Summary
Dave Asprey interviews Brandon Harris, creator of Jawzrsize, a jaw exercise device born from Harris's personal experience recovering from a jaw injury that left him wired shut for four months. The conversation explores how jaw strength connects to whole-body posture, neuromuscular function, and longevity. Harris explains that the jaw's deep connection to the nervous system means jaw training produces neurological strength benefits beyond the facial muscles -- improving posture, reducing sleep apnea, and potentially supporting cognitive function through increased blood flow. Asprey draws parallels to grip strength as a longevity marker, arguing that jaw strength may be even more important but rarely measured. They discuss how the jaw controls the body's spatial awareness, affecting posture, scoliosis, and pelvic alignment. The episode covers the science of mewing, myofunctional therapy, and practical jaw strengthening protocols.
Key Points
- Jaw strength is deeply tied to the nervous system -- biting down during lifts creates neurological alignment that enhances strength
- The jaw tells the body where it is in space, affecting posture, scoliosis, and pelvic alignment
- Jaw exercise may be more important than grip strength for longevity, but is rarely measured
- Jaw muscle atrophy from modern soft diets contributes to sleep apnea, weak lower jaw, and poor posture
- Jawzrsize provides full TMJ joint mobilization through medical-grade silicone resistance
- Jaw training increases blood flow and nitric oxide production with potential cognitive benefits
- Neuromuscular strength (like Shaolin monks) is more important than raw muscle size
- Strengthening the jaw may help resolve sleep apnea by preventing the lower jaw from falling back at night
Key Moments
Jaw exercises eliminated mouth taping: symmetrical bite training keeps the mouth closed naturally
Using progressive jaw exercisers targeting molars, canines, and incisors builds symmetrical jaw strength. This eliminated the need for mouth taping during sleep, as the jaw naturally stays closed. No one wants to be a slackjaw mouth-breather.
"But then I realized once I added the, because we have one that hits the molars. It's called the Jaws Rip Pro, so it goes in and hits the back four molars. You can move it in and out a little bit, right? Strengthens that area. Then you drop to the canines on the large pop and go, and then the small pop and go hits the incisors. Once you combine a symmetrical workout to all those teeth forward, your jaw just sits closed. Like I went from being a mouth taper to like, because my theory was big piece of tape, littler piece of tape, littler piece of tape, eventually no piece of tape."
The jaw controls your whole body's posture
Dave Asprey explains that the jaw tells the body where it is in space, meaning jaw issues can affect posture, scoliosis, and pelvic alignment -- your whole postural chain is controlled from the jaw down.
"People don't understand that the jaw tells the body where you are in space. So, your whole body, your posture, scoliosis, where your pelvis is, it's all controlled by."
Jaw strength and neuromuscular alignment during lifts
Dave discusses how jaw exercise devices create neurological strength benefits -- biting down during deadlifts produces proper alignment that generates neuromuscular strength, similar to how Shaolin monks develop extraordinary power without large muscles.
"What you're pointing out with Jawzrsize is that you're getting neuromuscular strength because the jaw is so tied into the nervous system, which is why you're saying if people are doing their deadlift and they bite down on the Jawzrsize, they're getting the alignment right there. That alignment creates neurological strength."
Jaw strength as a longevity marker beyond grip strength
Asprey argues that while grip strength is one of the biggest markers of biological age, jaw strength may be even more important for longevity but is rarely measured in clinical settings.
"In the world of longevity, if you just look at grip strength, this is one of the biggest markers of how old you are. Your grip's important, but your jaw strength is more important. They just don't usually measure that."
Neuromuscular strength beats raw muscle size for stability
Asprey discusses how Shaolin monks demonstrate that neuromuscular strength is more important than raw muscle size, and that jaw training creates neurological alignment that enhances overall stability and force production during compound lifts.
"we have these these Shaolin monks and they look scrawny but they're doing one finger push-ups and they're stronger than some of these guys who are just a wall of muscle and what you don't want to do is be like a big wall of muscle with no neurological strength backing it up."
