Living in today's world, anxiety is more prevalent than ever. Nearly 1 out of 10 people in Denmark feel anxiety at some point in their life and the Mental Health Foundation reports that 1 in 5 people in the UK feel anxious 'nearly all of the time' or 'a lot of the time.’
While feeling anxious is a normal part of being human, chronic anxiety can harm your health and well-being. It can keep your body in a constant fight or flight mode, perceiving everything as a threat. This affects your physical, behavioural, and cognitive systems.
Physically, when danger is perceived, the brain signals the autonomic nervous system, consisting of the sympathetic branch (activates the body for action) and the parasympathetic branch (relaxes the body after the threat is gone). Symptoms of the sympathetic branch activation include breathlessness, elevated heart rate, dizziness, nausea, stomach ache, muscle tension, and excessive sweating. Prolonged activation can have lasting effects on health.
Considering the prevalence of anxiety in our modern lives, it's crucial to activate our parasympathetic branch to counteract these effects. One effective way is to stimulate the vagus nerve, a key player in the parasympathetic nervous system.
Ways to activate the vagus nerve:
- Slow, deep breaths
- Meditation
- Being in nature
- Ear seeding!
Ear seeding involves stimulating the vagus nerve on the ear's surface, particularlyon the concha, intertragic notch, and tragus. The Tranquilizer point is especially effective, offering a calming effect.
A 2019 study at Leeds University revealed that stimulating an area of the outer ear for 15 minutes daily for two weeks reduced the "fight or flight" response, improving sleep, mood, and autonomic balance compared to a placebo group.
If you're dealing with anxiety, consider trying ear seeds!
(For more information and articles check our “because science says so”)
Our kits include different protocols for: anxiety, stress, immunity, digestion, memory/focus and more. Give them a try, and we'd love to hear about your experience.
