Breathing is subconscious. We don’t have to think about it – it just happens. But when we exercise, many of us become more aware of it than we normally are – sometimes thinking about every breath we take.
During low and moderate-intensity exercises (such as walking and cycling), the majority of us breathe in through our nose and out through our mouths. But the more intense the exercise becomes, the more we tend to breathe entirely through our mouths.
Most of us would assume that breathing through the mouth is the best technique to use during intense exercise, as it allows more oxygen to reach our muscles. But evidence shows the contrary – and that breathing through your nose may actually be a better technique to use during intense exercise (such as running).
A series of studies have shown that when exercising at different intensities, less oxygen is used when breathing through the nose compared to breathing through your mouth. While this might not sound like a benefit, this basically means that the body can still perform the same amount of exercise while using less oxygen to perform it.
This could be a real advantage especially for endurance athletes as economy of movement is fundamental to success. Think of oxygen like fuel for car. The fewer miles per gallon of fuel a car uses the better its “fuel economy” is. The same applies to oxygen. The less oxygen used per footfall, the less energy a person uses (and therefore the more economical they are). This means you may be able to run further without becoming exhausted as quickly.
Further to this, breathing through your nose is associated with reduced volumes of air. This makes sense, as the nostrils are much smaller than your mouth is, so you can’t draw in as much oxygen at one time. But this study also found that people breathed less frequently through their nose when exercising, which seems less logical.
The key here is understanding that air moves from high pressures to lower pressures to help it go from the air and into the lungs. So although the volume of air is lower in the nasal cavity compared to the mouth, the pressure is higher – meaning the air moves more quickly into the respiratory system. The result is that oxygen can then be delivered more quickly to the working muscles.
This article This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.