Viva Las Vagus: Conquering Dysfunction of the Vagus Nerve!

Over the past few decades, life-changing diagnoses like autism, ADHD, anxiety, asthma, and allergies have rapidly increased in children. Genetics and lifestyle factors play a role, but clinical evidence increasingly points to the central nervous system as a root cause agent.

Specifically, the vagus nerve—the master parasympathetic nerve responsible for regulating digestion, breathing, and inflammation—often faces disruption from cumulative stresses like prenatal distress, birth trauma, infections, toxins, and emotional anxiety.

The primary aspects of health and wellness impacted by vagus nerve dysfunction include:

Digestion: Delayed gastric emptying and impaired gut motility lead to symptoms like abdominal bloating, nausea and vomiting, visceral pain, and constipation. In clinical contexts, these manifestations fall under conditions like gastroparesis and inflammatory bowel disease when severe and chronic.
Cardiovascular Function: Both abnormally high resting heart rates and orthostatic hypotension signs reflect compromised vagus nerve activity and can lead to syncope episodes.
Inflammation: Since the vagus nerve regulates key anti-inflammatory pathways, low vagal tone prevents the body from resolving inflammatory responses properly—linking dysfunction to increased risks of allergies, certain autoimmune conditions, and stubborn subacute infections.
Respiration: Vagus nerve problems can translate into issues appropriately modulating breathing rate and efficiency, leading to conditions like vocal cord weakness, chronic dry cough, and asthma attacks.
Mood Regulation: Chronic exposure to high-stress levels paired with reduced vagus nerve activity to produce calming neurotransmitters is strongly associated with mental health and mood disorders like anxiety and depression.