Question

3. Why is the 10th cranial nerve called the vagus nerve? What does it do?

Answer 1

Vagus nerve is the 10th cranial nerve and is also called Cranial X.

"Vagus" in Latin means "Wandering". This nerve wanders from the brain to different parts of the body like to the organs of the neck, chest and abdomen. So it is called Vagus nerve.

What does this nerve do?

Vagus nerve has a variety of functions in different areas.

1.Vagus nerve is the longest nerve of the autonomic nervous system and it controls the parasympathetic nervous system.

Therefore Vagus nerve decreases heart rate, blood pressure, alertness.

It also helps in digestion, calmness, relaxation, defecation, urination and sexual arousal.

2. It has motor function of movement of muscles of the neck for swallowing and speech

3. The sensory function from the throat, heart, lungs and abdomen are also done by vagus.

4. It also provides the taste sensation behind the tongue.