I'm wondering if I'm too old to change my ways. I need all the oxygen I can get whilst running. I did try breathing in through my nose a bit at parkrun, but couldn't keep that up at 'race' pace.
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I'm wondering if I'm too old to change my ways. I need all the oxygen I can get whilst running. I did try breathing in through my nose a bit at parkrun, but couldn't keep that up at 'race' pace.
I could never breathe through my nose while running. Instead, I used my breathing patterns to gauge my effort. For example, I would breathe in for two steps and out for two steps at an easy pace. No matter how slow I ran, if I tried to breathe through my nose, I always felt like I was suffocating. It’s just not for everyone.
It sounds like something that takes time to adapt to. It's funny that we could be doing something as fundamental as breathing 'wrong'.
Very true. I read a couple of studies a year or so ago about nasal breathing. One finding was that inhaling oxygen through the nose rather than the mouth allows it to move through our respiratory system more efficiently. Additionally, nasal breathing helps produce nitric oxide, which can lower blood pressure, improve blood flow, and neutralize airborne pathogens. However, these studies were either small-scale (with 10 or fewer participants) or hypothesized based on other research that was completed. It'll be interesting to see how the science evolves over time.