How the Vagus Nerve Connects Mind, Body, and Gut Health

Your gut and brain are in constant conversation. When you feel nervous before a big moment, your stomach reacts. When you take a deep breath to calm down, your whole body responds. These sensations are your vagus nerve at work.

The vagus nerve is the body’s main communication highway between the brain and organs like the heart, lungs, and gut. It helps regulate heart rate, breathing, and digestion, and supports recovery from stress [1]. But this communication path isn’t one-way. Your organs send signals back to the brain, and the trillions of bacteria in your gut play a key role by producing chemical signals that influence how your nervous system responds.

Understanding how the vagus nerve works helps explain why gut health impacts more than just digestion—it affects mood, stress regulation, sleep, and overall resilience. In this article, we will explore what the vagus nerve is, what it does, how it connects the gut microbiome and brain, and practical ways to support healthy vagal signaling in everyday life.

What is the vagus nerve, and where is it located? 

Because of its length and reach, the vagus nerve plays a central role in regulating automatic functions that keep the whole body in balance. As a key component of the parasympathetic nervous system, it primarily helps control heart rate, breathing, digestion, and recovery from stress [1].

The name "vagus" comes from the Latin word for "wandering," reflecting its wide-reaching course through the body. The vagus nerve originates in the brainstem and extends through the neck alongside major blood vessels before branching into the chest and abdomen. Along the way, it connects the brain to several vital organs, including the throat, heart, lungs, stomach, and intestines.

What does the vagus nerve do? 

Your vagus nerve is part of your parasympathetic nervous system. When active, your body is in "rest and digest" mode—the opposite of "fight or flight." In this mode, your body can focus on digestion, healing, and recovery [1]. 

The vagus nerve works automatically. You don't have to think to keep your heart beating steadily or to digest your lunch. It handles these essential tasks in the background while you go about your day.

What makes the vagus nerve truly remarkable is that it's a two-way street. It carries signals from the brain to the body, helping coordinate functions such as slowing the heart rate after stress or activating digestion after a meal. At the same time, it carries sensory information back to the brain, reporting on the state of the heart, lungs, and digestive system. Let’s take a look at some of these signals in more detail:

Messages from your brain to your body

First, let’s look at the signals your brain sends to the rest of your body through the vagus nerve. These outgoing messages help:

• Slow your heart rate after a stressful moment
• Start digestion after you finish eating
• Deepen and steady your breathing
• Relax the muscles throughout your body

For example, after a tense meeting or stressful event, your brain signals the vagus nerve to slow your heart and relax your muscles, helping your body shift back to a calm state.

Messages from your body to your brain

Even though the vagus nerve carries signals in both directions, about 80% of its fibers send sensory information from your body to your brain.

Your heart sends steady updates through the vagus nerve about what it needs to keep your body in balance, including:

• How fast your heart is beating
• Changes in blood pressure
• Signals that guide when the heart should speed up or slow down

Your lungs also send constant feedback upward, helping your brain adjust your breathing as needed, such as:

• How fast and deeply you’re breathing
• Oxygen and carbon dioxide balance 
• Whether your airways need to tighten or relax
• Breathing changes linked to physical activity

Your stomach and gut are constantly checking in with your brain about:

• What's happening in your digestive system
• The presence of nutrients, acids, or hormones
• Levels of inflammation in your digestive tract
• Signals from the bacteria living in your gut

Your brain uses all this info to make constant adjustments. It keeps your body stable without any effort on your part, even as things shift internally and externally. But how well this communication works varies from person to person. That's why vagal function plays such a big role in everyday health and resilience.

How the vagus nerve affects your daily life

How well your vagus works—often referred to as vagal tone—shapes how you handle stress, recover from exercise, and maintain resilience day to day. When vagal tone is high, your brain and body communicate smoothly and adapt easily. When it's low, that communication gets sluggish, and you might start noticing that things feel a bit off, like poor digestion, sleep issues, and mood swings.

Heart health

If you've ever tracked your HRV, or heart rate variability, on a fitness tracker, you've been measuring your vagal function. HRV measures the tiny variations in the time between heartbeats. Higher HRV generally means stronger vagal tone and better cardiovascular regulation, and it's linked to both physical and emotional health [2], [3].

Low vagal tone often shows up as low HRV, along with things like unexplained heart racing or trouble bouncing back after stress [4]. People with POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), a condition defined by a rapid heart rate increase upon standing, tend to have lower HRV than average [5].

Mood and stress response

Research suggests that vagal tone is connected to emotional regulation [6]. When vagal signaling is strong, it helps your body shift out of a stress response and return to a calmer state. This is why people with higher vagal tone often recover from stress more easily.

When vagal tone is low, your body has a harder time shifting out of stress mode. Instead of calming down after a stressful moment, the stress response lingers—which can leave you feeling anxious, low, or emotionally drained. Research backs this up: people with anxiety and depression often have lower vagal tone, suggesting the vagus nerve plays a real role in how we regulate emotions [7].

Digestion

Your vagus nerve helps run your digestive system by triggering stomach acid, moving food through your gut, and releasing enzymes at the right time [8]. When it's working well, digestion is smooth and predictable.

When vagal signaling is off, slow gut motility can lead to symptoms like bloating, discomfort, or irregular bowel movements [9].

Your vagus nerve also plays a key role in helping you feel hungry and full. It picks up chemical signals from your gut, including how stretched your stomach is or what nutrients you’ve just eaten, and relays that information to your brain [10]. 

One important messenger here is a gut hormone called GLP-1, which helps the vagus nerve send “I’m full” signals to your brain. But if you regularly eat a lot of high-fat or sugary foods, this messaging can become blunted, making it harder for your brain to recognize when you’ve had enough to eat [11].

Sleep quality

The vagus nerve helps your body shift into rest mode [1]. When vagal activity is healthy, it’s easier to fall and stay asleep [12].

When vagal tone is low, your nervous system has a harder time winding down at night. That can mean lighter, more disrupted sleep.

How gut microbes talk to the brain through the vagus nerve

The community of microbes living in the gut does more than support digestion. Research, mainly from animal studies, suggests they can also influence how signals travel between your gut and brain, with the vagus nerve acting as the main communication pathway [13]-[15].

When your gut microbiome is balanced and healthy, the signals traveling to your brain may support your overall well-being. Evidence from rodent studies suggests that these signals could influence:

• Your mood and emotional state [16], [17]
• Your response to stress [17], [18]
• Your appetite [19], [20].

When your gut is inflamed or your microbiome is out of balance, these signals may shift. Experimental models suggest that altered gut signaling can activate stress pathways in the brain [21]. Researchers are still learning exactly how this works, but one thing is clear: what happens in your gut doesn't stay in your gut.

This helps explain why digestive issues and mental health struggles often show up together. For example, people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are more likely to experience anxiety or depression, even without intestinal inflammation [22]. Your vagus nerve creates a direct line for your gut microbes to influence how you feel mentally and emotionally.

Easy ways to support your vagus nerve

The good news is that there are many simple ways to support healthy vagus nerve function. The following small, consistent changes can make a real difference.

Practice breathing and humming exercises: Slow, deep breathing is one of the most effective ways to activate your vagus nerve [23]-[25]. Humming for as little as 5 minutes per day may also help by stimulating the part of the nerve that runs through your throat, leading to positive vagal regulation [23], [26]. 

Train your stress response: HRV biofeedback helps strengthen communication between your brain and body through vagal pathways, and has been shown to reduce symptoms of depression by improving autonomic regulation [27], [28]. 

Try cold exposure: Splashing cold water on your face or taking a cold shower may help activate the vagus nerve [29]. Holding your breath and submerging your face in cold water for 15 seconds will trigger your body’s “diver’s reflex”, a natural response seen in underwater diving, where vagal activation slows your heart rate and conserves oxygen, signaling your brain to shift into a calmer state [30]. 

Choose gentle movement: Regular exercise like walking, yoga, or stretching supports overall vagal function [31]-[33]

Strengthen healthy hunger signals: Eating balanced meals with fiber, healthy fats, and protein helps your gut release GLP-1, which strengthens vagal “I’m full” signals to your brain [10].

Support your gut microbiome: Your gut microbiome may influence signaling to your brain through your vagus nerve. Adding probiotic foods like yogurt to your diet can support healthy signaling [34].

Why this matters for your health

Your gut, brain, and other vital organs aren’t separate systems working independently—they’re partners in constant communication, with the vagus nerve playing a key role in connecting them. Taking care of your gut health supports your body’s overall balance and wellbeing.

Curious about what’s happening inside your gut microbiome? A Gut Health Test can provide personalized insights into your unique bacterial community and how it may be influencing your overall health. Understanding your microbiome is an important step toward nurturing the gut-brain axis.