03/20/2024
🩺 Let’s talk about the vagus nerve 🧠
Never heard of it? It’s not often talked about because it doesn’t necessarily ‘cause’ illness, but it is important in so many aspects of our health. The vagus nerve is the main nerve of the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest) and counterbalances the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight). It goes from the brain to all the organs, branching off into thousands of nerve fibers.
You can think of it as the key to letting stress roll off your back. Here are just 4 ways vagal tone affects health:
🫀 Heart Health - The vagus nerve directly innervates the heart, influencing heart rate and blood pressure.
🦠 Digestion - Gut hormones and neurotransmitters trigger nerve endings in the vagus nerve to send signals back to the brain to regulate gut motility, secretions, and more. This is what we call the gut-brain axis!
🏃🏾♀️ Metabolic Health - The vagus nerve communicates from the brain to the gut, liver, pancreas and then back again. It helps to regulate hunger, insulin, blood sugar, lipids, and inflammation.
🧠 Mood - The vagus nerve is thought to affect mental health through mechanisms related to stress, the gut-brain axis, and inflammation.
In integrative medicine, we are all about looking deeper for the root cause and using the least invasive approaches for the most effective results. Head to the link in our bio to learn more about our holistic approach to health!
