The Science of Regulating Your Nervous System | Dr. Kevin Tracey
10% Happier with Dan Harris
10% Media, LLC
4.6 • 12.9K Ratings
🗓️ 27 April 2026
⏱️ 80 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Plus: How to increase vagal tone, improve heart health, and reduce inflammation.
Kevin J. Tracey, MD, is president and CEO of the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research at Northwell Health, a pioneer of vagus nerve research and author of the recent book, The Great Nerve: The New Science of the VagusNerve and How to Harness Its Healing Reflexes.
Join Dan and Emmy Award-winning journalist Allison Gilbert at 92NY on May 17th for a live conversation about how mindfulness can deepen connection and combat loneliness, available in person and via streaming. Register here.
Join Dan, Sebene Selassie, and Jeff Warren for Meditation Party, a 3-day immersive retreat at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY, October 16–18. Grab your in-person spot here, or sign up to livestream here!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the 10% Happier Podcast. I'm Dan Harris. |
| 0:18.6 | Hello, party people. How we doing? I have noticed, and you will hear me mention this to my guest today, I have noticed that when we do episodes about regulating your nervous system, those episodes do really well. I think the reason for this is pretty clear. We are in an era where many of us feel like our nervous systems are totally out of whack. |
| 0:38.8 | So today we're going to talk about how to regulate your nervous system, but we're going to |
| 0:42.3 | specifically talk about the vagus nerve, that's V-A-G-U-S, which has been getting a lot of attention |
| 0:48.4 | these days. There's a lot of talk online about how to improve your so-called vagal tone, |
| 0:53.9 | and you will hear my guest express some |
| 0:56.2 | skepticism about some of the people making these claims. But anyway, my guest is a true expert |
| 1:01.0 | in this field. And he's going to talk about the importance of the vagus nerve and what he |
| 1:05.6 | personally does, given his understanding of the physiology and the data, to improve the functioning of his own vagus nerve |
| 1:12.9 | and by extension his mental health, his heart health, and his immune response. |
| 1:17.5 | He's also going to talk about something called bioelectric medicine and how this might be the next big wave in treating chronic diseases. |
| 1:25.1 | My guest is Dr. Kevin J. Tracy. He's a neurosurgeon. He's the president and CEO of |
| 1:30.2 | the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research at Northwell Health. And he's the author of a book |
| 1:35.8 | called The Great Nerve, The New Science of the Vegas Nerve and How to Harness its Healing Reflexes. |
| 1:42.6 | Before we dive in, just a quick heads up that I've got two live in-person events coming up. |
| 1:47.9 | On May 17th, I'll be at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. |
| 1:51.6 | I will guide a meditation. |
| 1:53.6 | I'll talk about how the practice can help. |
| 1:55.7 | You navigate a chaotic world, and then I'll take your questions. |
| 1:59.8 | And then in October, I'll be doing my annual |
| 2:01.9 | meditation party retreat with Sabine-Salasi and Jeff Warren. It's a weekend thing at the Omega Institute in |
| 2:07.7 | Upstate New York. It's super fun. We teach a bunch of different styles of meditation, but there's also |
... |
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