2nd in a group of mini-episodes that are supposed to be limited to 5 minutes. Go figure, this one on the basics of the anatomy associated to the Ventral Vagal Complex broke the rules and comes in at 12 minutes. So it goes. Show Notes Page with with additional commentary.

Many of us think of the Polyvagal theory as challenging. Understandably so, it’s kinda complex. That’s necessary and appropriate for what it is, namely: a parsimonious theory that explains a multidude of phenomena with a simpler, more elegant explanation than what science had found before.

3 cheers for Stephen Porges for having changed history and opened up an entirely new understanding of ourselves and the general goings on in evolution. Unfortunately to pull that off requires some pretty big words and that can confuse us.

In the meantime let’s name the major physical attributes about this newest branch of the Autonomic Nervous System (both in our understanding and in terms of phylogenetic or evolutionary origin).

The VVC or Ventral Vagal Complex is a collection of associated neurological and anatomical structures in our body.  It so happens that all of the muscular and visceral components that allow us to socially engage; breath, eat and speak at the same time; and keep calm while in close proximity to others we find trustworthy (a new mammalian capacity that didn’t exist before 60 million years ago) are connected by nerves that make them all work together. .

While the a study of all of this can go very deep with gradually more complex levels of distinction, a great place to start is by simply naming the anatomy that is included in this system and think about what these structures do for us.

It’s also helpful to recognize that these anatomical structures are all tied together in a “complex”, joined by specific kinds of nerves that are all very fast in their transmission of information and ultimately connect through the central “hub” of the VVC, the Nucleus Ambiguous -NA (ambiguous by name and by dent that it is difficult for scientist to isolate and clarify the boards of these nerve nuclei, not because the system doesn’t know what it’s doing).

Innervated by these super fast nerves (fast due to their myelinated sheath that helps their signal run faster along the path) is all the stuff in us that allows us to be social, like: 

Additionally the VVC has major influence over the supra-diagphramatic organs like:

Since these structures are all tied together by nerves that are all associated through the NA, to stimulate one of them is to stimulate all of them. They work in a “complex.” Which is massively important to us clinically but also just really phenomenally cool to think about generally.

From here there is incredible depth to be found by investigating the inner workings of this Ventral Vagal Complex and its interrelationship with other subsystems of the autonomic nervous system.

In the next mini-episode we’ll take a short look at the Sympathetic Nervous System and its major attributes.