MWC Networking Brunch: Doctor to share a key to physical and mental health

Shaheena Khan, M.D., will discuss how to use the body’s natural mechanisms to prevent and address health issues at the September MWC Networking Brunch.

Shaheena Khan, M.D., an assistant professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin and a hospitalist at Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa, is on a mission to share a key to physical and psychological health. The guest speaker at the Muslim Women’s Coalition’s Networking Brunch will present The Calm Code: Unlock the Power of Your Vagus Nerve.

The vagus nerve, the longest cranial nerve in the human body, running from the brain to the intestines, is the main component of the parasympathetic nervous system, which oversees a vast array of crucial bodily functions, including control of mood, immune response, digestion and heart rate. “The brain-gut axis is becoming increasingly important as a therapeutic target for gastrointestinal and psychiatric disorders, such as inflammatory bowel disease, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder,” according to a 2018 article in Front Psychiatry, found in the National Library of Medicine.

“This nerve plays important roles between the gut, the brain and inflammation,” the article states. New treatment options involving stimulation of the vagus nerve and meditation techniques “have been shown to be beneficial in mood and anxiety disorders” as well as “other conditions associated with increased inflammation” … “Finally, the vagus nerve also represents an important link between nutrition and psychiatric, neurological and inflammatory diseases.”

At the September MWC Network Brunch, Dr. Khan will teach guests ways to activate their vagus nerve to help regulate heart rate, blood pressure, sleep, mood, breathing, bladder function, digestion and the immune system to benefit the body’s overall balance and well-being. 

The brunch, catered by Taqwa Bakery and Restaurant, will be held from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m., Friday, Sept. 25 at the Islamic Resource Center, 5235 S. 27th St., Greenfield. Register here. A $15 payment will be taken at the door.

Dr. Khan’s journey to good health

Wisconsin Muslim Journal interviewed Shaheena Khan, M.D., M.S., Tuesday to learn about the personal journey that set her on the mission of sharing a vital key to physical and mental health. Here are the highlights:

What experiences have you had that inspired you to share this secret to mental and physical health?

Walking the lines of illness and health for the past two decades, alongside going to medical school and doing allopathic (conventional) medicine, and also looking into the research about what exactly benefits people in terms of longevity and chronic disease control and stress relief. 

I found there are quite a few differences between what I learned in medical school and residency, the way we do things in mainstream medicine, and other information I’ve found. Traditional medical treatments are based on randomized, controlled trials. Guess what? You can only do those trials when you have a lot of money to spend.  Who is going to spend that kind of money? The pharmaceutical companies. 

Fortunately, there are other researchers in this country and around the world doing research on longevity and disease prevention. What I have found by looking at their research and experimenting on myself is that you can really prevent and reverse a lot of disease, and optimize your mind and body in ways you never thought possible.

The MWC Networking Brunch at the Islamic Resource Center is a monthly program open to everyone, offering opportunities to connect, learn and have a lively discussion.

What have you learned that would surprise us?

We think you’re supposed to get sicker as you get older. You’re supposed to have memory loss. You’re supposed to get depressed with all the stressors around you. We’ve got all these medicines to help you. Take pill X, Y, Z for your ailments A, B, C. 

No one really tells you your body already has these amazing mechanisms that are built in to solve a lot of your problems and to prevent others from arising.

I’ve found and used a lot of these mechanisms. I haven’t really discovered anything. I have just learned what the literature says and tried a lot of those principles on myself.

I also stumbled across “functional medicine.” It aims to restore function by looking for the root causes of disease. I found that for me a root cause was that I was too stressed out, living in a “sympathetic dominant state.” That’s where your body is in fight or flight mode, which we are only supposed to activate when there is an immediate threat, like a bear running at you or someone holding a gun to your head. When the danger is gone, we’re supposed to switch back to a healing state, the “parasympathetic state.” I learned we can activate the parasympathetic state at will. That’s what this talk stems from.

What are the benefits of activating the parasympathetic state?

It can improve your sleep, your memory, your focus, your cognition. It affects inflammation throughout the body. It even affects hormonal health. There are just so many mechanisms this nerve impacts, so it is literally the biggest bang for your buck. 

It’s not something that’s out of reach of anyone. It’s something I wish everyone learned in third grade. It’s that important.

But aren’t many diseases caused by genetics? How can you change genetics?

Diseases are sometimes caused by genetics. But your lifestyle pushes your body to turn on the genes that’ll give you that disease. You can keep those genes quiet by knowing the right lifestyle tweaks.

Please tell us more about your personal experience.

I grew up with a lot of stress and it continued into my twenties and thirties. Then I discovered the vagus nerve and that I could activate it. By activating it day in and day out, multiple times a day, you teach your body to stay in the parasympathetic state, which helps you recover from stress.

Because I spent decades of my life constantly stressed out, I was a very sick 20-something-year-old, which turned into an even sicker 30-something-year-old. I ended up with a disease called ulcerative colitis, which is severe inflammation of the colon. It just kept getting worse. I couldn’t really control my symptoms very well with the pills that they were giving me. The stresses of medical school and residency made it worse.

It was going to leach into being a very, very sick 40-something-year-old, but I put a stop to that. And one of the ways I did it is with vagus nerve training. Now I’m completely off all my pills and medication.

So, I created this lecture and the handouts that go with it to give people a basic overview of how to activate the vagus nerve. I hope they will get excited about learning more about it and do their own research as well.

The worksheet I’ll share is a little companion for you to remind yourself, “Hey, I could be doing this, this and this right now.”