Does anyone else have trouble noticing signs of stress? Most days, I feel pretty aware of/attuned to my body. Still, the concept of being 'stressed' (outside of the rare occasions when it feels like there's an anvil on my chest) feels vague and wholly unhelpful to me. This might be a stupid question, but does stress feel different for everyone? What symptoms get categorized as 'stress'? It feels like I could point to any feeling in the body and call it stress. Does anyone have any clarity to offer on this?
Not sure if this any of this will be helpful to you, but I find that I can easily get tuned out of any and all feelings (including stress) when I’m busy. Illness has forced me to build a lot more space into my day (or more accurately, to bulldoze my life and only rebuild certain parts of it), and in that space, I check in with myself so much more than I used to . . . take a few mindful breaths, notice how my body is feeling, consciously release tension, etc. As a result, I feel much more aware of my full range of emotions than I used to, and that means I tend to notice stress very quickly now. For me, I experience mild stress as tension, especially in my shoulders, neck, and low back. If it’s more extreme stress, then I also have sensation in the chest and over all adrenaline-y feeling that can make me dizzy (I have POTS). My brain also gets louder with less space between thoughts. More often than not, my body and brain feel like pretty relaxed, spacious places now. Stress feels to me like a constriction of space.
Excellent timing on this, Rachel. I’m currently reading Polyvagal Practices by Deb Dana, and it is filled with all sorts of vagus nerve exercises and habits to form.
I've heard that book is excellent! I was just skimming it last night in a bookstore but didn't end up purchasing... curious to hear how you're finding it so far.
As a nervous system regulation evangelist, I heartily endorse your exploration!! I have an NSR Wiki on my website with lots of info and resources, all of which I have vetted. Free because it's important. stacib.com/nsr-wiki
This is brilliant Staci. I have worked with Irene Lyon for years but haven't really explored NS Reg beyond her stuff. Would it be OK to share this on my Resource page within my substack and your substack page for my readers please? 💜
Vagus nerve exercises have been helpful for my POTS! Not as helpful as medication but still— a great tool to have. I find humming and singing “voooo” for a few minutes to be surprisingly effective in calming down my sympathetic nervous system. I have some vague nerve meditations on Insight Timer that I do daily and I’m eager to check out the ones you linked! Thanks ❤️
I'm sure you're on to something here. My blood pressure is highly sensitive to my stress level. I check it most mornings. Often, the first measurement will be in stage 2 hypertension territory, but a couple of rounds of vagus nerve stimulating breathing will bring it down to normal in a couple of minutes.
There are times when I know it's going to be high, and that my underlying anxiety level is such that it's not going to come down. Unfortunately, one of those times was in my cardiologist's office earlier this week. I told her what I was feeling, and showed her my results from home, and we were good. I'm grateful for a doctor who listens.
So yes, that vagus nerve is real!
I'm trying to work on adjusting my overall response to stress, rather than rely on hacks to fix it. That's the work of a lifetime in a world that sees profit in stress.
Hi John, Martha Beck has a mini meditation that I find calms me (& my HR or BP) very quickly. “Can I imagine the space between my eyes? Can I imagine the space in the distance between my eyes?” Its based on some Princeton research but I don’t recall the authors.
You nailed it Rachel when said we can hear something a kazillion times and then suddenly it sinks in. Thanks for this info about the meditation, I use Insight Timer daily so will look for this one.
Thanks for this reminder. I first learned of the vagus nerve and it's importance when I was working with a yoga instructor in some one on one sessions. I would see her after work, usually rushing to get home to make it in time to our 90-minute session. I was so stressed and wound up at the beginning of one session she started working on different parts of my body to specifically work on my vagus nerve. I think it's also why the cold immersion dipping I do in the mornings is helping me so much. It activates the nerve. I have no idea how it all works, but I'm glad to see it's helping you. I'm going to try to eye movement one tonight!
I never knew the translation as wandering, but of course! Thank you so much for this.
You may be interested in Dr Stephen Porges work on Polyvagal Theory. He developed a listening protocol to help with nervous system regulation and it’s called The Safe and Sound Protocol. My son completed it and found it so helpful 💛
I have been working with regulating my nervous system for about 5 years. It takes time and patience to re-regulate and it's really important to build capacity in our systems first by going slow to avoid too much stress coming out all at once and overwhelming us and potentially making things worse. There are two branches to the vagus nerve. One serves the organs below the diaphragm. The other the organs above it. If you want you can find out more in this free video series. https://irenelyon.com/healing-trauma-freeresources/
I'm in the process (just beginning, actually) of regulating my nervous system. It is severely damaged from childhood trauma. I'm going to check out the series. Thanks for sharing!
When I read this, “It was four minutes long and involved looking (with your eyes) as far as possible to the right for one minute…” I thought it had to be the same meditation I do. Sure enough, it is!
I love the vagus nerve and learning all about it!
I often suffer from Vasovagal syncope. That's how I first became acquainted with the vagus nerve. Now, I'm trying to use it to heal my much-damaged nervous system.
Megan, I can't thank you enough for mentioning your vasovagal syncope. I also suffer from this and it is truly terrifying. It's been diagnosed each time as a syncope episode but never as vasovagal syncope... but upon reading a description online, that's gotta be it. I'm just curious - do you find that your heart is 'sensitive' in general? Do you get heart palpitations when stressed, like PVCs or PACs?
Oh, I'm so glad it was helpful. I went for so many years thinking I was crazy when these episodes happened. I thought it was anxiety until it was explained to me. The funny thing is deep breaths or other anxiety-reducing techniques actually make the episode worse. Now, when this occurs, I do some type of movement to increase my blood pressure. I'm not sure I would say my heart is sensitive. I suffered from anxiety and panic attacks for years, so my heart rate still tends to skyrocket quickly.
I thought I was going crazy, too! Or that something was wrong with my heart to make my blood pressure tank like that. I'm with you - breathing does not help the matter, after years of panic attacks I do find that my heart rate skyrockets at the first sign of, well, just about anything. She's on high alert, that lady.
Thanks for bringing this up. I too have issues with this. I’ve not had a definitive diagnosis so it’s either vasovagal syncope or hyper POTS or a mix of the two 🤷♀️ I’m going to try the meditation and do more research.
Tried vagus nerve exercises for panic attacks a few years ago. It didnt work as well as other visualization and breathing exercises did at the time. I have been curious to try it again since a lot of that anxiety is much, much less. Thanks for this reminder.
Does anyone else have trouble noticing signs of stress? Most days, I feel pretty aware of/attuned to my body. Still, the concept of being 'stressed' (outside of the rare occasions when it feels like there's an anvil on my chest) feels vague and wholly unhelpful to me. This might be a stupid question, but does stress feel different for everyone? What symptoms get categorized as 'stress'? It feels like I could point to any feeling in the body and call it stress. Does anyone have any clarity to offer on this?
Not sure if this any of this will be helpful to you, but I find that I can easily get tuned out of any and all feelings (including stress) when I’m busy. Illness has forced me to build a lot more space into my day (or more accurately, to bulldoze my life and only rebuild certain parts of it), and in that space, I check in with myself so much more than I used to . . . take a few mindful breaths, notice how my body is feeling, consciously release tension, etc. As a result, I feel much more aware of my full range of emotions than I used to, and that means I tend to notice stress very quickly now. For me, I experience mild stress as tension, especially in my shoulders, neck, and low back. If it’s more extreme stress, then I also have sensation in the chest and over all adrenaline-y feeling that can make me dizzy (I have POTS). My brain also gets louder with less space between thoughts. More often than not, my body and brain feel like pretty relaxed, spacious places now. Stress feels to me like a constriction of space.
It's a increased physical or mental tension ....😄
Excellent timing on this, Rachel. I’m currently reading Polyvagal Practices by Deb Dana, and it is filled with all sorts of vagus nerve exercises and habits to form.
I've heard that book is excellent! I was just skimming it last night in a bookstore but didn't end up purchasing... curious to hear how you're finding it so far.
I’m learning so much from it! Definitely recommend picking it up. It’s a keeper.
As a nervous system regulation evangelist, I heartily endorse your exploration!! I have an NSR Wiki on my website with lots of info and resources, all of which I have vetted. Free because it's important. stacib.com/nsr-wiki
This is incredible, thank you Staci!
This is brilliant Staci. I have worked with Irene Lyon for years but haven't really explored NS Reg beyond her stuff. Would it be OK to share this on my Resource page within my substack and your substack page for my readers please? 💜
Absolutely. She's on there of course! I love her work. Thanks so much!
Thank you!
My pleasure. I believe it's too important a subject to gatekeep in any way.
Wow, this is great!
Hope it's helpful. 😊
Vagus nerve exercises have been helpful for my POTS! Not as helpful as medication but still— a great tool to have. I find humming and singing “voooo” for a few minutes to be surprisingly effective in calming down my sympathetic nervous system. I have some vague nerve meditations on Insight Timer that I do daily and I’m eager to check out the ones you linked! Thanks ❤️
Fellow POTSy, too! It seems like there are so many of us on Substack!
Another POTSy here! I’d love any recommendations for Insight Timer you have.
Thank you for posting this!
I'm sure you're on to something here. My blood pressure is highly sensitive to my stress level. I check it most mornings. Often, the first measurement will be in stage 2 hypertension territory, but a couple of rounds of vagus nerve stimulating breathing will bring it down to normal in a couple of minutes.
There are times when I know it's going to be high, and that my underlying anxiety level is such that it's not going to come down. Unfortunately, one of those times was in my cardiologist's office earlier this week. I told her what I was feeling, and showed her my results from home, and we were good. I'm grateful for a doctor who listens.
So yes, that vagus nerve is real!
I'm trying to work on adjusting my overall response to stress, rather than rely on hacks to fix it. That's the work of a lifetime in a world that sees profit in stress.
Hi John, Martha Beck has a mini meditation that I find calms me (& my HR or BP) very quickly. “Can I imagine the space between my eyes? Can I imagine the space in the distance between my eyes?” Its based on some Princeton research but I don’t recall the authors.
Thanks Michelle. The connection is so strong.
Super interesting! The link between the eyes and the vagus nerve must explain how EMDR works (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_movement_desensitization_and_reprocessing#:~:text=EMDR%20involves%20focusing%20on%20traumatic,for%20some%20other%20psychological%20conditions.)
Thanks for sharing!
You nailed it Rachel when said we can hear something a kazillion times and then suddenly it sinks in. Thanks for this info about the meditation, I use Insight Timer daily so will look for this one.
Thanks for this reminder. I first learned of the vagus nerve and it's importance when I was working with a yoga instructor in some one on one sessions. I would see her after work, usually rushing to get home to make it in time to our 90-minute session. I was so stressed and wound up at the beginning of one session she started working on different parts of my body to specifically work on my vagus nerve. I think it's also why the cold immersion dipping I do in the mornings is helping me so much. It activates the nerve. I have no idea how it all works, but I'm glad to see it's helping you. I'm going to try to eye movement one tonight!
I never knew the translation as wandering, but of course! Thank you so much for this.
You may be interested in Dr Stephen Porges work on Polyvagal Theory. He developed a listening protocol to help with nervous system regulation and it’s called The Safe and Sound Protocol. My son completed it and found it so helpful 💛
I have been working with regulating my nervous system for about 5 years. It takes time and patience to re-regulate and it's really important to build capacity in our systems first by going slow to avoid too much stress coming out all at once and overwhelming us and potentially making things worse. There are two branches to the vagus nerve. One serves the organs below the diaphragm. The other the organs above it. If you want you can find out more in this free video series. https://irenelyon.com/healing-trauma-freeresources/
I'm in the process (just beginning, actually) of regulating my nervous system. It is severely damaged from childhood trauma. I'm going to check out the series. Thanks for sharing!
You're welcome. It's been life changing for me and still work to do. 😁
When I read this, “It was four minutes long and involved looking (with your eyes) as far as possible to the right for one minute…” I thought it had to be the same meditation I do. Sure enough, it is!
I love the vagus nerve and learning all about it!
I often suffer from Vasovagal syncope. That's how I first became acquainted with the vagus nerve. Now, I'm trying to use it to heal my much-damaged nervous system.
Thanks for this post!
Megan, I can't thank you enough for mentioning your vasovagal syncope. I also suffer from this and it is truly terrifying. It's been diagnosed each time as a syncope episode but never as vasovagal syncope... but upon reading a description online, that's gotta be it. I'm just curious - do you find that your heart is 'sensitive' in general? Do you get heart palpitations when stressed, like PVCs or PACs?
Oh, I'm so glad it was helpful. I went for so many years thinking I was crazy when these episodes happened. I thought it was anxiety until it was explained to me. The funny thing is deep breaths or other anxiety-reducing techniques actually make the episode worse. Now, when this occurs, I do some type of movement to increase my blood pressure. I'm not sure I would say my heart is sensitive. I suffered from anxiety and panic attacks for years, so my heart rate still tends to skyrocket quickly.
I thought I was going crazy, too! Or that something was wrong with my heart to make my blood pressure tank like that. I'm with you - breathing does not help the matter, after years of panic attacks I do find that my heart rate skyrockets at the first sign of, well, just about anything. She's on high alert, that lady.
Thanks for bringing this up. I too have issues with this. I’ve not had a definitive diagnosis so it’s either vasovagal syncope or hyper POTS or a mix of the two 🤷♀️ I’m going to try the meditation and do more research.
Tried vagus nerve exercises for panic attacks a few years ago. It didnt work as well as other visualization and breathing exercises did at the time. I have been curious to try it again since a lot of that anxiety is much, much less. Thanks for this reminder.