The vagus nerve is a nerve that plays a key role in your mental health.

8 FACT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE VAGUS NERVE:

1. The vagus nerve begins at the base of the brain and is the longer nerve in the human body.

2. The vagus nerve communicates to every organ in the body.

3. The vagus nerve regulates our inflammatory response. Chronic inflammation has been linked to: autoimmune disorders and mental health disorder.

It alerts the brain to inflammatory responses and then releases neurotransmitters to regulate the response.

4. The vagus nerve is critical in our fight or flight response.

Its role is to activate the parasympathetic nervous system (rest or digest response) after we experience stress.

5. Vagal stimulation is being used to treat depression.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2990624/

6. Our vagal tone tells us how well our vagus nerve is functioning.

Low vagal tone is associated with: IBS, neurological conditions, depression, and metabolic disorders.

Vagal tone is measured by: heart rate variability (HRV)

7. Vagal tone can be improved by: exercise, anti inflammatory diet, and breathwork.

Specifically, slow breaking making your exhale longer than in your inhale:

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24380741/

Modern psychiatry is making the connection between mental health & gut health (what's known as the gut-brain axis.) The gut-brain axis is the communication superhighway from the gut to the brain.

The vagus nerve is the highway:

www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00044/full