> However, some people have taken the vagus nerve’s expansive bodily influence as an invitation to engage in pseudoscience. In some corners of the internet, so-called polyvagal therapy — physical or breathing exercises that some claim reset the vagus nerve — is proposed to address(opens a new tab) just about any disorder of the mind or body. There’s little to no evidence that these popular remedies are anything but placebos.
but is the polyvagal theory backed up by concrete scientific evidence? i’ve heard tons about it but practitioners never seem to have real statistics about it all. i thought that the polyvagal theory has never been actually proven?
Porges started with studying the difference in the length of successive heartbeats, and the nerve systems that control this variability. He accumulated lots of data, and published his findings. He looks at the function of the different branches of the vagus nerve before he eventually connects the state of the vagus nerve with the functioning of the social engagement mechanism--the system that enables us to recognize faces and read their emotional signals. He also connects the vagus nerve with fight-or-flight survival mode of the organism, vs. the rest-and-recuperate mode where resources are made available for healing. It is well-founded, plausible, has good explanatory power for how (to give one example) family visits to a hospitalized family member contribute so greatly to their recovery.
> However, some people have taken the vagus nerve’s expansive bodily influence as an invitation to engage in pseudoscience. In some corners of the internet, so-called polyvagal therapy — physical or breathing exercises that some claim reset the vagus nerve — is proposed to address(opens a new tab) just about any disorder of the mind or body. There’s little to no evidence that these popular remedies are anything but placebos.