Key Points
All complex body systems require the equivalent of brakes and a gas pedal to maintain control, and the vagus nerve serves these roles for many of our innate responses, nearly all of which occur involuntarily..
Signals between the brainstem and the body travel up and down the nerve to twist your gut for digestion, marshal your immune system to keep microbial threats at bay, pace your heart, and dial your blood pressure up and down..
The calming action of the vagus nerve is the biological basis for new therapies that aim to stimulate the nerve to quell seizures, relieve anxiety disorders, cool the bodys inflammatory response, and staunch a migraine attack, among a long list of potential treatments..
In some corners of the internet, so-called polyvagal therapyphysical or breathing exercises that some claim reset the vagus nerveis proposed to address just about any disorder of the mind or body..
Without the expansive domain and potent impact of the bodys longest nerve, the crucial, highly coordinated link between brain and body would be broken, and many of our core emotions and experiencesfear, pleasure, rapid response to threats, the calming aftermathwould fail...
