How Seasonal Affective Disorder Affects the Vagus Nerve

Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and psoriasis are examples of autoimmune diseases or disorders. There are many other examples and they all affect your body differently, but they all have one thing in common. Your body is attacking itself. As a result, you experience a diminished quality of life. Perhaps you can’t play with your kids as much as you want, you can’t exercise as you would like to, or maybe you can’t hike as far as you want.

Your immune system is designed to keep you healthy by identifying and attacking foreign bacteria and viruses. In autoimmune disorders, your immune system becomes overactive and misidentifies your own cells as foreign and attacks them. Chronic and excessive inflammation is common in autoimmune disorders and can result in immune dysregulation.

The Vagus Nerve recruits white blood cells to fight infections, triggers the parasympathetic pathways to activate your immune system, senses inflammation in your body, and informs the brain. It also mediates an anti-inflammatory mechanism known as the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway.

A decrease in vagal tone can promote the inflammatory process. Therefore, stimulation of the vagus nerve, as with a chiropractic adjustment, modulates the inflammatory pathways providing an anti-inflammatory effect and regulating the immune response.

When you experience a flare-up of your condition, schedule a boost adjustment. That will provide extra stimulation of your vagus nerve, reducing inflammation and regulating the response of your immune system to foreign invaders.

You can also schedule a boost adjustment when experiencing more stress than normal. Stress exacerbates disorders and weakens your immune system. Extra activation of your vagus nerve during such a period will boost the function of your immune system for an appropriate immunological response.