Picture a tree-like bundle made up of thousands of fibers flowering in your brain, sending its roots down through each side of the neck, into the torso, and then spreading its branches through the vast network of nearly all your internal organs. This amazingly long and influential “vagus” nerve gets its name from the Latin word for “wandering”. Along its so-called “information superhighway” journey, it gathers information about how the organs are functioning, sending information from the brain down to the rest of the body.If you’ve seen the vagus nerve pop up on your social media timelines a lot lately (and with over 70,000 hashtag mentions on Instagram, according to The New York Times, you likely already have), there's a good reason for it. Known for its various internal functions, mostly unconscious actions like breathing and digestion, the pneumogastric, a.k.a. “vagus”, nerve also creates important links between the critical gut-brain axis. Further, it plays a role in controlling voice, mood, heart rate, and the immune system.The vagus is a secret weapon for managing the triggers of stress and anxiety, housed within the parasympathetic nervous system, unlike the organs of the sympathetic nervous system, which trigger our fight-flight-freeze responses.

As the longest of our cranial nerves, it’s perhaps the nerve with the greatest potential for supporting mind-body wellness, easing us into rest, proper digestion and relaxation.“Travel” or “wander” is really the perfect way to describe how the vagus nerve weaves through the cardiovascular system, the digestive system, the reproductive system, and many other organs. Along this neuronal superhighway, the vagus nerve covers a stunning amount of ground as it takes readings from each of these internal “destinations”, passing messages between the brain, gut, and other organs. In the late 1800s, the vagus nerve first piqued the attention of the scientific community as they sought out nerve activations to treat epilepsy. Later, they discovered a surprising side effect: mood improvements.Psychologists say that when we have unresolved trauma, the vagal tone becomes weak. A weak vagal tone has been linked to high inflammation, which scientists believe is linked to almost all psychiatric conditions, as well as chronic illnesses, digestive issues, cardiovascular diseases, mood disorders, etc. When the vagal tone is weak, it inhibits our ability to manage and recover from stress.

This leads to a “stuck” nervous system, or a type of shutting down that can switch us into fight-flight-freeze mode. In children, low vagal tone has also been associated with poor attention and emotion regulation.Alternatively, when the vagal tone is strong, we are likely to feel calm, cool, and collected. A strong immune system and overall feelings of wellbeing are the result of the vagus nerve working to enhance our physical and mental health. Used to measure cardiovascular function, vagal tone also facilitates our adaptive responses to environmental challenges (Source: NIH). Studies have shown that stimulating the vagus nerve can support those who experience epilepsy by decreasing seizure frequency, with additional benefits to help with gastrointestinal and pelvic pain, migraines, depression, anxiety, and much more.One current challenge for understanding the full vitality of vagal tone is that HRV (heart rate variability) is the closest tool that exists at the moment for measuring vagal tone.

Alternatively, studies have relied on self-evaluations regarding participant symptoms in related areas of health. This means that many studies are testing how the heart functions to determine how the vagal tone is doing, but the “vagabond nerve” also reaches so many other areas of the body. Those whose digestion improved or anxiety was lessened were thought to be experiencing improved vagal tone. Further research is needed to verify what many holistic and mental health practitioners have observed help heal their patients over many years.