Mary Koska shows how a cold pack on the neck or chest activates the vagus nerve and calms an agitated child. Apply it early when you notice signs of upset, or use it during a full meltdown. Cool baths work too.
Hey, Mary Koska here. And I am going to show you how you can literally cool down a meltdown with a cold pack. And so what you can do is you can put it on the back of the neck like this, or you can put it like on the chest like this. And what it does is it activates the vagus nerve. And the vagus nerve innervates all of our organs. It's what's making the heart beat faster. It innervates all of our guts, our digestion. And so when our kids are in fight flight, their vagus nerve is going like a little crazy. And so what happens with the cold is initially with the cold, it creates a very slight stress response because you're like, oh, that's cold. And then immediately after it activates the vagus nerve in a way that calms the whole nervous system. So it has this rebound fact that just is the opposite. And it can do wonders. And you can also do like a cool bath or shower, that sort of thing. So it's really helpful with cooling down meltdowns. It's always best if you can do it before they go full blown. So, you know, if you can see your child getting a little agitated, irritable, you can do this early on, but you can also, they can just be on a full on meltdown and this might make them feel better. So it's just one more tool in your toolbox, something to try.
