THE VAGUS NERVE
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A seemingly never-ending branching nerve that connects most of our major organs to our brain 🧠.
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It’s the longest cranial nerve in our body, one for the right side and one for the left. And is largely responsible for the #mindbody connection for its role as a mediator between thinking and feeling, you know our “gut feeling.”
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The vagus nerve is the “queen” of the parasympathetic nervous system. The “rest and digest” or the #chillout nerve. So the more we do things to activate the #vagus nerve (like deep #breathing), the most we combat the effects of its opposer, the sympathetic nervous system – the “fight or flight”, rushing around, have to do something, #stress releasing one.
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A few other functions of the vagus nerve, just to name a few:
▪️slows your heart rate and respiration.
▪️lowers blood pressure.
▪️helps with calmness and relaxation.
▪️controls involuntary muscles in the digestive system, therefore, aiding digestion.
▪️taste sensation.
▪️movement function for the muscles in the neck responsible for swallowing and speech.
▪️gut-brain communication.
▪️reduces inflammation.
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