I cross country ski a lot during the winter, and this January a lot of times in below -20C. What I have is a "lungplus"[0]. Basically a tube with a mesh of metal I hold in my mouth and breathe through. After buying it I feel better the day after a hard workout outside compared to earlier. The air I breathe feel warmer, but almost more important not as dry.
There are also special designed masks for this. I like the lung plus better, as the inside of a mask gets snotty and wet and glasses don't fog with the lungplus. But others I know use the mask variants and are happy. They aren't as dorky looking I guess, at least not after everyone started wearing masks heh.
Note that having a buff ("neck gaiter") above your mouth isn't really comparable to a mask. It will just get wet and cold when breathing hard through it during exercise and is not really airthight so cold air still slips in other ways. Try a proper mask/lungplus designed for this, I can recommend it.
I'm one of the people that prefer the mask (in my case the Airtrim [0]). I had problems with it getting to humid inside the mask too before I learned that if I just blow (hard) out once every 10 minutes or so most exess humidity will be blown out of the filter and there will never be a buildup inside of the mask.
I can really recommend getting one of these heat/humidity exchangers, I think both types of products will do the job. I had to give up many winter sports due to problems with the cold and dry air before I got my Airtrim. Now its like breathing in +20C all the time. Best 50$ I ever spent.
Which filter do you like most for general moderate exercise? I see that they sell several grades of filter based on air flow capacity. The one for asthma seems to be the most restrictive, but most effective. And the racing ones are opposite that, and the sports one is in-between. I'm thinking I would get the asthma one for myself, despite wanting to use it for exercise.
Tbh, I often regard a "bad" (aka out of fashion) webpage like this as a positive indicator when it comes to physical products. It can be an indicator of a company where product matters more than marketing.
Lots of caveats, of course. E.g. this does not hold in b2b products or anywhere with strong lock-in. Also, it tends to be a better signal when it comes to mature products.
I cycle year-round and have no issues with the winter air since I found the right mask [1]. Strongly disagree with the not dorky looking, I get sniggers and Darth Vader comments all the time. Foggy glasses mostly aren't a problem since I use skiing glasses. The mask makes breathing just a bit harder, but I can fully fill the lungs with each breath without any pain. I wear this mask up to around 5 degrees C if the air is dry, and have used it without any problems at -15C (where footwear started being an issue).
5 degrees C is pretty warm; even -15 is above the typical temperature discussed in the article: < -20, very dry and olympic level output. Plus that mask does look incredibly dorky.
Well I have some lung issues that made winter activity painful but the mask solved them. Just reporting the temperature range where I know it's effective.
Looks like it forces you to breathe through your mouth.
I remember reading something on here about the harmful effects of doing that on a consistent basis.
Do you find any change in your stamina/capacity when using this device?
You can't train above your ventilatory threshold while nose breathing, and boxers are definitely training above that level of intensity, at least for short burts. Fighting is anaerobic.
Conclusion: This study supports the ability of recreational runners to utilize a nasally restricted breathing pattern at all levels of running intensity without loss in VO2max or GXT TE, and with superior PE and VE/VO2, following an extended training period using this practice.
Are you saying boxing is purely aerobic, or that anaerobic includes the word aerobic which means “with air”? I’m not picking up your intention either way. Boxing is a high intensity exercise which would at points be anaerobic.
Ive been boxing for a while now and definitely breathe through my mouth a lot. You cant keep your jaw hanging open when exchanging punches, but you still do a pretty significant amount of breathing through your mouth
It’s understandable to feel that way, particularly since a lot of the formal breathing exercises we know in the west come from yoga practices which are thousands of years old and have all sorts of metaphysics tied up in them. But it doesn’t seem too hard to believe that having a nasal cavity to regulate air temperature, block dust, increase moisture, etc would be beneficial to the lungs.
Here is one somewhat extreme experiment on rats that showed continual mouth breathing had negative cognitive effects [1]. There is also research that has correlated nasal cycle dominance to different cognitive functions [2]. I’m not totally sure about the covid-19 links this paper makes, but it’s interesting to note the sinuses help create nitric oxide and NO plays a wide range of biological roles [3].
Personally, I do pranayama every morning before seated meditation as well as right before bed and find it to have great emotional benefits if nothing else.
The COVID-19 link is very plausible btw, inhaled NO has been researched as a COVID-19 therapy. (It just happens that that’s one of the less interesting benefits / effects of nose breathing)
I have to imagine that these days putting some silly link to COVID-19 makes it easier to publish, at least based off the increase of incredibly poor quality papers I’ve seen published : P
I was given "only nasal" as an endurance tip as a child and always understood that simply as a helpful intensity limit guide: if you stick to "noseable" level you won't find yourself completely exhausted any time soon.
It may lack sophistication but it's surely helpful for people who haven't yet learned how to spread out their endurance. But whenever something works in the realm of athletic performance, there'll be a flock of people who make up the wildest theories to explain how it works and misapply it to situations where it's actually completely wrong. So I totally get that "woo-wooh"
My kickboxing teacher just said "breathe like this" and nobody had time to ask questions. I've often found it to be pretty beneficial to have proper breath control. Because breathing in through your nose when exercising hard isn't instinctive, you practice breath control very consciously.
I must admit I'm a little curious what kind of woo-woo could surround proper breathing.
I still breathe normally through both the nose and mouth when using it. And the effect is good enough from just warming the (bigger) airflow through the mouth. But it probably stings a bit more in the nose compared to the mask variants.
I don't feel it hampers my breathing at all, really. If anything, it allows me to take full breaths in conditions where that normally would hurt. I got the sports variant.
Note that the difference between air from your nose and mouth is that your nose has hairs and a sinus system that warms and filters air. With a system like the above you essentially are doing the same thing.
Have been successfully breathing trough my mouth and using my own tongue for the same effect since I was a little kid. Takes some practice getting the airflow right, but it's the same physics: get it cooled down by the incoming air and warmed up on the way out. It surprisingly has enough thermal capacitance to have a noticeable effect.
Yes, so cross country / nordic skiing is fine (it's what it's made for, downhill skiing is something completely different than xc). Same for running, it's fine. Basically all cardio it works great. You just don't want something to bump it into your teeth. For the dangerous downhill slopes when xc skiing I just spit it out first if I feel the need to play it safe (attached to a lanyard).
I mean, I guess it's fine -- but i've witnessed people fall flat on their face through a variety of winter sports; I definitely wouldn't want anything bulkier than a mouthguard in place if that were to happen to myself.
But I think it's mostly motionists or above with fairly good skills that goes outside no matter the weather. A beginner in danger of falling would probably be more of a "happy camper" type and choose days with nicer conditions. Or if falling is a strong possibility I guess I'd recommend the mask variant instead.
So, yes, you can go downhill on cross-country skis, but you can't go cross-country on downhill skis?
(Telemark and alpine touring skis are variants of Nordic skis that shift closer to the downhill pattern, with alpine touring bindings and skis allowing selectable free or rigidly bound heel).
This was a rough Nordic skiing winter for us. -20F really does require something extra to help the lungs. A buff/balaclava helped a lot, but soaked/frozen fabric has its own downsides.
I’ve heard the pros routinely develop cold induced asthma.
It's good to see people actually talking about this.
I simply cannot run in the winter because of this. It ruins my respiratory system for the rest of the day.
And I can't count the number of times I've had people insist it's all in my head because, they insist, it's only relative humidity that matters, and the relative humidity in the freezing air is still 70%. And they don't understand when I gently explain that the air gets heated by the time it makes it deep into your lungs, at which case the relative humidity has plummeted to something like 10%. And sure, your mucus membranes do their best to humidify that air a little, but when it's well below freezing they simply can't keep up at all. And it's not just your lungs but your throat and vocal cords too.
Run at 50F weather and get your lungs acclimated to slightly chilly temps. For me, it takes a week or two to get used to even 50F.
Then, once your lungs are used to that, 40F and 30F are next.
I never went below that this past winter. But lung cold weather training definitely exists. Your body really does adapt if you give it the few weeks it needs.
This may be more common with high volume workouts. I don’t get it on short runs, but distance skiing for 2-3+ hours will take a toll. This isn’t something that happens when I cycle or rollerski for an equivalent workout.
When temperatures drop quickly I find that I need to do a few nose-only breathing workouts (low intensity, HR between 60-70% of max) in order to acclimate like this.
Nose breathing probably helps because your nose will warm up the air before it enters your lungs.
It takes some getting used to, but you probably should breath-in (nose) breath out (mouth) anyway, even in warmer weather. (Keep the CO2 on one side, and fresh O2 stream coming in with slightly better efficiency)
Train breathing through your nose. It'll be uncomfortable at first but you'll get used to it. After some time I was able to do tempo runs with nose breathing only.
Maybe some people have larger nasal cavities or nostrils or something.
But the idea that I could run -- whether in summer or winter -- with enough air exchange through my nostrils alone is simply impossible.
It's not merely uncomfortable. I mean I'd literally pass out from lack of air before five minutes were up. I've tried before and wound up gasping for air no different from if someone had been suffocating me.
And my nose is unremarkable according to my ENT. Not congested with allergies or unusually inflamed or anything. I'm 6'1", healthy weight, athletic, average-sized facial features.
I'm actually baffled by the idea that there are people out there who can breathe through their noses while running.
Ive been a daily ashtanga practitioner for years were nasal-only breathing is important. It took quite some time to make it through the entire practice only breathing through my nose during, same goes for running, at anything more than an easy pace I cant do it. Youd have to be incredibly fit to pull it off.
That absolutely does not work for me when I try to exercise in cold weather. Fast breathing thru my nose in really cold air turns my head into a congealed block of cement within about ten minutes, with zero air flow, and with all that now less-hydrated snot dripping down the back of my throat makes me gag, sometimes violently. Once that is happening, I have to stop exercising and recover for maybe another 15 minutes. I can exercise much longer if I simply deal with the negatives of mouth breathing. I probably have poor quality sinuses, but I don't think my experience is all that unique either.
I should add that I do nose breathe when exercising in warm weather, and that works fine.
For me at least: its a low-grade cough that persists for maybe 2 or 3 days after the workout. (And again: if I'm not used to cold air yet, this can happen as high as 50F)
Not like "I'm sick" coughing, but "My lungs are definitely tired from that cold air" coughing. I wouldn't say its a big deal or anything, but its enough to make me take my temperature in these COVID19 times, lol.
Very interesting. I go through phases of coughing after cardio exercise and only now realize the correlation with the seasons!
Though late last winter I made a conscious and extremely difficult effort to exclusively nose breath while doing my 5 km runs, inspired by a slightly fuzzy pop-science book. I experienced much less coughing after exercising in the cold after this change. I believe it has helped all my cardio activities since making this change. It was difficult because early on I would get an almost completely blocked nose due to the cold air, and instead of reverting my breathing behavior I would be forced to stop and wait for it to clear. After a while this issue disappeared.
This gives me hope. I thought I just couldn’t breathe through my nose while exercising. I find it super uncomfortable to unbearable when I feel like I’m not getting enough air. I didn’t realize you could just practice more.
I had the exact same experience as you at first - "there's no way this is going to work" - but two things helped, and now I can breathe through my nose doing an hour of cardio no problem (and I feel very calm in fact - it's pretty great).
The first thing I did was that at the start of the workout, when breathing through my nose and immediately getting the sensation that I wasn't getting enough air - I'd force the air through my nose really hard - like _really_ hard - to the point where sometimes I'd get a bit of mucus (as if you were blowing your nose). You'll be surprised how much air can pass through your nose if you push it in and out quite hard.
The second thing was that I'd just start slow. I wouldn't start with a sprint, instead I'd slowly warm up, focusing on my breathing through my nose (with the first minute or two always being that forced push/pull mentioned above). Once my breathing and heart rate felt stable (I track my heart rate whilst I exercise) I would then gradually pick up the pace.
You'd be darn surprised how fast you can go / how high a heart rate you can sustain whilst breathing through your nose. I've sustained 150 bpm for over an hour whilst comfortably nose breathing. It just takes practise. And a bit of a messy nose at first :)
For me it's a sensation of not getting enough air. Like I feel the need to take a really deep breath, but after doing so it was as if I did not and still have the urge.
Huh. I grew up racing XC skiing in Alaska, and usually during the first week of practice in the winter you'd "burn" your lungs from the cold (or apparently, the dryness). You'd cough if you breathed deeply, and it took a few days to recover.
But then the rest of the season you were totally OK - no issues at all, with a weekly racing schedule and lots of very cold temps. I don't recall any teammates having any chronic or recurring issues either.
It was accepted as the annual acclimation to winter aerobics, just like that first sunburn of summer let you enjoy the rest of the summer sun without burning.
I strong suspect that only a certain percentage of people can easily follow the "just suffer and you will adapt" advice. I mean believe some can do but I wouldn't take this as universal advise. Edit: Extreme reactions to cold even have a name, Raynard's syndrome[1]. But as someone who suffers occasionally from this, I think it's more useful to say people's cold reactions vary.
...just like that first sunburn of summer let you enjoy the rest of the summer sun without burning.
Advise that even more clearly applies to only some people and some locations.
Yeah, I've had similar experiences to yours, nordic ski racing on a team all throughout college. We'd all get coughs the first few cold days, but that was it. We would avoid doing interval workouts if it was below 0° F though.
Yeah, when it was really cold (<= 0F) were were required to wear facemasks (those neoprene masks with the nose fold, paper-punch holes at the mouth, and velcro in the back[1]) to prevent frostbite on the face, and they definitely helped with breathing as well.
> just like that first sunburn of summer let you enjoy the rest of the summer sun without burning.
This is not how it works. If you burn your skin, it doesn't tan (the skin layer responsible for tanning dies and then peels off), and aside from that burning your skin annually seriously raises your risk of skin cancer.
Same applies to my experience biking. I’m new to any kind of cycling, and coming off approx 1 yr of not exercising regularly (previously in moderately unfit shape). Got a hybrid fixed gear in Sep & the mask enabled multi-hour rides even once the temp dropped below to daily high of low 40s °F in Nov. I’m pleasantly surprised to report that my season hasn’t had to stop for the winter at all! I credit the mask.
Agree. The mask has been awesome for winter times to be honest. Face doesn't freeze off, air doesn't freeze the hairs of your nose, and my lips don't need a ton of moisturizer.
The one part that sucks is when you get too much condensation in there and I still have not found a good combo that allows sunglasses without them fogging up instantaneously. The temperature difference between your exhalation and the cold does not help at all.
If you wear a surgical mask, I found pushing it as high as possible to be the only thing that worked. You want the top at the same level as the nose bridge.
That's the recommendation further down in the article:
> Both Giesbrecht and Kennedy say a simple face covering, such as a fabric mask, neck warmer or scarf, can go a long way to protecting the lungs from being irritated.
> "If you cover your mouth, you're essentially warming the air and humidifying the air in a very productive manner," said Kennedy. "So essentially, your lung has to deal with less cold, dry air."
It's not very cold where I live (bottoms out around 15 degrees F, usually above freezing) but I've come to like the feeling of cold air in the my lungs. I also find it hard to run with a mask on.
Of course this article is aimed at professional athletes in much colder conditions.
I’m looking forwards to being able to wear a mask (forever?) without being looked at sideways no matter where I am. Even a bank, etc. I used to catch a ton of sickness from the subway, I’m sure this will cut it down. Exercising and keeping my lungs warm is yet another plus.
I was always jealous of the mask as a fashion accessory in East Asian countries, and now that masks are commonplace, I'm much more comfortable walking outside in public
I get dry cough for prolonged times during winter, and I don’t even exercise outside. Just from normal walking and outdoor activities.
I even have it now. It started a month ago. I don’t know what this is exactly. It’s not too bad, just some dry coughing every few hours. I feel almost constant low-grade burning in my chest. I use humidifier at home, but it doesn’t seem to help. My doctor has no idea what causes it.
I never happens in warm weather. Only winter. So it has to have something to do with that.
In a city the air can be worse or better depending on the season. I too had dry cough in winter in a city where smog would form during winter because the wind did not blow during that time of the year. When I moved to another city the dry-cough disappeared even though it was winter, in this city the wind was not stagnant in the winter, presumably carrying away polluted air form automobiles.
Do you breath predominantly through your mouth, or through your nose?
If the former, this could be a factor in why your lungs are chronically bracioconstricted. The nose has both a filtering and humidifying effect on the air.
I really suggest that anyone suffering from cough or sore throat take some time to watch this:
I actually don’t know. I don’t pay enough attention. My nose tends to get stuffy in cold temperatures, so it’s entirely possible that I automatically switch to breathing through mouth for that reason.
I will try to pay more attention to that.
I grew up in a very warm climate, but as an adult spent about 6 years in a much colder (New England) climate. I also have very mild asthma.
Every winter, as soon as I caught my first cold or flu of the season, I basically felt my lungs break. If I tried to run or sprint or play any sport, I'd get a horrible cough and if I kept going, I'd feel like I might pass out. That would basically persist until spring.
Had a similar experience, not that extreme but when I went away to college was the first time I spent much time in a cold climate. I specifically remember playing ultimate frisbee with friends in the late fall and getting almost a burning sensation in my lungs when getting winded in the cold. It never led to any kind of cough or ongoing symptoms for me, but I remember thinking wow is this just normal for everyone that grows up playing sports in colder climates? Over time I think I just got used to it, and haven't played outdoor sports that regularly as an adult that it comes up that often (more sustained exercise like hiking or even skiing doesn't really bother me, it's really the full-out exertion like sprinting). It doesn't surprise me that it can cause more severe symptoms, coughing, etc.
I used to jog in my 8th grade and during winter I developed a bad cough which won’t go away. Over time it developed into a full blown asthma and now I am in my late 40s and still have it.
I regularly run in sub-zero temperatures, and I've never experienced this. My coldest run this year was around -10 F, for an hour. I couldn't tell any difference the next day.
I'm guessing there must be physiological differences that make some people's lungs more or less vulnerable to the cold.
It's something building after prolonged/multiple times. And runners are often not outside nearly as long as XC skiers. My runs are seldom much longer than an hour, and they start outside my door. XC sessions in the weekend are 30+ KMs and for me also includes long times outside getting to the tracks.
Edit: also humidity probably plays a big role.
I think that must be it. Personally I get these symptoms even when I run in the 50s or low 60s, and am previously diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma (as a kid. Now I only very rarely get symptoms except in the cold.)
I’m running for around 14 years already and I never experienced this. My limit is around -20C, which is probably around -10F. Could be also that if you live in an area with harsher winters, somehow you gradually get used to the climate. It does seem weird, because years ago when I tried running with a scarf, it was seen like a bad thing for your health in the running community as all the humidity and whatever else accumulated in the cloth can be bad for you. How things change...
Also, elite nordic skiers have amazing VO2max (even in comparison with elite athletes in other sports). They can't be doing that much damage to their lungs.
(I've also run in somewhat cold conditions -- maybe 15-20F -- and while there is some acclimatization needed, it was fine.)
Nose breathing makes a big difference in such conditions. Although, to be sure, athletes are not going to restrict themselves to nose only on race day.
Why not? I can't think of many sports where mouth breathing makes sense, except anything that involves swimming where you have a very limited window to get air down your lungs.
are you sure? the respiration rate is mostly driven by co2 levels in the blood, not lack of oxygen. you can breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth and still get enough oxygen for threshold efforts
I don't ride my bicycle in -15 °C, but I've found it much harder to exert myself in temperatures from -5 to 5 °C versus 20 to 30 °C. That is, hills that are nomally easy for me in higher temperatures become very difficult in lower temps.
I figured this was common knowledge. I've never been able to work out in cold weather because my lungs felt like they were imploding. I always have to wear a bandana over my mouth+nose, and then it's bearable. It gets soaked but at least I don't feel like I'm dying.
I never did sports with masks, but yesterday I read the other comments and many pointed out that you should wear one or something similar to heat up and moisturize your breath.
Well, I tried it by going for an evening run yesterday at -2°C and it was amazing! No coughs, no stinging in my chest only a running nose.
Last November I had problems to breath after my evening runs because it hurt so much and I quit because of this!
I run/bike through the winter here (we have pretty mild winters with temps rarely falling below -10°C). On especially cold days I do notice that I cough a lot after exercising but normally its not enough of an issue to actively do something about it. Would be interesting if there was some hard research about the levels and durations required to do lasting damage.
I’d be curious about a similar article in summer running, esp in high humidity. I find this far more exhausting than winter running, where my greatest obstacle is layering well.
Lots of micro-optimizations in exercise. We need to breathe to get energy to the muscles, so it's good to focus on the pathways air takes to get to our lungs.
Making the air warmer and a little more humid is good. Making sure you're not suffering from allergies is good, too. Part of the reason I started Wyndly (https://www.wyndly.com/) was to help athletes take care of their allergies.
Basic respiratory physiology: one of the functions of the nose is to increase the humidity of the inhaled air to close to 100%. Breathing through the mouth defeats this apparatus. Whenever a patient has their upper airway bypassed due to a medical procedure (such as intubation), we use a heat and moisture exchanger (HME) or a humidifier.
I run with a surgical mask during cold weather because it acts as a poor man’s HME.
When I used to run regularly, running in the late-fall/winter in even relatively mild Northern Virginia would make me feel this way (anything under about 8C was painful and on dry days up to 12 was mildly uncomfortable; many of my friends loved run in 12C as they didn't overheat, but my lungs were just unhappy).
Seems a link to the 300 Club might fit here - I think it's normal to have some mild respiratory effects for a day or two after, even being careful to inhale through the nose.
Interesting -- as a data point of one, I'm a New England skier and trail runner. Deep cold doesn't bother me, neither does the summer heat. In the depths of winter I ski every weekend in Northern NH, often in 0F, sometimes in -20F weather. I trail run and XC ski all winter in 0-15F temps. Never noticed any breathing issues. In the summer, I run in 95F heat -- you acclimate with the seasons.
I have a million years or more of evolutionary engineering in me. I think this is what I am built for.
A very important function of the mouth is to moisten the air you breath because breathing dry air will kill you. When mechanical ventilators were invented they would destroy the patient's airways by drying them out which is why they now come with humidifiers.
There are also special designed masks for this. I like the lung plus better, as the inside of a mask gets snotty and wet and glasses don't fog with the lungplus. But others I know use the mask variants and are happy. They aren't as dorky looking I guess, at least not after everyone started wearing masks heh. Note that having a buff ("neck gaiter") above your mouth isn't really comparable to a mask. It will just get wet and cold when breathing hard through it during exercise and is not really airthight so cold air still slips in other ways. Try a proper mask/lungplus designed for this, I can recommend it.
[0]: http://lungplususa.com/ not the prettiest webpage I've seen, but the product works