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Brain to Gut Connection

Vagus Nerve(s)

The vagus nerve (there are actually 2 of them, left and right) are a long nerves that originate in the brain stem and extends through the neck and into the chest and abdomen (gut). It is tasked with regulating critical body functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and digestion. The name “vagus” means wandering in Latin.

It activates digestive enzymes originating from your pancreas and stimulates the release of bile from your liver. These processes are crucial for the effective breakdown of food, allowing it to progress through the esophagus, stomach, small intestine and large intestine before eventual elimination.

The vagus nerves are part of the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for our rest-and-digest-and-restore system.

Stimulation of the vagus nerves reduces heart rate, promotes healthy digestion and metabolism, increases blood flow to organs and reduces inflammation.

The parasympathetic nervous system via the vagus nerves is the counterbalance to our stress response. It makes us more calm, relaxed and sociable.

The vasovagal response is an over-reaction of the vagus nerves to counterbalance a stress. This is when an excessive drop in blood pressure and heart rate causes a person to feel dizzy or faint.

Vagal tone, which is the level of activity in the nerves, cannot be directly measured. Instead, heart-rate variability is used as a measure of vagus nerve activity. Heart-rate variability refers to the slight beat-to-beat differences in heart rate that occur naturally and are related to breathing. When you inhale, your heart rate speeds up, and when you slowly exhale, it slows down.

Vagus-nerve stimulation slows the heart rate but increases heart-rate variability. Both of these are healthy because they indicate higher parasympathetic and lower sympathetic activation. A lower heart rate indicates that the heart is working efficiently, while higher heart-rate variability indicates that the body is more relaxed.

Link to Gut Brain Connection psychscenehub.com