What is the Vagus Nerve?

The vagus nerve is the longest nerve in your body, wandering (vagus actually means “wandering” in Latin) from your brain stem all the way down through your neck, chest, and into your abdomen.

Think of it as a communications line, constantly sending messages between your brain and your major organs – your heart, lungs, digestive system and more.

Understanding the Autonomic Nervous System

Your autonomic nervous system has two main branches:

The Sympathetic Nervous System – this is your accelerator pedal. It kicks in when your brain perceives threat or danger, preparing you to fight or flee.

The Parasympathetic Nervous System – this is your brake pedal. It helps you rest, digest, and recover. This is where the vagus nerve plays its starring role as when it’s functioning well, it helps us come back from reacting to danger (real or perceived), to this state of rest and recovery.

“The job of the autonomic nervous system is to ensure we survive in moments of danger and thrive in times of safety”

Deb Dana

Back in the day, when we lived in small tribes and faced genuine physical threats, this system was crucial for our survival. Our brains haven’t caught up with the fact that we no longer face bears and predators on a regular basis.

These days, our survival brain can’t tell the difference between a genuine physical threat and modern-day stressors like family conflict, work overwhelm or a relationship breakdown. It responds to all of them as though our survival is at stake.

That’s why understanding your vagus nerve matters – because it’s the key to helping your body remember it’s safe.

In the next article, I’ll explain the polyvagal ladder and how your nervous system moves between different states of safety and threat.

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Find out more here: https://www.rhythmofregulation.com/polyvagal-theory