The vagus nerve runs from your brainstem all the way down into your abdomen, travelling through your neck and chest along the way.

Quick Scoop: Where it’s located

  • The vagus nerve starts in the medulla oblongata , a part of your brainstem at the base of the brain.
  • It exits the skull and runs down both sides of your neck inside the carotid sheath, next to the carotid arteries and jugular vein.
  • From the neck, it continues through the chest, sending branches around your heart and lungs.
  • It then travels through the esophagus region and into the abdomen, reaching organs like the stomach, intestines, liver, and other digestive organs.
  • You actually have two vagus nerves (right and left) that descend on each side, then reconnect as a “vagal trunk” near the esophagus before entering the abdomen.

Simple mental picture

If you trace it with your hand, you’d start at the lower back part of your head, slide your hand down the side of your neck, over the center of your chest, and then down into your upper belly—that whole “wandering” path is roughly where the vagus nerve travels.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.