Latest / Motherhood Alliance Podcast / The Nose: The Most Underrated Organ in Your Body w/ Amanda Lapean | Chin Up Myofunctional Therapy
Transcript
- Andrea Renkas: Hey everybody, welcome back to the Motherhood Alliance podcast. We are back here with Amanda talking all about mouth breathing and like just tons of information about that. This is our second episode, but our first episode was all about mouth breathing, how it affects kids, how it affects adults, lifelong consequences of mouth breathing. like we kind of said, it was a little bit doom and gloom, but you definitely gave some good tips ⁓ and awareness. ⁓ Britney Suttner: Hi, we are Britt Andrea from motherhoodalliance.com and we are excited to welcome you to a new four episode series with Amanda Lapine, a myofunctional therapist, massage therapist with advanced training in facial work, dental hygienist, wife and mom of two teen boys. She's also the founder of Chin Up, where she helps kids and adults get to the root cause of issues like poor sleep, snoring, crowded teeth, mouth breathing, jaw pain and chronic muscle tension. Andrea Renkas: techniques in that. In this one, we're going to actually talk about how ⁓ breathing, how proper breathing actually is how it's so much better for you, right? So the nose, you said, and like we all know, it's for ⁓ breathing, right? for smelling, it's for all that other stuff. And it's actually for a defense ⁓ mechanism as So can we just talk about how that defense ⁓ Britney Suttner: What sets Amanda apart is that she even goes beyond the mouth, integrating massage and fascial work to create deeper, longer lasting results. Through her virtual and in-person practice, she's known for her fun, simplified and positive approach and her ability to connect the dots in a way that finally makes sense for families. And we are excited to introduce her to you now. Let's get started with today's episode. Andrea Renkas: works and then just how what happens inside the nose every time we actually breathe properly. Amanda: Yeah, absolutely. I think this is a really fun one. ⁓ I get geeky about our noses and it's kind of a funny thing to geek out about. But actually, this is gonna be a super fun episode. So our nose is actually an organ. People don't always know that. It's one of the most underrated organs ⁓ our body. And yeah, our nose goes way beyond just smelling. That's the fun part of our nose. all, well, if they're pleasant, all the fun things that we get to sniff out. But Our noses, their primary function, our noses are made for breathing. That's really why our nose is there and the strongest reason why it's there. So when we nasal breathe, breathing through our nose, it's 22 % more efficient than if we breathe through our mouth for oxygen exchange. And that's huge. Like oxygen is so good for our bodies because we can't go very long without oxygen. So an easier way to think about this is it takes three breaths going through our mouth just to equal one nasal breath. So if you're not breathing through your nose, you're working three times as hard to get the same result. So it's a lot harder on us and it takes a lot more time to do that. So with that, like our nose, it's so important. When we talk about the defense system of it, how How is that our defense system? kind of cool to know that we have someone rooting for us and protecting us. That's our nose. So it filters for us. our, like I have an air purification in my house. I have to dust a lot less because I have that. That's in essence what our nose is for our body. I also, every time I empty my vacuum cleaner, I look at in the filter all the stuff that's in there. That's what our nose is doing. it's collecting all the things you would see in your vacuum filter if you go through and vacuum your house. So our nose has a whole bunch of tiny little hairs in it. They're called cilias. Cilias are kind of like a synchronized swim team. They actually all move in coordination in a rhythm. Who knew we had hairs sitting there in a synchronized way moving all day long for us working as our filter. So as we breathe in, there's so many things that we breathe in. Dust, pollen, pet dander, particles in the air, germs. And so as our little nose hairs, our cilias are working, we have mucus, or it's more fun to say boogers sometimes. That is what collects all of this junk for us. and our mucus that's in our nose, it's an amazing defense system. Who knew it has antibodies in it? It has enzymes and it actually neutralizes our germs on contact. So yeah, so for how much we wash our hands and we sanitize our hands, our nose is non-stop automatically doing this. So it's one of the best ways to prevent not getting sick. Andrea Renkas: I didn't know that. Amanda: is to make sure our lips are together and that ear is going through our nose rather than our mouth. Because if it goes through our mouth, all that stuff we just talked about of what would get stuck in our vacuum, that goes directly into our lungs, where nose actually filters that out for us. Britney Suttner: That is like so important as I'm thinking about with kids and heading into places where there's big crowds, especially during sickness seasons. It's like, breathe, like give them an extra reminder to breathe through their nose when they're around crowds or if they are, you know, sitting next to a sick kid and like somebody who's coughing or something at the place that they're playing, breathe through your nose because that's going to protect you and then wash your hands so you're not touching your eyes. So Andrea Renkas: I've, yeah, and I feel like it should almost be like the same sort of reminder of go wash your hands, go grab the hand sanitizer, breathe through your nose, almost the same level, actually the same level of now. Amanda: And it's natural, it's what our bodies are made to do. Andrea Renkas: Yeah, absolutely. Britney Suttner: Do you think if everybody was nose breathing, would there be less adenoids and tonsils removed? Amanda: From what I have seen, or if it was my own kid and I got them to nasal breathe more, yes. My own child, I have worked doing my functional therapy and have widened the roof of their mouth. And with doing that, I have seen them sick a lot less. And my own son's tonsil size has come down the more that I improved him breathing through his nose. People ask about large ⁓ and adenoids ⁓ dryness of mouth breathing definitely can irritate those really delicate tissues causing them to swell up. ⁓ Doctors are very slow to remove tonsils and adenoids ⁓ I always say if you ⁓ watching your child or loved one breathe at night and you hear them start to gasp for air Like that's a red flag. You do not want to ignore enlarged tonsils and adenoids if it's really disrupting sleep at night. But if it's you're still functioning fine, I say give it time. Focus on making sure your lips are together, nasal breathing. We're getting proper moisture and see if the size of those come down. First hand, I have seen really positive results by improving breathing. to improve the size of tonsils and adenoids. But everyone has their own story and their own background. And so I would say be cautious, but also be curious. Britney Suttner: Hmm. That's pretty interesting. I've heard you say that we have a dominant nostril. What do mean by that? ⁓ Amanda: Yeah, we definitely have a dominant nostril. So this is where the science gets really geeky fun. Like I love this stuff. So we all do have a dominant nostril. So one side of our nose carries 75 up to 75 % of our breathing at one time, where the other nostril will carry about 25%. So our dominant nostril switches on average about every two to four hours. Sometimes it can switch as soon as like 25 minutes. Like everyone's different. Like there's a wide range, but on average every two to four hours our primary side that we breathe on switches. So when you really notice it. Andrea Renkas: I feel like I've seen that. Yeah, like when you're sick, one side gets more clogged up than the other. Is that right? Like, does that kind of go with what you're talking about? Amanda: Yeah, you're absolutely correct. Yeah, have you ever been really sick and really stuffed up and all of sudden it's like, oh, hey, I can breathe through the side of this nose. And it's like, oh, wait, why can I not? That is your dominant nostril switching sides of how it chooses which one. So here, let's do a really fun activity. Most people have phones by them. We all have a phone in our pocket. You can also use a mirror. Andrea Renkas: Yes. Amanda: But what you can do is actually hold your phone underneath your nose. ⁓ It's the clear screen side up. And what you want to do is take a breath, a breath in through your nose and then breathe out onto the screen of your phone. Quickly look at it. You will see one side has fogged up more than the other side. You can tell which side is your dominant side. Andrea Renkas: Okay. Yeah. Amanda: So I'm a right-handed person. I have done this probably three or four times in the last day. Every time my left side has been more fogged up. So most right-handed people, you spend more time having the left side of your nose as your dominant breathing side. So that's just a fun fact. Why that is, I don't know, but I just know. Yeah, it's... The opposite side of your dominant hand is normally your primary breathing side that you default to. Andrea Renkas: That is really interesting, yeah. Britney Suttner: Okay, so is it doing it because the side that's dominant at the time is collecting all the dust and dander and things and then it switches so that the other side that's been clear is now the collector? Well, and then what happens to all the crap that was collected on the one side? Amanda: Yeah, so all the things that we collect, like our mucus and our boogers, what it does is it slowly works its way back in our nose and it ends up in our throat and we actually end up swallowing it. So that's where all the germs and the icky stuff goes. Like our bodies are just created, made to handle that. Britney Suttner: Wow, that's so interesting. Amanda: Yeah. And so that was it. The other question you asked was like, why does it switch sides like that? Yeah, it's just us being able to naturally recover. We all need a little rest period. And I think we all have strengths. Like, why do we have a dominant side? Like, why do we have a dominant hand? ⁓ just works better. It's our stronger side. ⁓ if you think a lot of our nerves, ⁓ you think of like, reflexology, how the nerves end up in our feet. It can flip-flop when it goes to our head and I think that's probably a piece of it. I don't know the science behind it but that's one of my assumptions to it. But we do know it switches the primary side so the other side can rest and recover. Britney Suttner: Is this all collecting in like technically our sinuses or what are the sinuses and are they different than what we're talking about? Are they all connected? Like tell us about that. Amanda: Yeah, so we have sinuses. So we have four sinuses. They're kind of shaped like a butterfly on our face. So underneath our cheeks, we have our maxillary sinuses. Behind our forehead, we have our frontal sinuses. We have the ethmoids. That's just a fun word to say. So it's our nose. And then we have our phenoid, which is deeper into our skull. So fun fact of why we have sinuses. One reason is it is air pockets in our head. It makes our head a lot lighter. So our head it weighs between about 10 to 12 pounds on average. If you've ever gone bowling and you have felt a 10 pound bowling ball, my arm gets sore after about five minutes of swinging that bowling ball. That is what our body carries around on top of our shoulders every single day. So our sinuses are helping to lighten the weight of this bowling ball of a head that we carry on our shoulders. So a lot of us are on screens during the day, or on a phone during the day. We're working on computers that aren't at eye level. And so when our head even tilts a little bit more forward, and everyone can do this with me now if it's safe where we are, tip your head a little bit forward, you'll start to feel pressure on the back of your neck. It's equivalent to about 60 pounds of pressure that you're putting on the back of your neck as you bring your head forward. You know, when we look at whole picture and whole body, our mouths like to drop and our tongues like to come down when we have the 60 pounds of pressure, because again, our body is so great at survival and compensation of trying to help us. So looking at our nose, when we bring our head up, our sinuses help us and it helps keep it a lot lighter. Britney Suttner: Interesting. That's so interesting. Okay, so another thing that I've heard you mention and I want you to get a little sciencey here is something about nitric oxide. I don't have any idea about this, but I've seen you talk about it. What is nitric oxide and what does it have to do with nose breathing? Andrea Renkas: Wow. Amanda: Yeah, so nitric oxide, to me, it's a trendy word. I hear it a lot in running, in health, in fitness. A lot of people know that nitric oxide is a good thing. Coming from the dental industry, you hear a lot of people talk about nitrous oxide. That is laughing gas. That is a mask that goes on your nose. It makes you feel like you're floating a cloud. That is not what we're talking about. So for being audio, I want make sure people know it's not laughing gas, the nitrous oxide. It's nitric oxide that we're talking about. So this is like a gas that are ⁓ it's produced in our sinus cavities. So nitric oxide, the reason we like it, it's a healthy gas. It's anti-inflammatory naturally. It's antimicrobial. If something's antimicrobial, it means it's fighting infections for us. It vasodilates. It's a fancy name meaning it improves how much oxygen our body gets. So if you think of a gas that is formed in our sinuses, that fights illness, helps us stay alert and helps us get more oxygen, that's a superpower. And so that's one of the reasons I'm so passionate about getting people, especially athletes, to breathe through their nose is it's in improving all these things naturally. Britney Suttner: So we should be breathing in and out through our nose even during physical exertion. Amanda: Yeah, that's a whole nother podcast topic. There's like nasal breathing for ⁓ I've heard in the valley there are sports teams that are working on improving nitric oxide levels. ⁓ Petra ⁓ with Advantage, I am trained in his butaco breathing. ⁓ And that's a whole separate topic of how you can work through breathing exercises to improve athletic performance. But yes, it is healthy to breathe. Andrea Renkas: ⁓ that sounds really interesting. Yeah. Britney Suttner: So I just love how we've gone like from the one end of the spectrum in the last episode about the detriment of mouth breathing and how it's gonna, it can cause a lot of issues helping you, making you not feel well all the way to not only does nose breathing perform the function that it's meant to do and help us with the defense system and stuff, but it can actually accelerate our athletic abilities. Like that's from one end of the spectrum to the other. I know in our, in our last episode, we talked briefly about if somebody has a nose, like an actual structure issue in their nose, whether it's a deviated symptom, or I don't know, something else, something with the way that their jaw has formed because of mouth breathing, who should they see about that? Because you've talked about working with airway dentists, and I think that they're the ones who are going to work more so on like, mouth expansion and palate expansion, but then an ENT is going to look more so in the nose. Is that right? Or how would you refer to someone? Who would you refer to for specific structural issues? Amanda: Yeah, I typically will refer to an ear nose throat specialist in ENT when your lips are together and you really struggle just to simply breathe through your nose. It typically is a structural issue. You're right, a deviated septum is probably one of the most common things that unless you go see an ENT, there's really no way around improving that that I'm aware of. ⁓ Sometimes you have polyps in the nose. That's probably the second thing that I see or hear is if you have polyps and unless you really have a specialist who can look up there, don't always know what's going on ⁓ sometimes it can deal with sinuses and just our ⁓ structure. And that's definitely out of my area of expertise. And that's why, you know, I boldly refer to people if it's not in my area, because I want the best person always to help you and always work in my strength area. So I'm a big fan of air we centric orthodontist and a recentric dentist. And I know we have a really good one who's been interviewed earlier on the podcast. So yeah, go back to Motherhood Alliance, look at some of the past podcasts, but I would refer to like an orthodontist when we start to look at the teeth on the roof of the mouth if they're too close together. If I'm working through my exercises and structurally in the mouth, I know we can make improvements for spacing, alignment, how the teeth come together. That's when I would go to a dentist. A dentist also is another great screener how I am. they'll be able to tell you in the mouth if there's something they can help with. Otherwise, they probably would send you the same direction to an ENT too. So I think sometimes too, it's great just to be curious and to start to ask questions and start to find the right people to have on your team to get you the answers. Because we do all have such different journeys and need such individualized answers. Sometimes you have to ask more than one person and get a different perspective too. Britney Suttner: Sure. Yeah, that makes sense. Well, let's talk about people who maybe don't have a solid structural issue, but maybe they just feel a little bit congested a lot of the times. Like they're not sick, but they have a day where their nose is just a little bit plugged. Is there a way that we can help to keep our noses clearer? Because I think about oftentimes I'm laying in bed trying to fall asleep and I'm aware of trying to nose breathe, but I'm like, it's just a little bit stuffy. Like what can I do about that on a daily basis for good like nose hygiene and clearing? Amanda: Yeah, so first I'm a big proponent of just showering in the evenings. Showering is actually a great way to clean out our nose. It's in a nice moist environment, which is really good for our noses. It warms the air going into our lungs, which is really good for oxygen exchange. But showering at night, it's like cleaning out that vacuum bag. You're cleaning out all the junk if it hasn't made it to the back of our throat and it just opens up our airway really good. It's also good for people who have seasonal allergies. When we get pollens and other things, it just gives us a fresh restart going into the night. XClear or Xylotone nasal sprays work really good ⁓ helping the nose. I'm a big fan of those. ⁓ pots, yeah. Britney Suttner: Hold on. Why is that? is Xylitol? Like, isn't that a sweetener? Amanda: So it is a sugar alcohol. So xylitol can starve some ⁓ of bad things that are up in our nose. So it naturally helps ⁓ us kill the things that can cause a lot of those problems. So yeah, it is naturally sweet. ⁓ Britney Suttner: So doing that over just a general saline rinse would be more beneficial. Amanda: Yeah, you'll long term, more long term lasting effects doing that. Britney Suttner: Okay, and then you were talking about nutty paths. Amanda: Yep, neti pods are also really good. I think people who have post-nasal drips or just a lot of mucus, with people with neti pods, I hear some of the best results just back for that area. Britney Suttner: Is that actually going up into all those different butterfly sinuses that you had talked about? where, what's the flow of the neti pot? What is it actually hitting? Amanda: Yeah, it does not go up into all four of our sinuses. We probably would feel waterlogged if it was going up that high. YouTube is a great resource of watching someone do it before you actually do it yourself. But it's as simple as getting the liquid to go in one side of your nose. It kind of goes up towards that nose bridge and it comes back down. Britney Suttner: Okay. Do we in our sinuses, when we talked about sinuses earlier, is there actually like when we get sick, is mucus plugging our sinuses and that's how you get a sinus infection or does it really just stay more so in that like nose area? Amanda: You know, when I have been in dental office and I have taken 3D x-rays of people, you can see their sinus cavities on the x-rays. And sometimes you can actually see thickening in those sinuses. And I'll ask them like, oh, are you really stuffed up on your left side today? And they'll be like, yeah, how did you know? So. Britney Suttner: Hmm. Okay. All right. Very interesting. Well, for those listening, I do want to mention that Amanda has written a blog on the Motherhood Alliance website that might be, you might find beneficial to continue this conversation. It's called, is your child a mouth breather? Try this at home, nasal flow check, and learn how to help naturally. So she has some great resources on her Motherhood Alliance profile. If you want to check that out, she also does offer a 15 minute complimentary consult. So in our first episode, we talked a little bit more about myofunctional therapy specifically and how you help people, right? So if you're currently a mouth breather, you want to become more of a nose breather, have all these benefits that we're talking about and just be able to breathe more freely and, and decrease symptoms that you might be having that are related to how you're breathing. Amanda can help answer your questions about that. All right. Next up though, we do have another episode where we're going to be talking about how The nose and the tongue and everything is connected to our whole body through fascia. And I know, Amanda, you're like Jack for this episode. This is like your cup of tea, isn't it? So we're going to be back shortly with that episode next. Amanda: Mm-hmm. It absolutely is, yes.