The Great Nerve: The New Science of the Vagus Nerve and How to Harness Its Healing Reflexes

In this edifying study, neurosurgeon Tracey (Fatal Sequence) extols the health benefits of stimulating the vagus nerve, which connects the brain with various organs to coordinate breathing, digestion, and other vital functions. Tracey discusses how he found that activating the vagus nerve with pulses of electricity can suppress production of the molecule TNF (tumor necrosis factor), which “signals the mobilization of other cells that kill invaders” but sometimes also cause inflammation by mistakenly attacking the body itself. Contending that stimulating the nerve has shown promise in treating depression, epilepsy, and type 2 diabetes, among other conditions, Tracey describes how one patient’s severe rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s disease left her unable to walk or work until doctors implanted a small electronic device under her collarbone to deliver electric pulses to her vagus nerve, resolving her inflammation and other most serious symptoms. Evaluating therapies theorized to involve indirect vagus nerve stimulation, Tracey notes research supporting meditation’s efficacy in lessening inflammation, even as it remains uncertain whether this is due to vagus nerve activation, as some scientists speculate. Tracey has a knack for explaining the complicated biological phenomena in an approachable style, and his measured outlook on vagus nerve therapies highlights their noteworthy potential without overselling them. The result is a robust introduction to a promising area of scientific inquiry. (May)