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

Tracey, Dr Kevin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0241762413 ISBN 13: 9780241762417

Publisher: Penguin Life, 2025

Synopsis

Your health and happiness depend on a bundle of 200,000 nerve fibres that holds the secrets to life itself

'Comprehensive and compelling' - New Scientist

'Fascinating reading' - New Statesman

'The Great Nerve is altogether a masterpiece and a timeless document for those who want to see what science is all about: faith, focus, patience and hard work' - Wim Hof, bestselling author of The Wim Hof Method

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The vagus nerve is often referred to as the 'superhighway' which connects every organ of the body to the brain, and vice versa, but it is so much more than just traffic.

The 'great nerve' vibrates in tune with your health like the instruments of an orchestra: when your vagus nerve is healthy, so are you. When it isn’t, you experience everything from poor sleep to low mood, pain, suffering and chronic illness.

Recent scientific developments, including Dr Kevin Tracey's research showing how the vagus nerve is linked to the immune system, have brought the nerve to the attention of everyone from neuroscientists to TikTok influencers.

In The Great Nerve Dr Tracey shares the science of how the vagus nerve operates to regulate our health, how we can help it, and the truth behind popular 'vagus nerve stimulating' strategies such as ice baths, meditation, exercise and breathwork.

He reveals the extraordinary new science that promises to revolutionise healthcare, where computer chips may regulate your blood sugar, and electrical implants may replace your medications forever.

Trailblazing vagus nerve stimulation therapy, pioneered by Dr Tracey, is demonstrating potential to reverse life-altering diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, lupus, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, obesity, stroke, depression, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

The Great Nerve not only revolutionises how we will understand and treat disease, it gives us unprecedented hope for our health.

About this title

About the Author

Dr Kevin Tracey is a neurosurgeon, scientist, entrepreneur, and leader in the fields of inflammation and vagus nerve stimulation. Along with his colleagues in his lab at the Feinstein Institutes, Dr. Tracey discovered the molecular and neural mechanism for the reflexive control of inflammation, now termed the inflammatory reflex. He is a prolific inventor with more than 120 U.S. patents. As measured by and reported in the scientific journal PLOS One, Dr. Tracey is one of the most highly cited living scientists in the world.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Life
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0241762413
• ISBN 13: 9780241762417
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320