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Author: Tracey, Dr Kevin

Popular science

Published on 15 May 2025 by Penguin Books Ltd (Penguin Life) in the United Kingdom.

Hardback | 320 pages
241 x 163 x 32 | 520g

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’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 MethodThe 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.