The vagus nerve transmits signals from the body to the brain that can act as brakes on the inflammatory response.

“The fundamental discovery of the link between the vagus nerve and inflammation that we made was that the vagus nerve is sending signals that act like the brakes on your car.”

The vagal nerve is instrumental in changing one's physiological state, and stimulation of this nerve can help shift a person out of defensive states.

“The veagal nerve or the vagus nerve, it's just a nerve that runs really. It's the longest nerve in your body. And this nerve when stimulated, they believe changes that state that you're in.”

Heart rate variability is a dynamic marker of the vagus nerve's electrical signaling capacity.

“The way I interpret this is HRV is a sign of the signaling capacity of the vagus nerve.”