Mayim Bialik's Breakdown - Summer Edition - Breathe Your Way into Mental Wellness Feat. Drs. Nasseri

Episode Date: August 9, 2022

On this Summer Edition of MBB, Mayim and Jonathan are joined by Mayim’s very own vocal cord surgery doctors, ENT + Anesthesiologist practitioners Doctors Shawn Nasseri and Bita Nasseri! They discuss ways they’re able to manage the mental health of their patients, how stress levels and sleep cycles can impact overall health, and their holistic approach to treating patients. The Drs. Nasseri explain the importance of analyzing your environment and getting to the root causes of symptoms rather than quelling them with medication. They open up about the experience of taking on all of a patient’s anxieties, the physical manifestations of psychological causes, and Eastern vs Western approaches to medicine. Mayim breaks down the science behind recurring nightmares in another installment of Ask Mayim Anything. Drs. Nasseri Wellness Shop: https://eukawell.com/collections/all/saline-sprays BialikBreakdown.com YouTube.com/mayimbialik Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Okay, you get to tell us one dad joke and then we let you go. Why was the Energizer Bunny arrested? He was charged with battery. Hi, I'm Miami-Bi-Alic and welcome to my breakdown. It's myambialic's breakdown. She's going to break it down for you because you know she knows a thing or two. It's a little bit different here. We're having some fun this.

summer. We're traveling. Jonathan, say hello to the summer, the summer friends. Summer fun time. We don't want to leave you hanging, though, without any MBB content. So what we have this summer is some episodes that aren't like our usual episodes, but they have all of the insight, the banter, the information, the big picture, and also a lot of the fun details of everything you want to know about mental health, wellness, and how not to break down. So this is our attempt. at being fun and loose. These are our summer editions and we will see you with fresh

episodes and less of a tan in the fall. Break it down. Today we're going to speak to one of the biggest names in the world of vocal performance music management, television, feature production, and media.

We're going to be speaking to Dr. Sean Nasseri and Dr. Bita Nasseri. But before we talk about why we're going to talk to these two doctors today, I'd like to introduce the biggest name in vocal performance in this room, Jonathan Cohen. Hello, my name. Hi, everyone. I have my voice warmed up and ready.

Oh, yes. Dr. Nesseri is an ear, nose and throat doctor, and Dr. Bita and he have a practice together. She's an anesthesiologist, also an internist, but she serves as an anesthesiologist. Dr. Nesseri happens to be, just like full disclosure, the person who did my vocal cord surgery. He's also removed cyst from my adenoid. He takes care of my voice. He also is the doctor for basically American Idol. So if you've ever seen that show or know any of the musicians from it, he's the guy who's helping all of those incredible people. He's also worked on X Factor. America's got talent. He's been featured on the doctors and all sorts of other things. He cares for the

contestants and the production of 12 seasons of American Idol, 10 seasons of so you think you can dance, three seasons of X Factor, the West Coast seasons of America's Got Talent, and two seasons of the sing-off. He also is, he's, I'm not saying things that I can't say. This is all public. This is all public. He's Seth McFarlane, and he did a really cool piece in the Hollywood Reporter several years ago. Sarah Silverman very famously called him out for literally saving her life. She had a life-threatening throat emergency, and he saved her.

He was able to get her the care that she needed, and she's talked about that. And she and I have other medical things in common, so she and I have DMed about that. He also was a part of the very strangest date that you and I have been on. We went to the doctor together, and I saw him put a camera down your throat and take a picture of your vocal cords. and I now know what a distress set of vocal cords looks like and what a very healthy set looks like. Healthy or white, and they kind of flap together and they go, blow.

Yes, Jonathan and I have been to this doctor together, and Jonathan also ended up having a procedure done. But this isn't an advertisement for Dr. Sean and Dr. Bita. They do have a practice in Beverly Hills. I'm really interested in kind of how they manage the mental health of their patients. And in particular, I know from my personal experience, so much of what was happening and what happens in my body is impacted by what's going on with my stress level, with my sleep. So we're going to talk about that as well. All right. Dr.

Sean and Dr. Bita, welcome to Miami-Biallax Break it down. Doctors Necari. You are a married couple and you have a practice together, which is adorable. And you happen to be, my doctors and other people's doctors. I'm like the least famous person who spends time in your office. We know your co-host. I'm the least famous person. Okay. So you're you happen to have been up inside both of our noses and my throat. Tell us a little bit about where you're from, where you grew up and how, I mean, like in a nutshell, how you both became doctors. Well, I was born and raised until I was 14 in Iran. So a lot of my background is more of a holistic approach, you know, from like using fish oil to applying fish oil cream to your body or what voodoo practices we've had back in the east.

So I'm very familiar with that. But then my passion was to practice medicine and become a doctor. When my parents moved me here, I actually was merged in like, you know, scientific studies and graduated from med school here at UCLA at the age of, what, 23. And I practice anesthesia, one of the most toxic medical practices in the Western world. You almost kill people for a living. I give people chemicals to put them to sleep, make them dissociate their body and their pain receptors so they can pleasantly have anesthesia and surgical procedures. But in my personal life, I'm as clean as it gets.

I try not to use as much Western medications as I can, and I try to approach it holistically. And if it's not working, I definitely pursue Western-style suggestions. I'm also a first-generation immigrant from Iran. We came when I was a little younger, but all the impressions I had, because I'm from a more rural part of Iran, was all the Ayurvedic principles, rituals that we had in terms of diet, heat and light, sugar versus base. And all those premises and those principles that we've used, we've held true because in Iran, either you went to Harvard Medical School or you were like the village naturopath.

And literally, both had equal success rates in those worlds. And so for us, that's been really important. It's been central to our lifestyle and our life, but also how we view things holistically. And that we don't come in and say, you know, you need an aspirin. you need a antibiotic or you need a steroid every hello it's okay why are you sick what's going on are you do you have a new dog have you been smoking are you not resting and sleeping are you eating well are you under more stress in the pandemic and really carefully consciously considering people holistically and again treating them the same way holistically where when's the last time you had someone say well you get

sick through your nose like we should care for your nose that makes sense if i'm vitamin d deficient my immune says is lost its keystone. That makes really good sense. Those are all simple common sense issues. And if I clean my hands with something, it should be something that doesn't have benzocone. You're not spraying a bathroom cleaner on your hands to eat. This leads to the next question that I had. Now, I was turned on to you by my internist, who happens to literally just be a person who didn't tell me anything about you. And I walked into your office and some of the things are behind you. You're like a, you're a really, really, um, famous. Like you're, it's a very famous practice. You very famously are a doctor to

some of the most precious tools in the vocal community. And I didn't know any of this. And like the first time I was in there and I was in the waiting room, I just started taking pictures of everything and sending it to my kids. I was like, look, this person's on the wall. This person's on the wall. Several celebrities have, you know, have talked about you and Sarah Silverman very famously has a really beautiful story about a life-saving experience that she had with you. You are the person who operated on my vocal cords. And the two of you, you know, were with me when I was on vocal rest for, you know, three, like literally for three months.

So I've entrusted you with, you know, the most important, you know, part of kind of what makes this work. But I know that a huge component of my health is also about my lifestyle and my mental health. And I'm curious, you know, you work with very high profile people whose lives are very, very stressful. But even if you're not working with famous people, a lot of us have stress in our lives. And I'm curious, I mean, I know you can't give me a number, but what is it like to kind of deal as the two of you do with a population who often have problems that are impacted by, you know, unhealthy habits or them not getting other help they need? Can you talk a little to that? It's the most fulfilling part of the job, and it's also the hardest part of the job.

Because people come to us and they are, like today, I had someone who was horribly sick, 102 fever, 101, 102 fever, puffy, swollen, congested. I got to fly to do a show. And I'm like, no, you're going to fly. You're going to get worse. You're not going to do the show. You're going to disappoint all your fans.

We didn't dial it back. Just to clarify, that was a virtual console. because we don't see patients in the office with fever, as we are very cautious on COVID safety. And again, and you've seen for us for 20 years, we have air purifiers in every room. Every room is separately vented. People are rooms separately.

No one's sitting in the lobby next to a sick person ever. It's the same principles that you really want to do because everyone's going through now understanding illness or COVID mitigation. This is what we've been doing for 20 years. Right. So they come in and we say, okay, or again, this was virtual and saying, okay, listen, the main thing is we've got to have you sleep, we've got to have your rest, three of your kids are sick, you've got a fever, we have to move

your event, and it's just a practicality because I'm the son of two public school teachers, and I'm from Kansas. You can't get more pragmatic than that, but then we're dealing with people who are just like everybody else. They are trying to live their life and do their job and their jobs are incredibly demanding. I also am, you know, a victim of being a workaholic, meaning those are life choices that when I came to the situation that I was in, you know, what I told you is that I worked a ridiculous number of hours. I was in Ukraine at the time, and I didn't get breaks. And I overuse my voice. I over-exert my voice because that's a psychological thing. I literally think I can't be heard.

And it's like it's so, so you got to see the physical manifestation of a psychological component of me literally overusing and abusing my voice. Jonathan's holding up a sign that says confidential voice because after my surgery, that's what the pathologist said I have to do, the vocal coach. She gets too excited. We just give her a little reminder. She's a passionate public speech. Yeah, but, but, but I think, but, but I'm curious because like, you know, it's not your job to manage people's, you know, personal lives. However, you know, you, you, you see people who push themselves. Patients usually show up here at their most vulnerable stage because for a lot of people in the industry, at first it's denial. Like, you know what, I just pushed it. I sleep it off and it'll get better. And they do know, everybody's very. smart and very in tune to their body, and they know exactly, they can say exactly I know the moment

it happened when I was most vulnerable, when I overdid it, and when I should have said, no, when I did it. But when they get here and they're here to see Sean or us, they're open-minded. They're here for help. They listen. But the fact that they're not excited about seeing this office or all the pictures you see on the wall. They're really excited to see sincere, humble, surgeon who sees everybody the same way, whether you're janitorial services on walkthrough, you get the same service as you would get, as you would receive. MyNBialx Breakdown is supported by Superpower. We all know the feeling of leaving a doctor's office and kind of feeling like we didn't

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Many people cannot, I mean, honestly, many people cannot afford the kind of services that are available in Beverly Hills. And that's totally not what I'm here to talk about. But what I will say, I see a lot of doctors. Like, I've seen every kind of doctor for just about every part of the body that there is. And I'm not just saying this. I tell everybody this. You are my favorite doctor. And it is because, no, but it's because.

And this really is why I wanted to talk to you on a show. about mental health. For me, like, my whole life lives under the veil of, I've been depressed, probably my whole life. I suffer from anxiety. I have obsessive-compulsive disorder. I am prone to panic attacks when in the right environment. So walking into any facility for me is likely to trigger a lot. And the kind of care that you provide is the kind of care that I wish for every person. person who is sensitive because I remember I once had I had shit happens to me that doesn't happen to other people you said I had both kinds of flu at the same time in my nose and you were like I don't know if I've seen this like ever but I once had what did I have had a little cyst or something on my like

what am I adenoid right and you had to go in now let's talk about it if you're if you're squeamish people you may want to lower the volume you had to go in with the grab that looked like the thing in men in black that took the alien out of the guy's belly button. It was like a little tiny, like a fondue fork that closed with sharpness. You went up into my nose and Dr. Bita held my hand

and I remember what I really wanted was like a 20-minute warm-up, but that's not your business. Meaning you can't run your office if you hold so tenderly all of the insecurities of every patient, meaning what you had to do was portray confidence and compassion while also communicating, we have to get this done.

And I'm like a toddler, the longer we would have talked about how scared I was, the more scared I would have gotten. So this is what you're managing. And I remember you had to go in a couple times because you didn't get it the first time. And I remember I felt the tears. like pouring out of my eyes, but I couldn't move.

You know, I couldn't, like, because you were in there with a very sharp object, but I remember thinking, and I was talking to Jonathan about this, like, you have to hold a lot of anxiety for people. And when I went into surgery and Bita was putting me under, like, I do. I think about my children. I wonder, am I going to be the person who has a conflict? Like, you're holding all of that. So was that something you thought about when you're like,

I guess I'll be an E&T and oh, I guess I'll be an anesthesiologist. Like, was that something that the two of you decided together? I mean, I don't know when you met also. So maybe that's a minute, too. We honestly, I mean, again, either you come taking care of people or you don't. As we're, and I'm sure you've been to a million doctors and so is Jonathan, you can't fake your sincerity. You can't fake caring about people. And it's one of those things where those are the truly meaningful parts of the job.

And it's a job and it's a great job and it's not a job because we do it every day and we love it. We don't even think of it that way. That's just what we do. And the whole point is people come to us for help and we have to convince them to do things that they absolutely don't want to do. You want to like clean out your ears. That's something that tell a five-year-old, I'm going to clean at your ears. See how quickly they run. You know, if we have to look at your tonsils or clean your nose or do a biopsy, do a biopsy.

or we were doing the same swabs that people are hating with the COVID swab for the last four years for influenza. And we had to convince people with a smile like, okay, here I go. This is going to be great. Okay, done. Feel that in the back of your throat? Wonderful. So it's one of those things where we have to convince and educate people. Okay, this is we're going to do.

It's going to be a few moments of unpleasantness or just weird. And then we're going to get you through this. The same way that someone comes in or throats closing up, as you know, Many times people have come in that way. We're like, okay, we have to do X, Y, and Z, watch you closely. And if you get worse, we're going to the hospital, the emergency room. And not more than a few times have we ridden in the ambulance with people. But that's when things are really important to kind of guide people, help them.

And that's really the way we've practiced. And it's the way, honestly, I hate to say that culturally, we're Middle Eastern and we come from those like taking care of other people backgrounds, and that's definitely been central to it. I think definitely we had an interest to care for people, and that's why we went into medicine. Yes, coming from the backgrounds we have, like a medical or doctorate degree is the highest degree in honor you can accomplish

and make your parents proud, but the reality of it is being a physician or any kind of essential worker is the most gratifying job experience any of us could have. Sometimes it's like, you know, completely unappreciated and a thankless job. But the reality of it is we've chosen these jobs. We want it to be physicians or essential workers because we just love caring for people. And that shows like if stress is not something that potentially you can deal well with and you can kind of transfer it onto the other individuals, then it's not the,

kind of right job but that's why we're all different kinds of people so you can write and make me happy when I go home and I watch your shows and I forget about what happened to me from 630 in the morning till 6 at night and then I get to do and return the favor when you show up in my office or on my anesthesia table when I have to put you to speak because we're all good at what we do and I think the jobs pick us um so it's not it's never been for that financial um comfort or security we really enjoy We're honored that people trust us. Yeah. So how did you, how did you meet and how did you decide to have a practice together?

You're also, you're also hilarious, the two of you separately and together. And you're being very professional here, but going to your office is, it is a real pleasure. But they said keep it rated PG-13. So we're being very careful. No dad jokes yet. No dad-jokes. No dad-jokes. I gave him specific instructions on how well to behave today or mine will not talk.

So tell us where you met and sort of. of how you decided to practice together. He picked me in a magazine. You know, it had names and numbers and, like, how much you can buy them for from your own? It was before the dating app, so it was like printed. No, literally like, you know, I'm from Kansas. I went to med school in Boston at Harvard,

and it was really cold and miserable. So I missed home, and I picked the best hospital I could find. And I train at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, which is literally 15,000 back then, doctors and nurses in the middle of, not metropolitan Minnesota and Dr. Bita came for a

rotation because we were basically a year and a half apart in our training and we talked met I was convinced it took a little convincing for Dr. Vita and then we lived in Minnesota for the first three years of our marriage until I finished my training and Dr. Vita did internal medicine

and then decided to do anesthesia so we came out here in 2000. So we've been married 25 years. And then Dr. Vita was on the transplant, you know, liver team, spine, neurosurgery, all that good stuff for several years. And then we had our second child. And she said, yeah, it's kind of tough to be on the heart team and like go the first day, get the heart. Second day, put in the heart.

Sometimes fix the heart afterwards to be on that team or transplant. So she's been doing outpatient surgery. and then about 12 years ago, we had, sorry, about 16 years ago, I had somebody who was terrible nosebeat, the gushing blood, they were a heart patient, and because Dr. Bito's heart trained, she was the anesthesiologist for that emergency, and we're like, wow, we kind of get each other's language, and we understand to communicate the nonverbal cues and how to look up and compliment each other medically, and we serve different jobs. And people say, what's it like when you work together and I'm like, listen, so when you're flying in a 767 or 747 across the Atlantic,

I'm in the back serving drinks and telling jokes. I'm going to he's flying the plane so you continue being perfectly fine. You took off, you land, and you're safe. And that's what the anesthesiologist does. And I have a lot of respect for that. And I always have. But it just makes it easier because we've worked together for exclusively for like the last 12, 13 years. I think it was just so natural.

and not forced. That medical tango for us was so easy. And it did so much better professionally for our patients because they see both of our faces in the office and in the surgery center. I am quite controlling of the workup of the patients before surgery, and that works quite well for us. To be thorough and so thorough and so much in tune

and in contact with every general physician the patients have undergoing surgery because I just don't want a point missed or dropped. And as you said, maybe a little controlling over all of that. And that's why it works so well for us that OCD really kicks in. And he lets me have my OCD to be as good of an anesthesiologist as I can be. But knowing that there are backup engines on that airplane. He's still with the airplane metaphor.

He's not done with that metaphor. No, that Dr. Bita likes to have a backup for every system. So you know, if we have an earthquake, we have a backup power system for 12 hours, not an hour. Okay, so I want to ask you something, Jonathan, this is where you're going to shine. So Jonathan has had a lot of sleep problems. And I have a lot of opinions about his sleep problems. But one of the things that Jonathan got super into, which we kind of wanted to get you to weigh in on, is breath and breathing.

Right. Because a large component of how you sleep can be impacted by your breathing. And Jonathan, do you want to take over a little bit? Well, I was going to be just talking about people's general health. My hypothesis from what my little research studies have been that most people are not that healthy as an understatement. And while it's amazing, and I've been in the office and you do get amazing care when you're able to find the right people, most doctors out there are doing a very limited

view of how to help people. And I don't know, maybe it would be worth before we get into the breath, like in the general public, like you mentioned a few of the risk factors, but like if we're sort of doing a, you may have some issues that you didn't even know about, like almost I mean, you might need help. Number one is nutrition, making sure that they've got a great nutrition plan. They're eating what we consider all of us since we were kids a balanced diet, getting a really good nutritional supplement for when you're missing. So if you're not sleeping, not resting,

burning the candle of both ends and you're exhausted, you're going to need extra B vitamins. Number two is actually get a good sleep. More than 50% of Americans are sleep deprived. So what has led you to become sleep deprived? Is it your workload? Is it your lifestyle? Is it your nutrition or do you have a medical condition that leads you to sleep disorders like sleep apnea or or any form of narcolepsy or sleep disorders so that would be definitely number two because with sleep your sleep deprived your mentation kind of it goes out of out of balance and how does your how does your body recover you go you run five miles you sit for a minute that's what sleep is you're running all day long, and then when you sleep, your body rests, recovers, regenerates.

And if you're not getting good oxygen flow when you're sleeping because you have sleep apnea. Oh, I have a question. Would number three be, and I believe that antibiotics are very important. They are lifesavers. But it's a balance. Well, I was going to say, sometimes you meet people and they are constantly on antibiotics, like constantly have a sinus infection. That usually means that you may need to try a different doctor.

Like if the solution is consistently going antibiotics, going to like for me, I was always getting sinus infections. I cut out dairy and I was no longer on antibiotics for 25 years. So can I make that the third thing? Like if you're one of those people who's always being put on antibiotics. Not being in a rut. We're like thinking the same way because again, holistically, we're people. So it's what are you breathing in? What are you taking in?

What are you exposed to? Allergies. Environmental. or your allergies. Food-related allergies. Is it environmental food? Food intolerances? Because a lot of people, it's not that you're allergic to dairy.

Dairy throws off your mucus. It's thicker. Then your sizes get congested. That's a real thing, people. Everyone who's like, dairy doesn't do that. It's a real thing. No, absolutely, the Kaysin protein thickens mucus. In singers who are going to sing at, you know, the Hollywood Bowl or Carnegie Hall,

we're like, don't have dairy, don't have a big glass of milk. and a cup of yogurt before you go to sing, your muca is going to get. That includes cheese, fermented milk, which people forget. It's like, oh, my God, I didn't have any milk. I just had, like, a few, like, pieces of cheese. Cheddar cheese or Swiss cheese. Well, that's still dairy. And then looking at that and then saying, okay, what else is there?

Am I sick because I got a viral infection and I can't fight it off? So I have a secondary bacterial infection. And now I'm on antibiotics all the time. is there something in my environment? Am I exposed to mold? Am I not treating my asthma? Am I not addressing my allergies by just being simple, which is put an air purifier in.

Rinse your nose. Clear your air. And that 100% makes an improvement where it really has a positive impact without having to resort to the more aggressive techniques of antibiotics, steroids. I mean, in progressive, realms for us. I'm a surgeon, so surgery is always the last choice, unless there's a real problem we can't fix without it. But it's rinsing my nose, doing a nasal steroid, doing a rinse

which has some kind of infusion in it, and then oral steroids, antibiotics, x-raying to see if I need surgery, and then all the way in the end is, I'm a surgeon, so we do surgery. Jonathan, we have a couple more minutes. I want you to talk about specifically about sleep and breath because you recently did a procedure on Jonathan's face and it seems to have helped because he stopped complaining every night that he thinks he has apnea. Nose, not face, no. He's still very handsome. Sean had nothing to do with him.

Jonathan, do you want to talk a little bit and then yes? So I did have a procedure. You trimmed the turbinates. Is that correct? Right. Just a tiny bit about 5 to 10 percent. Not more than that. Because the filters in your nose that as you breathe air in and out, they filter bacteria,

fungus, viruses, all allergens, garbage. They warm and humidify air as it goes in. They also take that humidity back out so you don't dry out. And they also cool it out so that when your lungs, that I consider really wimpy as a nose doctor, can't take oxygen when it's dirty, when it's dry, and when it's not moist. You can't take them away because you need them. But Jonathan has a collapsed nostril, which a lot of people do. It collected over time.

And what I found, and this is why I think so many people begin to have these issues and they just slowly adapt and they don't realize that there's actually something wrong. I began to like hold my face to the side at night or sleep with like my face in my hand because I couldn't breathe properly out of my nose. And it made you really out of sorts. It did. It always felt like I couldn't get enough air. And then so someone would be like, oh, well, you go in and you shave it to create more. But then that's as you're saying, only five or 10 percent because the body needs those things. Then I started reading about this terrifying condition called empty nose syndrome, where bad physicians and surgeons shave too much of that to try to correct for people.

And then they feel maybe you can describe it a whole lot better. But again, when I started 30 years ago, because I started medical school in 1991, we just took the nose and it was like there's a big. part, take it out. Oh, no. It's like saying, this door is jammed, throw a grenade. We did everything like a cancer operation. Then we realized there are functions to every body part. So you want to be really balanced about it. So instead of taking out the filters, we trim them 5, 10, 15%, either of it's, again,

with instruments or cold or a laser or a free, it doesn't matter. What it is is that you're doing a limited amount because what's your nose, it's a it's a humidifier. And so we reduce it so there's less air resistance. So the air is flowing through so your nostril doesn't collapse when you go breathe in. He's complaining less. He's sleeping better, which means his mood is better. I'm just trying to give this as an example. This is an example of something that was physiological. Right. Right. A tiny change to his physiological makeup, which had a tremendous impact. And I think of all the people, and this is just me, I always get sad. I think of all the people who walk around in the world with things like this who never get attention or never get help.

And I remember I said to you that I've noticed that I kind of pull my lip down when I lay down to sleep. And I realized it's because I'm trying to get more air. And I was like, I have a doctor that I can ask about that. But you think about how many, I mean, I don't mean to be dramatic, but how many people walk around with challenges to their breathing, who it then impact, their mood and their mental state and those things just compound, you know? I have one more question and then we'll let you go. Can you talk about the erectile tissue in the nose? That's a very, that's a charge. That's like throwing a grenade and running back. So it means when blood flows to an area and it swells. And again, to be like a six-year-old. It's like a penis.

Right. So it's the filters. When you have a dread. When you have a dread. from exercise, from getting excited. Pregnancy. You spray aphrine in your nose. The opposite in pregnancy where you congest more from hormones. Oh, yeah. That tissue swells in your nose and makes it narrower and smaller to breathe. And so that's why it's and then the human body, again, the most beautifully designed creature by anybody.

And if you believe in, whatever you believe in, so well designed. So one side is always breathing and the other side is always cleaning and then it alternates where this side is breathing and this side is cleaning and that's called the nasal cycle how often does that happen like every every every five to 60 minutes that's amazing what parts are rectile all of it the the turbinates those things that you're divine engineer has a little bit less of they can swell less because we trim them a little bit and then a lot of people have a deviate septum which means the middle partition because septum is latin for middle wall two sides of the brain two sides of the heart so the septum twists and so sometimes we have to adjust

that i want to talk a little bit about um yuka which you developed gosh i guess was it during covid no we developed this three years ago because we take care of everybody who's on tour at all given times of their life their cycle thousands of people who are on production sets and work 24-hour days, multiple weekends in a row, like no one I'm looking at right here. And people who just travel and work as part of their business for finance or wellness or anything in all sectors. And then we have three kids who were incessantly sick. And the whole idea was every time we got on a plane, one of them got sick. And the last time our son who's now nine, he was five and changed.

We got on a plane. He just had pneumonia and broken his arm. And somebody was a row away, literally sneezing on his head with 102 fever, you know, sweating, spitzing, and taking Tylenol, Tamiflu and Augmentin. And we're like, can we get a mask? And the flight attendant looked at me like, I asked to fly the plane. And that's when we were like, we need a better way. Because for all of the people who tour for Hollywood, for everyone, we give them all these amazing tools on how to prepare themselves,

how to be well, and how to protect themselves from the inside out. And for our own families and others, you don't have to be, you know, on the number one comedy TV show and history to get the benefit of that wellness. Or the host of jeopardy. Right. You can just be that guy with a microphone right there. And you should have the same.

Traveling cross country. Right. Traveling cross country. And one of the things that I really love, the mission, as you declare it, is to democratize wellness with a beautifully organized system of clean, consciously crafted wellness products and kits. But I think it's really the democratizing point that I think shows that, you know, kind of the heart, the heart of what you do is to make available to more people what so many of us who see you as our doctor often take for granted. You know, like, oh, he keeps me well. when I have to travel and like, oh, I was just sick, but I still have to work. So he gives me all these things. So I actually, I keep a kit at work and then I have one at home as well. But we will absolutely

link to that. Okay, you get to tell us one dad joke and then we let you go. Why was the energizer bunny arrested? It was charged with battery. Thank you, Dr. Nesseri. Thank you so much for having it. It's great to see. We'll do this again. Thank you. See you soon. I'm really glad we had them on. I think that, you know, knowing what I'm like when I go into their office, and I don't even have, like, the kind of tens of thousands of fans waiting, you know, to see if they can get me better.

It's so incredibly stressful, you know, for them to be in that position. And, you know, I've had times with them where it's like, am I going to be able to speak? Am I going to be able to do this job that I've agreed to do? They have to take on the stress of their client. Like I, anyway, it's just, it's a lot, and that's not a job I'd be good at. I'm more focused on the number of people that have some form of breathing problem. 80% of sleep apnea is undiagnosed. 80% of people who have sleep apnea is undiagnosed.

Most people, they just start to sleep differently. We didn't get to talk to them yet about snoring, which affects millions and millions of people. And many people think, oh, I'm just snoring, but actually can be a pretty significant medical condition. Lots of people I know have allergies and are stuffed up and are like live like that in a pretty chronic way which impacts breathing. We're going to try to have James Nestor on at some point, who is the author of the book, Breathe, that talks about the whole entire formation of our facial structure and describes that as we got bigger brains and we started to eat cooked food, we stopped chewing for the number of

hours a day that we used to and then changed the way that our entire jaw and palate is formed and that chronic breathing problems are a massive issue afflicting millions of people. Now, as someone who has a collapsed nostril, I found that I did have significant breathing issues. And I think that there is the conventional wisdom about what is normal is fairly corrupt in that we accept a range of normal far below the optimal functioning for the human body. Well, and I think as we've talked about with a lot of things, most people will never see a doctor for any of these things. Anytime you're taking something in place of finding out what's causing it, you should be wary, meaning the Western approach is, and you know, I'm a person with a thyroid

condition. So like, I get what Western medicine does. You know, my thyroid is overactive. You take a pill, you make it stop acting, right? And the Eastern approach is. why is your thyroid overactive, right? So the same thing could be said for a lot of things. And of course, antidepressants are helpful. They work. You know, for many people, that's a wonderful solution. But there are also a lot of other things which take more time and often more energy.

And in many cases, people don't have access to the resources that can help them. And the fact is, I'm just going to go ahead and say it. If you're a person whose solution to sleep is smoking weed, you should probably go to a therapist and talk about the things that are keeping your mind active so that you can learn tools to make it not as active. And if you like to smoke a joint before bed, by all means, have a great time. But don't be surprised if the things that are under there

find another way to get at you. You can only numb out so long. That's Myems, PSA of the day. Do we even ask MyM anything? Cassandra hasn't asked my am anything. Ask my am anything. Yeah. She went to Biolik Breakdown.com.

B-I-A-L-K breakdown.com, where she scrolled to the bottom of the page and she asked Myam, are recurring nightmares your brain's way of dealing with childhood trauma? Oh, dear. Well, Cassandra, that's a great question. I mean, I'm going to give a big old fat. I don't know. I don't know if we know. I think that what would be really scary would be for you to assume or for anyone to assume

that if you're having nightmares, it means there's some childhood trauma that you don't know about. So I'm going to go ahead and say that we, I don't know that we know that. If you are aware of having childhood trauma and you find that you are having a lot of recurring nightmares and you know that you have some trauma, the answer is very likely, yes, that's likely worth exploring. Even if you haven't had, you know, nightmares from the time of your trauma, if you, quote, all of a sudden start having them, it likely could be your brain's way. or your heart's way or your soul's way, of trying to work something out. And that absolutely, I think, needs the help of a licensed professional and someone who's experienced as a therapist and hopefully specifically has experienced treating trauma. I'm a person who has had some horrible, horrible nightmares.

And I've been very grateful that I have had a therapist to work through them. it's not unusual for me to have crying. I have a couple friends that I feel very close to who I can text when that happens. There's actually a Hebrew prayer for amelioration of a bad dream. There's an actual prayer that you say, and I have said it. To sum up, I don't want people to think that if you're having terrible sleep or night terrors, that that means that there's a memory that's repressed and that you don't know about. Chances are it is worth exploring, and as I said, if you know that you've had some

trauma and this is a feature of your life, absolutely get help. You know, even a short-term therapy solution might be helpful. And of course, doing certain things before bed have been shown to reduce, you know, that kind of upset sleep, you know, the basic things like, you know, caffeine and alcohol can disrupt sleep and cause for more fitful sleep. And sometimes I'll have a completely fine day and everything seems totally fun. and then I'll just have a dozy of a horrible nightmare. And I don't just mean like, oh, that was so scary.

I mean really, really bad. And if you're a person who has bad nightmares, you know what I'm talking about. Jonathan, do you have anything to add? I have had a lot of nightmares and sleep issues. And I think the recurring to me is always, like, what do we mean by recurring? Is it same dream? Is it different types of dreams with similar themes? Yeah, I think she just means like a lot of bad nightmares is how I interpret it.

So is it similar themes? Is it similar things happening in those dreams? Right. Is it recurring? Is it twice a month? Is it every four times a week? And I think that distinct... I kill people in my sleep.

I used to have literally four nights a week. I would have dreams where people were chasing me with guns, and I was constantly trying to get away. And it was often through parking garages. And so you did everything like, okay, stop watching TV before bed, have a different wind down. Or maybe go to a therapist. That's anxiety.

I had anxiety. I also changed my diet and at that point had a very significant change in my dreams. So there can also be dietary issues going on. Thank you for the question, Cassandra. All right. That was one of our summer editions of Myambiolic's breakdown. Jonathan, these are fun. It's fun having summertime together. I could watch these all day long. But we don't want people to get used to this. We're going to go back to our normal boring long episodes as you seem to this.

think they are. They're so long. You have to follow them. You have to listen. People don't just cut to the chase. I just want the sound bites. In the meantime, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Check out our Instagram at Bialik Breakdown. Help us keep building our community there. We're doing really good. Let's have a good summer push from our summer breakdown to the one we hope you never

have. Jonathan, we'll see you next time. It's my Bialyx Breakdown. She's going to break it down for you. She's got a neuroscience PhD or Two, one, fix it one, and now she's gonna break down, gonna break it down.