. Some yogurt is full of sugar, fillers or not contain live cultures that promote a healthy microbiome. Making your own fermented yogurt or vegetables can be fun, less expensive, and you control the ingredients and live cultures you want to cultivate for a happy gut.
Do you enjoy foods like fatty fish that are high in omega 3's like salmon, sardines, or mackerel? These foods reduce inflammation and support the nervous system.
Foods like chicken, eggs, beef, kidney beans, sunflower seeds and quinoa support neuotransmitters that are crucial for vagus nerve function. Bone broth helps repair the gut lining and is easy to incorporate into your diet. Making your own is easy and can be much higher quality and way less expensive than store bought varieties. As far as diets go, the Mediterranean diet works beautifully to support healthy nervous system function.
Supporting the vagal nerve requires managing chronic stress. Many feel they dont have time for proper self care. Stress monkeys operating in over-drive until they can't function due to exhaustion or illness. Many have difficulty relaxing and are always in fight or flight mode. Healthy digestion and nutrient absorption relys on the body's ability to be able to be in rest and digest mode. This is one of the reasons stress has a huge impact on health. If your digestion isn't working, your body and mind won't be operating the way it should abd leads to disease.
So, what helps calm the nervous system, encouraging rest and healthy digestion? What of these practices appeals to you? Dont do something you would not feel good doing. Cuktivating joy is important for a healthy nervous system and brain. Choose those that appeal to you. Practices of deep breathing, meditation, yoga practices, somatic healing exercises can all help train your body to calm down and operate in a more intentional way.
If you have been in stress mode for a long time, you may need to invest time in rewiring your brain to create and sustain more healthy ways of thinking. Practicing gratitude can go a long way to get you back on track. In order for the brain rewiring to stick, you must cultivate habits everyday to get your brain to accept your new normal. Doing it once in awhile won't be effective.
If you have been suffering for years with a wonkey nervous system and nothing you have tried is working to get you out of nervous system overload, there are some non-invasive ways you can support your nervous system and strengthen your vagus nerve strength that havent yet been mentioned:
Singing, humming, cold showers or cold plunges, cranial sacral massage, prayer, shoulder, neck and foot massage, getting connected with nature, red light therapy, infra red sauna, basking or walking in the sun early morning after sunrise or evening before sunset are additional practices that nourish a calm nervous system.
Nerve stimulating devices may be a better choice for those who struggle or need extra support while they work through lifestyle adjustments and cultivating habits that support healthy nervous system function.
I have used almost all of these methods myself and found myself struggling in spite of my efforts. I am grateful I found a method that helped me stop the fight or flight merry-go-round and made a huge difference in how I felt.
If you would like to know what helped me, just comment "Help Please" and I'll share the solution that helped me most.
