By Shannon McRae, PhD

As awareness about the importance of nutrition in health continues to increase, the subject of digestive health is of special interest to healthcare professionals and, of course, those who are having challenges.

Not only does a digestive problem often bring pain and discomfort, it can also compromise the absorption of nutrients. Those of my clients who are experiencing digestive health difficulties have often been treated by conventional physicians but have not had the kind of results they need for optimal well-being.

As a psychologist and nutritionist using medical intuition to help clients, I see each person’s unique challenges from many different angles.

It is interesting to discover how digestive difficulties arise in the first place. Their causes may not be what you would expect.

I know my clients are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the numbers of people who suffer with digestive health disorders from which they have found no permanent relief.

However, resolution can sometimes be quite simple.

Digestive Health & The Vagus Nerve

Let’s start with a key digestive health factor that may surprise many readers: the vagus nerve.

This nerve carries messages from your brain, the electromagnetic receiver of your conscious mind, to your organs, signaling them to rest or to get ready for action. It plays a significant role in whether or not your body stays in homeostasis, and it’s completely compliant with messages from your brain and vulnerable to inflammation from negative thoughts and feelings. It is also affected by inflammation from other sources, such as food and drink.

What is the vagus nerve?

Christopher Bergland writes in his excellent article “The Neurobiology of Grace Under Pressure” that the vagus nerve “has multiple branches that diverge from two thick stems rooted in the cerebellum and brainstem that wander to the lowest viscera of your abdomen, touching your heart and most major organs along the way.”

You can visualize it as a tree with branches. Bergland goes on to say, “The vagus nerve is constantly sending sensory information about the state of the body’s organs ‘upstream’ to your brain. In fact, 80-90 percent of the nerve fibers in the vagus nerve are dedicated to communicating the state of your viscera up to your brain. When people say ‘trust your gut,’ they are in many ways saying ‘trust your vagus nerve.’ Visceral feelings and gut instincts are literally emotional intuitions transferred up to your brain via the vagus nerve.”

The vagus nerve, Bergland continues, is completely responsive to your thoughts and emotions, and is the commander of your parasympathetic nervous system.

Activating the vagus nerve tends to slow you down after stressful situations, using neurotransmitters to lower your heart rate and blood pressure and help your organs function harmoniously.

Sometimes, when you are under stress, or when you worry or feel anxious because of events outside your control, an underactive vagus nerve can lead to such responses as an upset stomach. Under repeated stress, gastroparesis, or partially paralyzed stomach muscles, can result.

The most common symptoms with gastroparesis are a feeling of fullness after eating only a small amount, nausea, and gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, as well as pain, abdominal bloating, and even lack of appetite.

Paresis can also affect your pyloric sphincter, a smooth muscle, which opens with food delivery from the stomach to the duodenum of the small intestine for the delivery of food.

Rich foods or large amounts of fiber from fruits and vegetables may also bring on symptoms. Researchers also think there is a link between high blood glucose levels and gastroparesis because sugars can damage the vagus nerve. Also, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease can play a role in gastroparesis.

Here is what I would recommend for anyone experiencing symptoms of gastroparesis, as well as many other digestive health challenges.

Start breathing deeply! By breathing in and exhaling more slowly and deliberately, you will activate your vagus nerve in several ways, including through the mechanism of the exhaling action on your diaphragm, which will move and stimulate the nerve and relax the muscles in your entire torso, including the digestive system. I will say more about the vagus nerve below.

Regarding diet, there are several things to do if you are experiencing digestive health discomfort. The first, and perhaps the easiest, is to change your eating habits slightly.

I suggest to my clients that they try these things:

1. Eat smaller meals more often during the day;

2. Chew food well and do not swallow until it is completely in a paste—like or almost liquid state; perhaps purée your food, but be careful of certain vegetables, such as broccoli, as they are very high in fiber may be difficult to digest until your system is functioning wholly again;

3. Stop drinking sugary and carbonated liquids;

4. Eat nuts only with digestive enzymes;

5. Walk or move your body after a meal—instead of sitting or lying down;

6. Breathe and be calm while eating!

Do see a medical professional if you have extreme symptoms, such as excessive nausea, or if you are dehydrated.

The Vagus Nerve in Inflammation

Next, if you want optimal health for your body, you need to be aware of the significant role inflammation plays, not only in general but also in regard to the vagus nerve.

Jared M. Huston, MD, discovered that this nerve is centrally involved in an anti-inflammatory neural circuit. Marc Sircus, OMD, writes of Huston’s findings, saying he emphasizes the importance of breath, asserting that the vagus nerve “is controlled with conscious breathing, yoga, and emotional and positive mental frameworks.”

By thinking thoughts that feel good—and anyone can do this—from the simplest thoughts to the most complex, you activate your vagus nerve and calm the “life and death” cytokine storms.

When you are calm, your breathing is deeper and more regular, and you can use breath in the midst of stressful situations in order to activate the vagus nerve at any time. Because there can be a lot of anxiety in response to changes in the world outside your control, it is important to begin the practice of using breath consciously as often as possible.

Sircus notes that Huston also discovered that “recovery from chronic inflammatory diseases begins with the vagus nerve that regulates [not only] the heart rate variability—varying the rate at which the heart beats beat-for-beat—” but also the entire digestive system.

Christopher Bergland writes about the positive effects of visualizing the vagus nerve “as a wellspring of neurobiological ingredients that create mental and physical calmness.”

Bergland calls the vagus nerve the commander-in-chief, in regard to having grace under pressure, and I agree. It is without doubt one of the most important factors in whether your entire digestive system, as well as your cardiovascular system, functions easily and well over the long term.

Amazingly, it is profoundly simple to keep your vagus nerve functioning optimally.

You don’t have to labor to think positive thoughts—though it is always worth the discipline to meditate or contemplate, taking time for yourself to assess and be calm. All you have to do to activate the vagus nerve and calm your entire body is breathe.

Anytime you take a deep breath and slowly exhale, there is release from the vagus nerve of molecules that will lower heart rate and blood pressure.

Research at HeartMath shows that when you focus on the area of your heart and on your breathing, there is a physical effect of coherence between your heart and brain.

Robin Hemming, founder of ZPD Self-Synchronisation,® reiterates that “the most powerful and effective way to improve heart rhythm (coherence) and heart rate variability is to use breathing.”

He states that this is so because as we breathe in “our heart rate tends to speed up and as we breathe out it tends to slow down.” This is called “breathing-induced heart rate variability.”

Interestingly, this process is caused by stimulation of the vagus nerve.

Mental Health and the Vagus Nerve

Depression, which virtually all of us experience in varying degrees from time to time, is not something to ignore if it is severe, nor is it necessarily to be treated long-term with SSRIs or other drugs.

In some cases, resolving it can be much simpler. I strongly suggest readers apprise themselves of the work of Kelly Brogan, MD, especially her new book A Mind of Your Own. I will, however, make just one observation about the role of the vagus nerve since we are on the subject.

Joseph Mercola, DO, writes, “In melancholic depression, bipolar disorder and postpartum depression, white blood cells called monocytes express pro-inflammatory genes that provoke secretion of cytokines.”

Cortisol sensitivity then goes down, but cortisol is a stress hormone that guards against inflammation. “Together,” Mercola continues, “these inflammatory agents transfer information to your nervous system, typically by stimulating your vagus nerve, which connects your gut and brain.”

That is important because the vagus nerve plays a central role not only in the health of digestive organs and the heart but also in the production of serotonin, the “feel good” hormone, which is produced in the gut.

Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) and Stress

Let’s address small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), which is a condition of excessive bacteria in the small intestine. It can lead to leaky gut and malabsorption of nutrients, including proteins.

This condition is now challenging quite a number of people, including many of my clients. Many of them have not been given a correct diagnosis, so they aren’t clear what is transpiring. When prospective clients learn of my intuitive abilities, they call me for another point of view. I am able to see what is going on inside them and guide my clients back to health with nutritional consultations and energy medicine.

The balance of bacteria in the small intestine is crucial for overall health. The small intestine, or bowel, contains beneficial microorganisms that protect the body from pathogenic bacteria and yeasts.

Amy Nett, MD, points out that these beneficial microorganisms help the body absorb nutrients and produce certain others, such as vitamin K and short-chain fatty acids. She also notes, “These bacteria help maintain the normal muscular activity of the small bowel, which creates waves that move the intestinal contents, like food, through the gut.”

By this point, you may have realized an important connection regarding the vagus nerve and the small intestine. When paresis is a condition of the small intestine, and not just the stomach, the normal muscular activity of the small bowel will be adversely affected—as will the contents, including the beneficial bacteria.

SIBO is seen to be an increase in the number of bacteria and/or changes in the types of bacteria present. Nett states that “in most patients, SIBO is not caused by a single type of bacteria, but is an overgrowth of the various types of bacteria that should normally be found in the colon.”

However, even though researchers observe that SIBO negatively affects the structure and function of the small bowel, they have not yet looked as closely at how stress, and thus the vagus nerve, play a role. How much of SIBO is caused by mild to severe paresis of the small bowel? It is my view that the vagus-nerve breathing exercise and nutritional guidelines I gave above will play a huge role in reversing SIBO.

Amy Nett points out that SIBO damages the cells lining the small bowel (the mucosa). This can lead to leaky gut, which is a condition where the intestinal mucosa becomes permeable, allowing large protein molecules to escape into the bloodstream. This “is known to have a number of potential complications including immune reactions that cause food allergies or sensitivities, generalized inflammation, and autoimmune diseases.”

One of my clients, whom I will call Nancy, was diagnosed with SIBO by her naturopathic physician, and she has tried to follow a natural medicine plan for months. However, when I work with her every two weeks, she says that “nothing is working.” I have learned that her husband has dementia, and that one of her granddaughters has moved into the home with them. Her disclosures and my intuition tell me that much of Nancy’s SIBO is definitely stress related.

Low stomach acid, celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, prior bowel surgery (with scar tissue interrupting muscle action), diabetes (types 1 and 2), multiple courses of antibiotics, and organ system dysfunctions are all risk factors for SIBO. However, I believe, from work with my clients who have SIBO, that the greatest cause is stress.

Let’s reiterate that when SIBO is also caused or exacerbated by chronic stress that leads to muscle-action impairment, or paresis, it is important to do stress management and use the vagus-nerve breathing exercise often. Many people do not realize that stress negatively affects them because they have become used to unmanaged stress as the norm.

How many know what it feels like to be peaceful and enjoy complete health? Doing the simple vagus nerve breathing exercise will help not only to alleviate stress but also to calm the mind enough so that one can get to the core of what causes one’s stress in the first place.

When there is unmanaged and chronic stress, there is a cascade of events other than muscle paresis that can disrupt hormones such as serotonin, adversely affecting the beneficial microflora in the gut and digestive health. Breathing helps manage the stress, root it out, and calm the body.

GERD

I would be remiss if I did not discuss GERD, or gastroesophageal reflux disease. It won’t surprise you to learn that I think the vagus-nerve breathing exercise will start to give immediate relief from GERD.

This condition occurs from stress on the lower esophageal sphincter, which is a ring of muscle between the esophagus and stomach. Often health professionals associate “heartburn” or “acid indigestion” with GERD, but hiatal hernia can also be causal. There is a reflux, or a flowing back, into the esophagus of some of the stomach’s contents in GERD.

WebMD states, “The lower esophageal sphincter (LES) opens to allow food to pass into the stomach and closes to prevent food and acidic stomach juices from flowing back into the esophagus.” However, when the sphincter is compromised or experiencing paresis, it will allow flow back into the esophagus.

Stress is the main factor for the majority of individuals who experience GERD, but other factors can play a role in the weakening of the lower esophageal sphincter.

One factor that compromises function is poor posture, especially for those who sit and lean forward, such as with prolonged computer work. Poor posture over the long term can compromise the entire digestive system, including the gallbladder and stomach. It’s essential—and rewarding—for those who are inactive in their work to practice yoga or tai chi, even for just a few minutes at a time.

A sluggish gallbladder can play a role in compromised production of bile, which is crucial for digestion, and lack of bile could be a causal factor in SIBO. Food allergies can also play a major role in gallbladder issues, including pain.

The main foods that can cause such allergies are pork, hybridized wheat, and cow-dairy products. Beets, non-GMO lecithin, and bitters, such as dandelion leaves and arugula, as well as supplements such as choline, all assist a sluggish gallbladder to function properly.

Conclusion

The bottom line: I encourage all my clients and readers to do the vagus-nerve breathing exercise outlined at the beginning of this article as the core part of a daily stress-management program. It is important to do it as often during the day and evening as possible. It can help improve digestive health and alleviate paresis, and potentially SIBO and inflammation.

It is not a stressful activity, and the rewards are amazing, even if subtle at first. One of my clients who started doing the vagus nerve breathing exercise each day, noticed obvious relief after only a few days. Once breathing is part of your regimen, you will find that good digestive health through good nutrition, posture-related awareness, meditation, and exercises, such as yoga and tai chi, will be all the more effective.

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Shannon McRae, PhD, is a psychologist, nutritionist, and medical intuitive who practices primarily via telephone and Skype with clients worldwide. Her book, The Healing Effects of Energy Medicine: Memoirs of a Medical Intuitive (Quest Books, 2015), is available here at amazon.com as well as booksellers nationwide; it is also now available in a new German edition (Aquamarin Verlag, 2016).