WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Adam's Apples and Throat Lumps 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:06.200 Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh, and 0:00:06.200 --> 0:00:09.440 there's Chuck and Jerry's here too, and we've got two 0:00:09.480 --> 0:00:12.360 Adams apples between us, and that makes this short stuff, 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:17.279 that's right. Uh. This was another one where I just, 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:19.880 all of a sudden, I saw a guy with a 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:24.920 very prominent Adams apple, and I don't I don't have 0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:29.440 a very prominent Adams apple, do you know. I just 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:33.280 don't think I've got a pretty wand Adam's apple. Yeah, 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:37.000 so we're both just a couple of low voice squeaker 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:40.720 squeaker fellas. I've got like Adams coume quat. Now that 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:44.519 I really think about it, I might have like a grape. 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:46.840 I can barely feel that thing. But we're talking about 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:50.120 Adams apples here. Uh that if you if you don't know, 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:53.840 I don't want to be the podcaster that assumes everyone 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:56.560 knows what that is. Uh. It can it can be 0:00:56.600 --> 0:01:01.840 that prominent bump in the sort of center throat of 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:07.160 usually as we'll see a man. Uh, and let's talk 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:10.360 about it. What is that? Well, according to the Bible 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:15.319 and Bible types, Adam, the original Adam was taking a 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:17.679 bite of that forbidden apple and some of it got 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:21.520 stuck in his throat, which cursed all remaining men to 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:25.080 come to be born with a symbol of that forbidden 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:28.200 fruit sticking in his his throat. And I love this 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:31.679 article from I think from how Stuff Works said that's folklore, 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:34.440 but in reality, the Adam's apple is a result of 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:38.640 a boy's voice box larynx growing. That's right, uh and 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:41.440 big thanks to how Stuff Works with this in Jennifer Sellers, 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:45.759 the author and the Healthy dot Com And I love 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:50.200 this one. Harley Street e n T nice. If you 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:51.880 want to learn about the throat, go to an ear 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:55.280 nose and throat place. Sure, for sure, that's their motto. Yep, 0:01:56.880 --> 0:02:00.240 it's a little self serving, but it is their that's right. 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:03.400 And here's the deal. It is um. It is cartilage, 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:07.600 and it starts out usually during puberty, and it is 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:10.240 your your larynx. It is your voice box getting bigger 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:13.600 and bigger, and your voice will get deeper. And so 0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:15.720 I was like, hey, does that mean if you have 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:19.359 really prominent adams apple, you're more likely to have a deeper, 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:23.160 more booming voice. And that's that's true. Oh, that makes 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:26.880 total sense. Yeah. The reason it's associated with men typically 0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:30.520 is it's activated. Um that growth of it is activated 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:35.320 by testosterone, an increase in testosterone during puberty. But that's 0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:39.280 not to say that girls larynx and larynx is yeah, 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:42.680 don't grow as well. They just don't typically grow as 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:46.240 prominent as boys do. And partially as a result of that, 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:50.520 women have higher voices, usually because their larynx is smaller, 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:55.040 uh than a man's larynx. Right, so you're less likely 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:58.600 to grow up looking like I feel like Adrian Brody 0:02:58.639 --> 0:03:02.480 has a prominent adoms apple. Totally. Yes, that's a great 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:05.000 example of that. I'll just watch that movie you told 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:09.600 me to watch, which one, the sort of murder mystery 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:13.000 in the theater? See how they run? Yeah, very very enjoyable. 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:17.800 I thoroughly enjoyed it. I started watching a horror series 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:20.880 that he's in from the set in the eighteen sixties 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:25.840 or whatever. UM called Chapel Weight, and apparently it's like 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:28.600 a prequel the Salem's Lot. Maybe I'm not sure. I 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:32.079 haven't figured that out, but interesting, It's okay, I'm I'm on. 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:34.560 I just finished episode one and I'm deciding whether or 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:37.800 not to start to You've become quite the horror aficionado. Here, 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:43.320 it's true in your middle age officiate time. All right, 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:47.120 So that's the difference of the size of the Adams apple. Again, 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:50.360 that's not to say that, uh, a woman could have 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:53.080 an atom's apple that you see and notice and can 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:56.240 be prominent. Uh. There could be several reasons for this. 0:03:56.280 --> 0:03:59.040 It could be a genetic thing, it could be because 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:03.160 of a horror monal imbalance that happened during puberty. It 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:08.120 could just be an anomaly. Um. But that's like it 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:11.880 can be, Um, it can be problematic. I think that 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:15.360 sometimes that's such a trait that you might associate with, uh, 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:18.320 with with men that I think if a woman has 0:04:18.360 --> 0:04:20.880 one that's a little more prominent, that they might be 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:24.440 embarrassed by that. Uh. You can get surgery for that 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:27.840 kind of thing. It's called the feminizing condo lorange of 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:34.599 plastic tracheal shave. Tracheal shave. Yeah, I'd rather be called 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:39.440 the feminizing condo Lorarangeoplastic tracheal shave sounds very painful, but 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:42.960 it's apparently not. It's apparently a pretty safe procedure. And 0:04:43.279 --> 0:04:47.400 women with Adam's apples, who by the way, Meg Ryan, 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:51.080 Sandra Bullock, Miley Cyrus all known to happen. Ohm, I 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:53.880 at least got that that deep voice. Yes, she does 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:57.840 for sure. Um uh. But if a woman is self 0:04:57.880 --> 0:05:01.400 conscious about that, she might have that procedure or for 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:04.240 trans women, that's often a part of it's often a 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:08.159 procedure that they undergo. But although the growth of the 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:12.920 larynx leads to higher lower voice, depending on how big 0:05:12.960 --> 0:05:16.320 it is, um, if you do a tracheal shave, that 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:20.560 doesn't affect the voice. Um. Yeah, you have to undergo 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:23.520 voice feminizing surgery where they actually go in and alter 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:27.040 the length of the vocal cords. Wow. Very interesting. I'm 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:29.640 glad you looked that up. All right, Well, let's take 0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:32.240 a break here, bruminate on that, and we will come 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:35.479 back and talk about sort of adjacent idea, which is 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:37.560 when you get the sadds and you get a lump 0:05:37.560 --> 0:06:03.960 in your throat. Chuck. I am so psyched about this. 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:07.120 This was the thing that I didn't know I wanted 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:10.919 to know about. And it's great because it's fully explicable. 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:15.479 I love those. Yeah, the idea that you are and 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:18.760 it's usually a situation where I feel like it's usually 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:20.880 situation where you may not be able to just burst 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:24.920 out in tears. Maybe you're trying to hold some emotion 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:28.760 back and you go to swallow, it feels like you've 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:32.560 got a chunk of Havardy cheese in your throat and 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:37.640 it's very uncomfortable feeling. I think we've all had it, 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:39.720 and that's you know that. You call that a lump 0:06:39.720 --> 0:06:42.480 in your throat. Yeah, it's also known as the globus 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:46.920 sensation or globbus because it's a great band name. Yeah, 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:50.960 I think so. Um it's it all centers around the glottis, 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:53.960 which is the opening between your vocal cords that you 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:58.160 can breathe through. And um, well let's explain this. Okay, 0:06:58.200 --> 0:06:59.880 when you feel lump in your throat and you're stre 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:04.520 u stout, the point to your body is that you're 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:08.760 stressed out, and so the automic autonomic nervous system kicks 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:11.040 in fight or flight. Remember old old friends, fight or 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:13.960 flight We've talked about all the time. Well, to your 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:17.800 autonomic nervous system if you're if you're in a stressful situation, 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:21.600 it makes no differentiation between whether a bear is coming 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:24.960 at you or the entire stadium at the World Series 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:28.960 is booing you, does not matter. It treats it the 0:07:29.000 --> 0:07:31.560 same way. And what it does is it prepares you 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:35.320 to fight or flight in one way that you do 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:38.520 that is by breathing in better So it opens your 0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:42.080 glattis big time and lets the oxygen into that you 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:45.080 can start getting that blood pumping and those muscles moving. 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:48.400 All right, So that's a good first part of the response. Um, 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:53.880 so what's happening, literally is your your glottis opens wide 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:56.760 open because your body basically is saying you need to 0:07:56.840 --> 0:07:59.560 run in the other direction and get the heck out 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:02.120 of here. In in in order to do that, and most efficiently, 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:05.240 you need to breathe in more oxygen. So we're going 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:08.600 on engines. Uh, we're going balls out, literally, is what 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:11.960 we're doing. And we're gonna open that glottis as wide 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:15.840 as possible. But if you're laying on the couch watching 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:20.280 uh uh Brian's song, what's another sad movie? That's a 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:25.880 boat old reference? Um, ordinary people? Okay, sure, I watched 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:28.080 that on a plane recently. Very dull. Really yeah, I 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:31.560 never saw it. It's just it's early eighties to me. No, 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:34.240 that's really good. Or terms of endearment, let's say, or 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:39.120 steel magnolias, when which Shelby does old yeller, I'm sorry 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:44.360 to spoil steel magnolias. Oh yeah, geez that man. So, 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:46.640 if you're laying on your couch and your body is 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:49.640 saying get up and run down the street away from 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:52.360 whatever this is stressing you out, and you're lying there 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:56.080 trying to swallow, you're just having a hard time swallowing 0:08:56.600 --> 0:09:00.560 because in order to swallow, your glottis is supposed to close, right, 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:03.440 but your glattis is wide open because of your autonomic 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:06.000 nervous system, and they're in is that lump in the throat. 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:08.839 And the reason why you feel like swallowing, and the 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:10.880 reason you get a lump in your throat is because 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:14.360 you're actively trying to fight back tears. And one way 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:16.360 to fight back tears is to hold your breath, which 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:18.760 you need to close your glatties for, or you swallow 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:20.679 what you need to close your glads for. And so 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:23.480 those two opposing forces, trying to close your glasses and 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:25.920 keep your gladss open is what gives you that lump 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:30.480 in the throat sensation. Boy, the hunk of I've already 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:34.840 was tastier, but this is this is pretty tasty to totally. 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:39.559 You got anything else? I've got nothing else. This is uh, 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:42.679 this is a good perfect shorty. I think I agree. 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:45.880 Perfection has been achieved, which means short stuff is out. 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:52.040 Stuff you Should Know is a production of I Heart Radio. 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:55.080 For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the I heart 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:58.040 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 0:09:58.080 --> 0:09:58.800 favorite shows.