The vagus nerve is one of the most important nerves in the body. As a primary component of the autonomic nervous system, it connects the brain to major organs including the heart, lungs, and digestive system. The vagus nerve helps coordinate essential functions ranging from heart rate and digestion to inflammation control and the body’s stress response.
One of the vagus nerve’s most important roles is activating the parasympathetic nervous system, often referred to as the “rest-and-digest” state. When the body enters fight-or-flight mode (sympathetic activation) in response to stress or perceived danger, the vagus nerve helps restore balance once the threat has passed. It slows the heart rate, supports healthy digestion, promotes recovery, and helps regulate inflammation.
Vagal tone is a term used to describe how effectively the vagus nerve communicates between the brain and the body. Higher vagal tone is associated with a greater ability to shift from survival mode into a calm, restorative state, allowing the nervous system to regulate key bodily functions more efficiently.
Ideally, the autonomic nervous system maintains a healthy balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic activity. This allows the body to respond appropriately to stress when necessary while also relaxing, recovering, and healing once the stressor has been removed.
Why People Experience Lower Vagal Tone
The science of the brain is becoming increasingly popular, and modern research continues to validate concepts that neurological chiropractors have discussed for decades. One of the most significant discoveries supporting this understanding of the nervous system is neuroplasticity.
Neuroplasticity describes the brain’s ability to adapt and reorganize itself. Whatever is repeatedly practiced in the brain becomes stronger and more efficient, while underused pathways gradually weaken and become dormant.
Many aspects of modern life work against our biology. Particularly in America, people are exposed to a volume of chronic stress that previous generations rarely encountered. Research continues to demonstrate the profound impact this constant stress has on brain function, nervous system regulation, and overall health.
This continual exposure to stress keeps the body in a state of sympathetic activation, commonly known as fight-or-flight mode. The body remains alert, defensive, and focused on protection in response to its environment. In itself, this is not a problem—this response is exactly what the nervous system was designed to do.
The problem arises when survival mode becomes the dominant pattern. Through neuroplasticity, the brain becomes increasingly efficient at producing stress responses while the pathways responsible for rest, recovery, and healing become less active over time. Restful sleep becomes more difficult, burnout occurs more easily, and the body’s ability to adapt to stress declines.
As this pattern persists, chronic inflammation can increase, autonomic dysfunction can develop, and conditions such as dysautonomia and autoimmune disease become more common. The body begins to lose its ability to transition efficiently between stress and recovery.
In some cases, the nervous system will even shift into a protective parasympathetic shutdown state as a form of self-preservation. Rather than a healthy restorative state, this resembles a numb or disconnected response and is often associated with symptoms of depression, fatigue, low motivation, and emotional withdrawal.
Because the parasympathetic nervous system remains underutilized for extended periods, functions associated with vagal activity can become less efficient. This is neuroplasticity at work. The neural pathways responsible for survival become stronger and more dominant, while the pathways responsible for recovery become weaker. Over time, the nervous system becomes conditioned for survival rather than healing.
Common Approaches To Increase Vagal Tone
There are countless health trends sweeping the internet that leverage the latest discoveries in neuroscience to promote their therapy, treatment, or product. As soon as the vagus nerve becomes a popular topic, companies emerge claiming they can “hack the vagus nerve” or “reset the nervous system”.
While many of these therapies may provide temporary benefits, there is an important distinction between creating a short-term physiological response and creating lasting neurological change. True nervous system healing requires more than a momentary shift in how you feel; it requires the formation of new neural pathways through neuroplasticity.
Practices such as red light therapy, cold plunging, breathwork, and other wellness interventions may produce a temporary sense of calm, restoration, or euphoria. However, a single experience does not create long-term adaptation. Just because I lift weights once does not mean I suddenly develop lean muscle tone.
The same principle applies to the nervous system. Lasting changes in vagal tone and autonomic regulation require consistent input that teaches the brain a new pattern of safety and recovery. Without repeated neurological reinforcement, the brain will continue to default to the stress patterns it has practiced the most.
This is where many wellness trends fall short. They may temporarily influence how the body feels, but they often fail to address the deeper neurological patterns that keep the nervous system locked in survival mode. Lasting change occurs when the brain begins forming new pathways that support regulation, recovery, and adaptability rather than stress, protection, and survival.
Restoring The Function Of The Vagus Nerve
Restoring balance to your nervous system requires working with your body’s physiology, not trying to override it. Your body was designed to heal. Often, the first step is learning to listen to the signals it has been sending all along.
The simplicity of neurological chiropractic is that each adjustment communicates directly with the nervous system. Our doctors are not simply adjusting what hurts or what appears restricted. They are assessing where the nervous system is signaling an overload of stress. Through a gentle, tested technique, the adjustment helps restore communication within the system so the brain and body can better coordinate healing, adaptation, and overall function using the mechanisms already built into the body.
As stress is cleared from the nervous system, vagal function can begin to reengage. Recovery processes that have been underutilized are given the opportunity to become active again. Through neuroplasticity, the nervous system can begin forming new patterns that support healing rather than survival. When combined with healthy lifestyle changes, this process often becomes even more effective.
The journey is not always linear. Healing rarely follows a straight path, and the nervous system is not a one-size-fits-all computer program. It feels, adapts, and responds based on the experiences that shaped it.
Sometimes this process can look like symptoms resurfacing or emotions becoming more noticeable. Rather than a setback, these experiences may reflect the body’s renewed ability to process and adapt using the restorative systems that have been dormant for so long, including those associated with healthy vagus nerve function.
One of the core philosophies of neurological chiropractic is that the goal is not dependence, but resilience. As the nervous system becomes more balanced and adaptable, many people find they need less frequent care over time because healthy function becomes easier to maintain.
Regular assessments remain important, just as regular exercise helps maintain physical fitness. Monitoring the nervous system for stress overload helps reinforce healthy neural pathways and support long-term nervous system regulation. Over time, as the burden of chronic stress decreases, resilience improves, and healthy function becomes more consistent.
If you’re curious about the health of your vagus nerve and nervous system, schedule an assessment today. Our team can help you better understand how stress may be affecting your body’s ability to heal and what steps you can take to support lasting nervous system regulation.
Shaw, C. & Longman, D. “Humans are built for nature, not modern life.” ScienceDaily, December 2025. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/12/251207031335.htm
“Neurosustainability: How modern urban environments impact neuroplasticity.” NIH/PubMed Central, 2024. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11390526/
“What the Latest Reports Say About Stress in America.” The American Institute of Stress, August 2025. https://www.stress.org/news/what-the-latest-reports-say-about-stress-in-america/
Authors, et al. (2025). The neuroplastic brain: Current breakthroughs and emerging frontiers. Brain Research, 149643. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2025.149643