What Is Vagal Tone and How It Helps You Recover From Stress

DISCLAIMER: This content is for educational use only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult your healthcare provider for personalized guidance.

Life is full of both beauty and stress. What matters is how your body bounces back after challenges. That recovery depends on your vagus nerve and something called vagal tone.

In this blog, we’ll break down what vagal tone means and share easy ways to improve it for better stress recovery.

What Is the Vagus Nerve?

The vagus nerve is the longest cranial nerve in the body, extending from the brainstem through the neck and into the chest and abdomen. It acts as a bridge between mind and body, carrying signals that regulate your heartbeat, digestion, and breathing. When life feels overwhelming, the vagus nerve helps guide you back to peace by moving you out of “fight or flight” and into the steady rhythm of “rest and digest.” (1)

What Is Vagal Tone?

Vagal tone describes how well your vagus nerve is functioning. A higher vagal tone means your body can shift from stress back into recovery more quickly, while lower vagal tone makes it harder to calm down. (2)

Benefits of High Vagal Tone

When the vagal tone is strong, your body is better able to recover and thrive. High vagal tone is linked to:

• Calmer stress responses and less anxiety
• Steadier heart rate and blood pressure
• Better digestion and gut health
• A more resilient immune system (3)

Low Vagal Tone

On the contrary, low vagal tone makes it more difficult for the body to return to balance after stress. It can show up as:

• Feeling stuck in “fight or flight”
• Digestive problems like bloating or discomfort
• Higher levels of anxiety or mood swings
• More inflammation and lower resilience (4)

How to Build High Vagal Tone for Stress Recovery

Vagal tone can improve with daily habits that train your body to return to balance more easily after stress. Here are a few simple habits to practice in your daily life. 

• Breath work and HRV
  • Slow, steady breathing with longer exhales directly stimulates the vagus nerve. This helps lower heart rate and improve heart rate variability, which is one of the clearest signs of resilience in the nervous system. Even a few minutes a day can make a difference.
• Cold Exposure
  • A splash of cold water on the face or ending your shower with cold water stimulates the vagus nerve in a healthy way. The sudden change teaches your body how to move from stress back into recovery mode more quickly.
• Social Connection
  • The vagus nerve is closely tied to facial expressions, vocal tone, and safe touch. Eye contact, laughter, and time with people who make you feel supported naturally activate the vagus nerve and help your body feel safe.
• Mindful Presence
  • Practices such as meditation, prayer, or a body scan bring awareness to the present moment. By lowering stress hormones, they allow the vagus nerve to guide you back into a calmer state. Even five minutes of mindful attention can reset your system.
• Rhythm and Rest
  • The vagus nerve thrives on consistency. Regular sleep, steady mealtimes, and daily routines create predictable rhythms that signal safety to your nervous system. This stability gives your body the foundation it needs to recover more easily from stress.

Every time you practice returning to calm, you strengthen your vagal tone. These small choices add up to a nervous system that is more adaptable and steady in the face of stress. (5)

For those looking for added support, SENSATE® is designed to help stimulate vagus nerve activity, calm the nervous system, and support smoother stress recovery.