Episode 48- "The Proper Way to Breathe for Wellness & Inner Peace" with Julia Yarovoy

In this "Sweet Slumber Podcast" episode, host Meredith Brough welcomes Julia Yarovoy, a multifaceted expert in dental hygiene, Buteyko breathing, myofunctional therapy, and sleep coaching.

You might be tempted to skip this episode thinking it's unrelatable or not your "thing"  but THIS EPISODE IS FOR YOU! Listen for ideas that will benefit your health and well-being right away.

Meredith and Julia discuss her unique approach to women's health, emphasizing the importance of proper breathing techniques and the impact of hormonal changes on sleep.

Meredith shares her experiences working with Julia to improve her asthma, anxiety, and regulate her nervous system. Julia provides important insights everyone needs to know about the science of breathing and offers practical tips for improving breathing and sleep quality.

The episode serves as an educational resource on the significance of proper breathing for overall well-being, with a special focus on women's health issues. Julia explains how breathing affects blood pressure, immune system, and more.

Topics

• Julia's expertise in breathing therapy, myofunctional therapy, and sleep coaching
• Julia's journey into the field and continuous learning
• Significance of proper breathing techniques 
• Common struggles women face in breathing and sleep
• Practical tips for improving breathing and sleep quality

Visit Julia's website, happymyo.com, for more information and resources.
Website: happymyo.com

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Keywords
 Sleep coach, childcare expert, sleep consultant, dental hygienist, Buteyko breathing educator, myofunctional therapist, women's health, breathing therapy, proper breathing techniques, carbon dioxide, nitric oxide, oxygen, hormonal changes, well-being, nose breathing, snoring, sleep disordered breathing, menopause, obstructive sleep apnea, weight and sleep, nose breathing, exhaling, humming exercises, breathing properly, wellness

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Check out the links below & add your name to our waiting list so you can join our next session.

Learn More About the Baby-Centered Sleep Consultant Certification Program HERE.

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Chapters

• 1:20 Julia's expertise: Julia's diverse expertise as a registered dental hygienist, Taiko breathing educator, myofunctional therapist, and sleep coach.
• 2:35 Julia's journey: Julia describes her journey into breathing therapy and myofunctional therapy, highlighting her dedication to learning and supporting others.
• 6:42 The significance of proper breathing: Julia explains her focus on women's health and the impact of hormonal changes on breathing, emphasizing the importance of breathing exercises.
• 10:34 Understanding gases in breathing: Julia discusses the role of carbon dioxide and nitric oxide in breathing, clarifying misconceptions and highlighting their benefits.
• 13:44 Breathing techniques and sleep disorders: Julia emphasizes the importance of diaphragmatic breathing and addresses sleep disorders, particularly in women, related to menopause and hormonal changes.
• 19:58 Tips for improving breathing: Julia provides practical tips for listeners to improve their breathing, including nose breathing, extending exhales, and humming.
• 21:35 Finding Julia's Resources: Julia shares her website and resources for patients and practitioners, including articles and updates. Contact her via her website.
• 22:12 Writing Articles: Julia discusses her recent articles and the enjoyment she finds in writing and sharing her knowledge.
• 22:53 Importance of Breathing Properly: Meredith and Julia emphasize the significance of proper breathing for overall health and wellness.

Transcript

Meredith (00:00:01) - Hello, I'm Meredith Brough, your host. Welcome to the world of Sweet Slumber, where we unravel the secrets to peaceful and restful nights for babies and young children and discuss the difficulties and wonders of motherhood. As an experienced mother of five, sleep coach, childcare expert, and instructor of sleep consultants, I bring a wealth of insight and knowledge to the table. In the show. I'll be sharing my baby centered sleep approach so you can sleep well and wake up feeling refreshed and energized and help your little one thrive every step of the way. I'll also teach you how to let go of parenting pressure and confusion so you can embrace everything that you truly love, especially your child. You deserve a rewarding motherhood journey. So let's dive in. Hello. Welcome to the show. Today I'm thrilled to share one of my friends and associates with you, Julia from Happy Myo in New York City. Hi, Julia. Hi. Julia has been my breathing therapist for the past several months. She's been helping me improve my asthma symptoms, my sleep, and helping me feel regulated, calm, relaxed, and more present with my family and focused in my work.

Meredith (00:01:20) - She is a registered dental hygienist, a certified Buteyko breathing educator, myofunctional therapist, and sleep coach. She provides care for children four and up and adults. She has a special interest in breathing practices related to hormonal changes in women. In her sleep coaching practice, she helps her clients with regaining control of their sleep through lifestyle changes and various exercises. As a myofunctional therapist, she helps clients with their oral facial health, which we'll get to at some point as a Buteyko breathing educator, she teaches proper breathing techniques to help with a variety of conditions. All of her clients receive personal care, which often consists of a mixture of all three specializations that is tailored to their needs. So. It's amazing to me like that you have that much training and expertise is just over my head. It's amazing. Julia I love what you do. I love your passion for your work. You're just so gifted and I know that firsthand. So that's why I'm so excited to be here with you. Today is it's time for you to get out from under the rock.

Meredith (00:02:35) - And people learn more about you and what you do and the things you're passionate about.

Julia (00:02:41) - Thank you for having me. I really appreciate that. And it's my pleasure to share my knowledge and my expertise with your listeners and viewers.

Meredith (00:02:51) - Yes. And I'm gonna learn to. It's gonna be great. So can you tell us how you got started in this work? Sure. All the work or.

Julia (00:02:59) - Journey to this fascinating world started years ago. And when I saw lots of my,, patients when they were getting dental cleanings, as soon as they get into the supine position, they were like starting snoring. At first, I took it as a the best compliment for hygienists, you know, like so. Oh, they are so relaxed they're falling asleep. And then I started the the tendency was so prevalent. So I was just like, what's going on here? Something is going on. So I started the researching. I started asking questions, why do they feel tired? Why do they have a need, like to fall asleep at 12:00 in the afternoon, so oh, I snore.

Julia (00:03:43) - I didn't get enough sleep, so I decided to,, dive in and become an adult sleep coach first. So as I was,, trying to help my patients, I realized that it's not enough. So all my knowledge about just changing habits and helping them, it's not enough to get the restorative sleep. So that led me to more reading, more researching. And then I took a postgraduate programs for beautiful breathing and for my functional therapy. I eventually like, got it all together and got certified in all three. So I'm certified in all of them. Those expertise and I offer and that I always learn, you know, like I, I continue learning all the time. So I belong to many, many groups. And when I sharing my experience and my expertise, my difficult patients, if I have, you know, questions and I also try to help,, my colleagues who have,, problems as well. So kind of support group.

Meredith (00:04:49) - That's wonderful. That's a great story. And it makes a lot of sense.

Meredith (00:04:52) - It was funny when you said that being a sleep coach wasn't enough. I kind of giggled to myself, because I definitely don't stay in my lane, you know, and and I think it's just so amazing that you started out as a dental hygienist, because that gave you a foot in the door to keep learning the medical certifications that you need. Where for me, I'm not there. I'd have to go to school and become a dental hygienist or you know what I mean. I've looked into my functional therapy and I was like, dang it, I can't take this. I can't be certified. I have to start somewhere else. So I just think it's so perfect how you have all of these things that have come together and they make sense together.

Julia (00:05:30) - Yeah. Well, because the oral cavity is my domain, you know, like I constantly I see teeth and I, I know the muscles and the, all the oral cavity in and out. And so that's now like when you look in the mouth, you also looking for functions not only for anatomical structures.

Julia (00:05:45) - You're looking for functions. You see the throat opening of it's like, oh, do they snore? Do they have an. The issues with breathing. So that's that's my main focus on my practice is also airway focus. So I'm always pro mezzo breathing close lips and proper swallowing and proper sleep.

Meredith (00:06:07) - She is guys. She is very serious about proper breathing.

Julia (00:06:09) -  The oral cavity is very private space. So you can see a lot of things that you just look, oh, I think you're not sleeping well. I think you grind your teeth. 

Meredith (00:06:18) -Oh, that's so interesting. I was just,, referring to how you are definitely focused on that tongue in, in the spot, the closed mouth breathing.  We always talk about it. It's very important. Okay, well, recently you were telling me how you work primarily with women, and you really enjoy that. Can you tell us more about that?

Julia (00:06:42) - Sure. Well, we're all women, right? That's the close part to my heart. All right.

Julia (00:06:49) - So,, we women, we constantly judge a lot of things, you know, like the family, work,, kids, aging parents and,, social obligations of any kind. And  we often, like, put our health behind everybody else. So it's always. You know, it's kind of unanswered that the problems that we have sometimes overlooked and, you know, we put ourselves on the back burner somewhere, so like, oh, I'll take care of it. So when I see a woman, a female patient who comes in seeking for help, I know she's serious about her health. I know she wants to check because she is she is there already. It's not like she's just panicking. Oh, let me try and do that. Let me try that. So she is really serious about getting help. And that's what I love female patients because I know they're going to do all the exercises. They're going to be up following the routine that I create for them, and we're going to do it together.

Julia (00:07:58) - So I love that. And the plus, you know, lack of females, we always have a different hormonal changes in our bodies, you know. And those hormones exaggerate a lot of things okay. And some of the things that we're going through are very familiar to, to us, to each other. So and we are dealing with that by using different breathing exercises. So the breathing exercises can help us to balance the hormonal influence of that number, not changing hormones, but what we're doing, we're trying to manage the,, our autonomic nervous system. So we have a different system, we have a sympathetic response, and we have a parasympathetic response. The sympathetic response is constantly puts in a fight or flight response. It's when we're always stressed. Years and years ago, our ancestors and ancestors, they were very good at balancing the sympathetic versus parasympathetic response. They saw a tiger. They run, run, run, run, run. They over bred. You know, they had like a lot of oxygen going through the the whole system.

Julia (00:09:10) - They're taking too much air because they needed that. And then no Tiger, they're fine. They're back to their normal self. They're breathing normally and relaxed. So we nowadays in a nowadays, you know like a active lifestyle, then we, you know, leave the active, then we lead so, so to speak. So what's we're constantly in a, in a stress mode. And that. Exacerbate exacerbate the the amount of breath per minute we take if we take too many breaths per minute. So we constantly are breathing too much of oxygen and losing carbon dioxide, which is very important gas for the oxygenation.

Meredith (00:09:58) - So much to know. There's so much to know. I'm sure you're just like, oh, I could go on. Right. That's really good. And no, I you know, I think that would be a really good thing to explain real quick. We're very confused people when it comes to oxygen and carbon dioxide. And I don't know, I remember like, getting things mixed up because I remember when we first were talking.

Meredith (00:10:20) - And you explain that to me., do you know what I'm talking about? The gases, how they work together, what's good, what's bad. Because there's some there's some, like, myths out there that are screwy and they're not good. So can you explain that?

Julia (00:10:34) - Carbon dioxide has a very, a bad reputation of being a bad gas. We don't want carbon dioxide, but we all we want oxygen. Carbon dioxide is really, really a good gas because what it does, it actually is a stimulant to breathe. So without carbon dioxide, we don't know if we have to breathe or not. This is a good gas. And for us for breathing, breathing educators, because we're also working with the chemosynthesis sensitivity to carbon dioxide if we're too sensitive to carbon dioxide. So what happens? We we over breathe and we will over breathe. So we we get into this stage of hyperventilation and hyperventilation put us in a fight or flight response. So it's we're constantly in a stress mode. So the next gas that I want to talk about is nitric oxide.

Julia (00:11:28) - So this is very very important gas because what it does it help us to reduce blood pressure. That's the first one okay. This is the gas. And we produce in in our nasal cavities. So every time when we breathe through the nose we're actually producing nitric oxide. And when we breathe in and out through the nose we're pushing the nitric oxide all the way in. And it helps us to,, relax the smooth muscle. That's the muscle. Then also holding the blood vessels. Okay. So the muscles are relaxed, the blood is flowing very, very nicely and smoothly. And that reduces the blood pressure as well. And the nitric oxide also it's antimicrobial. So it helps you to, you know, prevent inhaling all the bad stuff into your body brings anything like that. So it's antimicrobial. It's a very, very, they had like a few experiments during Covid actually, you know, like trying to think that if nitric oxide will help to prevent the Covid infection, that's,,, that's very important gas.

Julia (00:12:38) - So those are three, three gases that are very important. Well, we have other gases also important, but those are very important. So in breathing. So carbon dioxide helps with oxygenation. Nitric oxide helps us to reduce the blood pressure and, feel more calm, more relaxed and healthier.

Meredith (00:12:58) - It's amazing I love that I love learning about it., especially the intolerance to carbon dioxide. Yeah. You talk about that a lot as we work together. And it's just I think it's important to understand the differences so we can just, number one, understand how important it is to work on this stuff. And then number two, see the benefits. Like for me it motivates me right. Yes. And doing the the work. Yeah. All right. Well I'm sure that you've seen a lot of struggles in people and, and this is what led you to do the work you're doing. So what do you think women struggle with the most in the areas of your expertise?

Julia (00:13:44) - , upper chest breathing. That's very big.

Meredith (00:13:50) - That's me..

Julia (00:13:52) - Yes. Because the the importance of breathing through diaphragm is.

Meredith (00:13:59) - It's.

Julia (00:14:00) - It's not very much talked about, but it's very important because it's a muscle of the breathing and that it when you breathe through the diaphragm.

Speaker 3 (00:14:11) - You.

Julia (00:14:13) - Also helping your vagus nerve to be activated. The vagus nerve is the longest nerve in our body. Starts in the brain, and it goes like,, to the thoracic area, to the chest and to the abdomen, abdominal area as well. So when we breathe through the diaphragm, we breathe the peace and relaxation to our body by breathing like really? Deep into the lungs. Okay, so it's not about taking a big breath through the chest. It's all about taking low and slow, slow, slow breathing in and all the way down. And release that, you know, I can breathe out very nice and gently so we don't want to gasp for air. We don't want to breathe too fast because our goal is to have at least like 6.5 breaths per minute.

Julia (00:15:05) - The slower the breathing, the better. And this should be done only through the nose. So when you breathe through the nose, breathing all nice and smoothly and all the way to,, to the bottom of your lungs, so to speak. So it's a low and slow. Those are the keywords for a good,, and functional breathing. Because the way. Go ahead.

Meredith (00:15:31) - I was just going to interrupt you really quick. When you said six and a half breaths per minute, that's the goal. Like that's what we want to reach. Not more. Right? Yes. So that's pretty amazing. Like I can't even I'm working on that now. It's it's still amazing to me.

Julia (00:15:49) - It's it sounds like it's not it's not enough because what happens now, like people have a tendency to breathe a lot over breathe. So now instead of six and a half, the norm became like 11 and 12, which is not norm. It's just because the prevalence is so wide, you know, a lot more people are breathing like faster.

Julia (00:16:16) - So we're taking an average how many breaths per minute people take.

Meredith (00:16:21) - Julia. What other concerns do you have for women when it comes to your areas of expertise?

Julia (00:16:27) - So I guess. I want to talk about the sleep and sleep disorder breathing so women naturally don't get enough sleep and they need more sleep than men do. So women often enough, are awakened from their sleep by other people like,, snoring partner kids and all kind of caregiving obligations. And they might have,, in addition to that, that the sleep disorder readings are very, very big, especially when women are getting into the menopausal stage. Hormones that are responsible for firming the throat and oropharyngeal area is called progesterone. As we age, the chances of sleep apnea are present in,, menopause. And comparing menopausal women is very high. Progesterone is,, responsible for making our throat very firm. The muscles in our throat very firm with the decrease of the production of progesterone. So we are at risk of have this,, throat muscles collapsing, and that can lead to snoring,, upper airway resistance syndrome or,, obstructive sleep apnea.

Julia (00:17:59) - And,, as we know, obstructive sleep apnea is a life threatening condition. So,, we have to work on that as well. So and it's not only the breathing then we're working to make it low and slow. We're also have to work on the muscles of the throat. And we have tons of different exercises of breathing exercises to make the throat very firm. And so to prevent the collapsability of it and hopefully prevent that and elongate the life.

Meredith (00:18:27) - That's all super relatable to me because I know that I didn't always snore and I didn't. I don't think I always had a sleep disorder because I didn't always need naps and I wasn't always dragging and I wasn't always exhausted. But in the last, I don't know, 10 or 15 years, I started having people give me feedback. Oh, you're moaning and groaning in your sleep. Oh, now you're snoring in your sleep. And I didn't always have as much weight either. And so it was confusing to me like, why is this happening? What's going on? So that just makes so much sense.

Meredith (00:18:59) - And it's just amazing. It's fascinating that myofunctional therapists can help with toning the throat and the airway because I did that work. That's one of the things I worked on last year with someone else. But,, I just love all this and I love understanding it. So thank you so much for explaining it. 

Julia (00:19:15) - My pleasure. My pleasure. And you're absolutely right. You know, like when we have a little bit more weight. So it's actually also affecting the way we breathe. And, so you're right. Okay.

Meredith (00:19:28) - Yeah. Something else to work on. All right. So Julia, this has been amazing. And just a side note to my listeners. I'm going to have Julia on a couple more times to talk about the other areas of her expertise, because we need that. We need to learn these things. We need to understand them. And I just hope that everyone shares the episodes and, you know, do your part in helping other women learn about these things are so important.

Meredith (00:19:53) - So before we go, will you share a couple of tips with my listeners? Anything that they can work on right away?

Julia (00:19:58) - Absolutely. So the first thing first, the nose breathing, if you do nothing at all, then those breathing is essential for your health in and out through the nose. And you can extend your exhale just a little bit. We have a couple of leaks like,, like a yawning sign sneezing, coughing those are the ones. And actually disrupting the gas exchange in our bodies. And so if we can kind of prevent the stifle a yawn or stifle a sneeze or like a have like a,, a Dracula sneeze or yawn or anything, so that will actually prevent you from losing the carbon dioxide and is so needed. And we talked about the importance of carbon dioxide humming. I love humming humming because very good humming through the nose on the exhale. It's very important helps with the production of nitric oxide, helps with the reducing the blood pressure. And,, you know, like bringing a little bit of a parasympathetic response into the internal into life.

Julia (00:21:03) - And that's when we,, we also vibrate or pharyngeal branch of the vagus nerve. And that also helps to,, to feel happier.

Meredith (00:21:13) - That's when.

Julia (00:21:14) - Relaxed.

Meredith (00:21:16) - And I think you like happy. It's in your, your,, company name.

Julia (00:21:20) - Yes, it is indeed. Indeed. Happy is my my middle name.

Meredith (00:21:25) - It's appropriate for your work. I love it so with that. Will you tell us how my listeners can find you and find your resources? Where do they look for you?

Julia (00:21:35) - Sure, sure. So they can find everything about me and my practice on my website. It's HappyMYo.com and I also have a contact page. I have a link to LinkedIn and to Medium, where I just started recently posting some of the articles,, on my website. I also have,, resources for patients and resources for practitioners where I write like little blogs, little information, and,, I'm constantly working on that. So I updated that and we updated that.

Meredith (00:22:12) - That's awesome. And you've been writing more articles lately, and that's been really fun.

Meredith (00:22:16) - I know it's hard. It's also been fun to have people discover your articles, right?

Julia (00:22:20) - Yes, yes. It was it was a very new to me. And I'm proud of overcoming the fear of being read by some other people who don't really know me. But it was fun. I'm enjoying working on those articles every time, but I'm doing it.

Meredith (00:22:42) - Good for you and it'll get easier. So look for Julia's resources and learn more about working with her at Happy Myo.

Julia (00:22:51) - Thank you.

Meredith (00:22:53) - I'm so happy you're willing to speak with me on the show today. Our conversation will help more people understand the importance of breathing properly or about health and wellness. And these are things that no one seems to understand but are so important.

Julia (00:23:06) - Thank you. It would be my pleasure to see you again and be a part of your wonderful show. I listen to many of your episodes and every single one of them is very informative and I love listening to your voice as well.

Meredith (00:23:23) - Thank you Julia. As you can tell, we're good friends.

Meredith (00:23:27) - We can talk all day. We have to limit ourselves. But I feel like I didn't get enough. But I hope you guys, you know, since a lot of this is new information to you, that you're soaking it up and that you're feeling enlightened and interested, intrigued, and that you look Julia up. So thank you again, Julia, for being with us, sharing your knowledge and insight. And thanks for the tips. And I guess we'll be seeing you again soon,?

Julia (00:23:53) - Well, thank you for having me. I really had a good time. And,, thank you again for inviting me. It was an absolute pleasure. Thank you.

Meredith (00:24:02) - Thank you. And to my listeners, thank you for being here with us. I hope you learned something new. Until next time. We'll see you soon. Thanks for listening to the Sweet Slumber podcast. We hope you enjoyed today's show. Before you go, please leave a review and hit subscribe and have a great day!