The Vagus Nerve: A Bridge Between Your Body and Your Mood

Guest Blog Post:

By Lienna Wilson, PsyD

Dr. Lienna Wilson is a licensed psychologist specializing in anxiety disorders. After two decades of personal yoga and meditation practice, she created Vagus Vitality (vagusnervevitality.com), where you can find education and practical guidance for supporting your vagus nerve and building a resilient nervous system.

Many patients describe anxiety in physical terms before they describe it in emotional ones: a tight chest, a knotted stomach, a racing heart that will not settle even after the worry has passed. That overlap is not a coincidence. It points to a single nerve that connects the brain to nearly every organ involved in the stress response, called the vagus nerve.

What Is the Vagus Nerve?

The vagus nerve is the longest nerve in the autonomic nervous system, which is responsible for functions you do not consciously control (e.g., breathing, heartbeat). It travels from the brainstem down through the neck and chest into the abdomen, branching out to reach the heart, lungs, and digestive organs. It is the main pathway of the parasympathetic nervous system (also called the “rest and digest” system), the branch responsible for slowing the heart, supporting digestion, and helping the body recover once a stressful moment has passed.

The Body Talks to the Brain More Than the Brain Talks to the Body

Here is the detail that surprises most people, including clinicians, the first time they learn it. About 80 percent of the vagus nerve’s fibers carry information upward, from the body to the brain. Only the remaining 20 percent carry signals back down (Cryan et al., 2019).

In practice, this means the brain is constantly receiving reports on the state of the gut, the rhythm of the heart, and the tension in the body, and it uses that stream of information to shape mood, a sense of safety, and behavior, often before a person is consciously aware of it. This is why physical regulation strategies, such as slowing the breath, moving the body, and calming the gut, can quickly shift emotional state. The wiring runs both directions, and the upward direction dominates.

Why This Matters in Mental Health Care

Vagal function is not just a curiosity for anxious patients. Vagus nerve stimulation is an FDA-approved treatment for treatment-resistant depression, and research suggests that stimulating the vagus nerve influences the release of norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine, key neurotransmitters in mood regulation (Cryan et al., 2019).

It is not yet FDA-approved for anxiety disorders or PTSD, but early clinical trials are encouraging. A preliminary study using an ear stimulation device found meaningful improvement in adults with generalized anxiety disorder over four weeks (Mosayebi-Samani et al., 2026). Another randomized, controlled trial found that a handheld device delivering stimulation to the neck reduced the body’s stress reactivity in people with PTSD, calming the physical stress response to reminders of trauma (Gurel et al., 2020).

None of this replaces medication, therapy, or the individualized care of a mental health provider. But it does offer a physiological explanation for why breathwork, movement, and nervous system-focused practices are helpful adjuncts alongside more traditional treatment.

One Simple Place to Start

For anyone curious to feel this system in action, slow, paced breathing is the most well-researched entry point. Try inhaling for four counts, pausing briefly, then exhaling for four counts, for about two minutes. This pace, close to six breaths per minute, has been shown to increase heart rate variability, one of the clearest measurable signs of vagus nerve activation (Lehrer & Gevirtz, 2014).

I write about this in more depth at Vagus Vitality, a new resource I built to translate the vagus nerve research into practical, plain-language tools for those interested in the connection between physical and mental health. If this piece resonated, you can find more at vagusnervevitality.com.

References

Cryan, J. F., O’Riordan, K. J., Cowan, C. S. M., Sandhu, K. V., Bastiaanssen, T. F. S., Boehme, M., … Dinan, T. G. (2019). The microbiota-gut-brain axis. Physiological Reviews, 99(4), 1877-2013. https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00018.2018

Gurel, N. Z., Wittbrodt, M. T., Jung, H., Shandhi, M. M. H., Driggers, E. G., Ladd, S. L., Huang, M., Ko, Y.-A., Shallenberger, L., Beckwith, J., Nye, J. A., Pearce, B. D., Vaccarino, V., Shah, A. J., Inan, O. T., & Bremner, J. D. (2020). Transcutaneous cervical vagal nerve stimulation reduces sympathetic responses to stress in posttraumatic stress disorder: A double-blind, randomized, sham controlled trial. Neurobiology of Stress, 13, 100264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ynstr.2020.100264

Lehrer, P. M., & Gevirtz, R. (2014). Heart rate variability biofeedback: How and why does it work? Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 756. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00756

Mosayebi-Samani, M., Zahirmardi, E., Hedayat Fard, S., & Azerians, S. (2026). Home-based transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation for generalized anxiety disorder: Safety, feasibility, and preliminary clinical outcomes in a single-arm prospective study [Preprint]. medRxiv. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.06.02.26354707