Is mouth breathing and snoring causing your hypothyroid symptoms?
Nobody likes to admit to it but most of us mouth breath and snore at night. When you mouth breath at night it causes cell hypoxia (low oxygen). Cell hypoxia increases Deiodinase 3 activity which is the enzyme that metabolizes T4 to reverse T3 and T3 to T2. Ultimately this results in reduced levels of T3 reaching the nucleus of your cells, and reduced cell metabolism.
Ultimately the result of mouth breathing can cause hypothyroid symptoms and a condition called cell or tissue hypothyroidism. If this happens for one or two nights, probably not a big deal. But if this becomes chronic, cellular hypothyroidism worsens causing the slow steady creep of reduced cell metabolism and hypothyroid symptoms despite normal thyroid gland function.
Is the cellular hypothyroidism induced by disrupted breathing a mistake or dysfunction? Or, is it perfect design?
I think the latter. Thyroid hormone in your cells drives mitochondrial function and replication. The mitochondria require oxygen for optimal function. If there isn’t sufficient oxygen, the cells of the body instinctively reduces T3 available in the cells to slow cell metabolism and mitochondrial function, preserving the limited oxygen available for critical functions.
This is one of the reasons that disrupted sleep, snoring and sleep apnea are associated with a host of health problems.
What can you do?1. Mouth tape! This simple strategy can have an amazing impact on your physiology.2. Nose tape or use nasal dilators to keep nasal passages open at night.
3. Work with a functional medicine practitioner to evaluate causes of cell stress and inflammation.
