Students Have Some Nerve: Exploring Possibilities of Polyvagal-Informed Strategies in the K-12 Classroom

(Note: The following is the first installment of a three-part series based on my upcoming book, Calming Student Stress in K-12 Classrooms: Mindfulness, Meditation, and Other Strategies to Reduce Anxiety and Enhance Learning, due out by Rowman & Littlefield in early 2024).

Despite coming out of the pandemic and returning to in-person learning, stress, anxiety, and trauma remain prevalent in the classroom. For example, according to a survey of 220,000 students at 845 schools, “depression, stress, and anxiety is the most prevalent obstacle to learning for secondary students at every grade level, six through twelve.”        

Thanks to neuroscience, we know that stress can hijack the brain’s amygdala or alarm system connected to the fight-or-flight response, and shut down the pre-frontal cortex, which is responsible for executive functioning.  Therefore, keeping stress down and doing everything we can to create a classroom environment that promotes safety, connection, and regulation of the nervous system is a priority these days.

Classroom practices such as meditation, mindfulness, and breath work can help students regulate and de-stress. However, there is emerging research about a lesser-known approach that might help “de-stressify” your classroom. It has to do with what is known as the vagus nerve, which is the 10th cranial nerve that runs down from the back of our head to all our major organs. The vagus nerve is the main component of the parasympathetic nervous system (responsible for rest-and-relaxation, the opposite of its more intense cousin, fight-or-flight response) and oversees functioning of internal organs, including:

• digestion
• heart rate
• breathing
• immune response
• cardiovascular activity

The vagus nerve also forms a link between our gut and brain (go here for some nice visuals of the vagus nerve and nervous system). This nerve plays a major role in returning our bodies from a stressed state back to a recovery, regulated state. Through the vagal nerve, our bodies continuously report back to our brain, letting it know whether to remain in a stress state or shift to a relaxed, parasympathetic state. Everything from how we emotionally express ourselves, to how we breath, to what we digest, provides a literal feedback loop for how our bodies should respond.

Preliminary research suggests that stimulation of the vagus nerve (through sending electrical impulses to this area) can treatment anxiety, depression, and digestion issues. Stimulating the vagus nerve can increase what is known as vagal tone, which builds our resiliency or ability to cope with stressors and bounce back. Think of it like building a muscle, but in this case, a stress-coping, nervous system regulating muscle.

To help students understand how their vagus nerve and nervous system works in relation to stress, we can share what is known as the Polyvagal Theory, introduced by neuroscientist Stephen Porges. Polyvagal Theory can be considered the science of safety. With an understanding of our autonomic nervous system, we can teach students how we move through states of engagement/connection, mobilization (being triggered), and disconnection based on how we body-scan our environment for cues of safety or danger (called neuroception).

With this knowledge and practice of vagal-based techniques and other approaches such as mindfulness and meditation, we can become more versed at learning to shift between different nervous system states, knowing when we move down the nervous system ladder to more stressed or withdrawal-type states and how to navigate back to regulated states of well-being and social connection.

In terms of the classroom, we can take the Polyvagal Theory and “kid-friendly” the information by creating charts with colors to represent each nervous system state and assign different words or phrases and animals and symbols for each state (for example, a turtle with its head in the shell could represent the withdrawal or dissociation state). For younger students, this could even take the form of stuffed animals or comforting objects.

To fully understand the Polyvagal Ladder, we need to delve into more about the vagal nerve (the two parts), the automatic nervous system, and what is known as the Hierarchy of Stress Response. As educators, we can then apply this framework as a guide to help students regulate and implement stress-reducing activities throughout the school day.

We covered a lot so far, so we will save that information for the next installment of this blog series.

Steve Haberlin is an assistant professor of education at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. He is the author of Meditation in the College Classroom: A Pedagogical Tool to Help Students De-Stress, Focus, and Connect. He is currently writing a book for elementary and secondary educators called Calming Student Stress in K-12 Classrooms: Mindfulness, Meditation, and Other Strategies to Reduce Anxiety and Enhance Learning,