Just for perspective: I am a man in my mid-40s and for as long as i can remember i had this question… is it normal that i can shut my nose close just with some muscles?

I always wondered why some people hold their nose shut with their fingers while jumping into a pool or when exposed to some horrible smell… i never had this need. Changing my sons diapers? No problem! Cleaning the latrines while in the army? Just a breeze!

Ehm… yeah… just thought about this…

  • squaresinger@lemmy.world
    94·
    21 hours ago

    Try blowing out a candle. Feel how your nose feels while doing that. Try to replicate the same movement in your nose without blowing.

    There’s a ton of face muscles that you can learn to control with a bit of practice:

    • Wiggling your ears
    • Moving your eyes inwards
    • Clicking your ear channels (like the click you hear when swallowing)
    • Creating a humming noise in your ears by flexing a muscle inside your ear channels
    • Plugging your nose from the inside
    • Rolling your tounge
    • Individual motion of your brows
    • “Vibrating” your eyes super fast left and right

    Probably a few more that I didn’t think of right now.

      • squaresinger@lemmy.world
        2·
        4 hours ago

        Basically what happens when you look at your nose. But it’s also possible to e.g. only move one inwards while keeping the other straight. It’s not difficult, but there are people who can’t do it.

        • stelelor@lemmy.ca
          1·
          30 minutes ago

          Oh ok, I thought you meant pulling the eyeballs “inwards” as in towards the back of your head! What you describe, I’d normally call “crossing” my eyes.

    • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
      3·
      18 hours ago

      Blowing out candles is controlling your nasopharynx which every does so food and liquids don’t go up their nose while swallowing. Most everyone can breathe through their mouth instead of their nose.

      The OP seems to be describing his nasal passage, not his throat. That seems unusual but I’ve never asked people to know.

      • squaresinger@lemmy.world
        1·
        14 hours ago

        At least not in my case. If I blow out a candle, my nose passage closes.

        Maybe try the following:

        • Start with the motion of blowing out a candle.
        • While doing so, close your mouth, so that no air escapes through your mouth or nose, still holding the pressure of blowing.
        • Release your nose and feel the air popping out right at your nose.

        It’s not the bottom end of the nose, but the top end of it. It’s certainly not the laryinx, at least not for me.

        • stelelor@lemmy.ca
          1·
          10 hours ago

          I just tried that and I can definitely say the closure happens at the pharynx for me, which is also what I do consciously when I hold my breath.

          • squaresinger@lemmy.world
            2·
            4 hours ago

            Strange. Ok, can you make a snorting sound at the front of your nose? If you can, try to make a knocking sound with your nose. For that, build up pressure inside your nose using your tongue and release the sound by opening your nose.

            It’s similar to what you do when you have to sneeze and try to suppress it.

      • squaresinger@lemmy.world
        2·
        14 hours ago

        Might be, but all of these are things I was not able to do at some point and that I conciously learned. So while having the “wrong” genetics might preclude you from doing them, you still need to learn these things if you have the “right” genetics.