Sports, physical activity and breathing

Have you been diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma, but feel your inhaler doesn’t work? Are you suffering from COPD and think it’s only natural that you can’t walk up a flight of stairs?

What if I told you that most people, both those who exercise a lot and those who hardly exercise at all, say that their breath is what tires the fastest?
Many people who exercise say they struggle with their breathing during exercise. It’s not muscle fatigue that stops them, but shortness of breath. Shortness of breath encompasses a number of unspecific breathing issues that can’t be diagnosed as asthma or other respiratory diseases (even though many who work out also have exercise-induced asthma). This means the problem cannot be treated with medication. And if you are someone who uses an inhaler, it’s extra important that you learn how to use your breathing consciously so you can take full advantage of the medication.

If this feels familiar, it’s probably because you’ve developed a less-than-ideal and inefficient breathing pattern that only utilises the top part of your lungs. This causes faster breathing – which particularly makes itself known during physical activity – and a higher pulse. During physical activity, it creates the sensation of not getting enough air, which can make you reluctant to be active – losing out on all the great health benefits.

Our breathing is the only function of the body that is both autonomic and non-autonomic. Still, very few understand that they can exercise their breathing as well as the rest of their bodies. We often practise this and that, and pay attention to what we eat, but we forget the most important factor – the way we breathe.

The truth is, it’s probably not just during physical activity that you’re struggling with your breathing, but also when you’re at rest. It might not be as easy to notice when you’re resting, but many of us inhale and exhale far too large quantities of air, and only inhale shallowly into our chest and clavicle area.

If you’re not able to breathe optimally when you’re at rest, you’re guaranteed not to be able to do so while in motion. By practising slow, deep breathing exercises – where you breathe smaller amounts of air – when you’re at rest, you will gradually become able to implement this way of breathing during physical activity. You will then be able to work out with a slower heart rate, be able to breathe more easily, have less lactic acid build up, see far better results from your training, and – last but not least – be able to exercise at all.

There are two ways of increasing your O2 uptake and CO2 tolerance: by training aerobically (things like running, cycling, swimming, etc.), and by practising your breathing. So why not do both?

The Norwegian Directorate of Health recommends 60 minutes per day of moderate to high-intensity activity for children, and 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity or 75 minutes of high-intensity activity per week for adults. These recommendations are based on science, and they tell you something about what degree of physical activity is necessary to see health benefits and reduce the risk of developing lifestyle diseases such as cardiovascular problems, type 2 diabetes, muscle and skeletal issues, some types of cancer, and certain mental health problems. Studies show that only 35% of the adult Norwegian population meet these recommendations. In children, roughly 70% of 9-year-olds meet the recommended level of activity, while only 50% of 15-year-olds do.

– I never remember getting tired from running as a child

As a child, I remember never being at rest. We were outside playing, using skipping ropes, doing French skipping, playing kick the can, cops and robbers, football and dodgeball. What all our games had in common was that we were being physically active. Today, mobile phones with exciting games have, understandably, taken over for much of this activity. Unfortunately, this has the result that half of Norway’s 15-year-olds don’t meet the recommendations for physical activity.
My dream is that the practise of deep and diaphragmatic breathing will also contribute to making us more physically active as a nation. Getting out to go hiking or exercising will be more joy-filled if we don’t have to fight for every breath. I believe parents have an enormous influence over their children. Active parents therefore have a far greater chance to have active children. We have to start with ourselves. If you, as a parent, have a conscious relationship with both movement and your breathing pattern, it’s much more likely that your child will develop these relationships too.

Most people who work with breathing techniques focus on “breathing with your belly” and especially on inhaling deeply. I, on the other hand, want you to focus on your exhalations, by practising breathing out slowly and with resistance. The hypothesis is that practising breathing resistance will result in a deeper breathing pattern and slower breathing. This allows more of the expiratory residual volume to be used, which can help people be more physically active, including people with lung diseases and others who struggle with breath-related issues. It can also help improve performance for people at any level, from professional athletes to players of recreational sports and casual strollers.

– I managed to get my heart rate down from 180 to 160 during the same speed on the treadmill just by changing the way I breathe.

Are you one of the many people who exercise with your mouth wide open? You huff and puff and feel like you have to make sure you get in as much air as possible?

You are not alone, but I’d like to challenge you to think differently. It just so happens that, over time, your O2 uptake will be higher if you manage to keep your mouth closed and instead breathe through your nose. Additionally, we breathe slower when we breathe through our nose than when we breathe through our mouth, which again lowers our heart rate, allowing us to work out with a lower pulse. When we breathe through our nose, the air we breathe in reaches body temperature before it reaches the lower respiratory tract. The air is warmed up in the nasal cavity on its way down into the bronchi and lungs, and this puts less strain on the mucous membranes of the lungs. I’m convinced that several of our winter sports contestants develop exercise-induced asthma because they breathe so heavily, with open mouths, in freezing temperatures. When we breathe through the mouth, the cold air passes directly into the lungs without first being warmed up in the nasal cavity.

I have a narrow nose, and I thought it would be impossible for me to breathe through my nose when skiing or hiking outside. Today, however, I’m completely dependent on nose breathing, especially while skiing when the temperatures are below 10°C. When I breathe through my mouth, I can immediately feel the cold and pain in my chest. I also notice that I’m far less stiff and sore in my muscles when I exclusively breathe through my nose.

It is, however, crucial to learn the optimal breathing techniques when at rest before you try to implement them while moving. If you can’t breathe optimally and diaphragmatically (moving your stomach, back and the lower six ribs) while sitting still, you will absolutely not manage to do so while moving. Practise breathing while lying down or sitting before you move on to standing, walking and running.

To begin with, you won’t see the same results with your mouth closed, but it’s the same as altitude training. You’re working out with less available air, which will make you feel out of breath. If, however, you practise this over time, you’ll notice the O2 levels start to increase. You’ll experience less lactic acid and you will recover faster, and therefore be able to work out more. To start with, you can consider practising your nose breathing your altitude training, and perhaps allow yourself to open your mouth if you’re about to compete. If you exercise casually, there is no doubt in my mind: keep your mouth closed!

– Better performance right away? No. With time? Absolutely YES!

You’re guaranteed to notice it both in your energy levels after working out and in the amount of lactic acid in your muscles. Many marathon runners now run with their mouths taped shut, and they see a lower pulse and less lactic acid. I’ve also worked with skiers who have started working out with “breathing tape” under their snoods – it is possible! There are even sprinters who are able to run just as fast with their mouths shut as with their mouths open, but it takes practise. If you’re among those who want to walk to the highest peaks where the air is thin, you’ll also benefit greatly from breathing through your nose, as it can help you avoid altitude sickness.

Some of my clients who exercise a lot struggle with a weak immune system after a great deal of training and hard training. Recently, I had two clients who both said they’d felt completely healthy after training with pure nose breathing, despite having worked out hard. They used to notice a reduced immune response and that they would easily get ill after intense training sessions.

This is no wonder, as any air pollutants you breathe through your nose will be stuck to the hairs and cilia in the nose and nasal cavity, where they’re quickly expelled. If you breathe through your mouth, however, these same particles will go down into your bronchi and lungs, where they can stay and cause damage over time. The cold air can also directly damage your lung tissue. We lose 40% less liquid when we breathe exclusively through our nose than when breathing through our mouth, and small amounts of NO (nitrogen oxide) are released, which has an antibacterial effect in addition to aiding increased O2 uptake.

Whether you’re a top athlete, a frequent jogger or a casual hiker, you’ll benefit greatly from practising your conscious breathing. It will lower your pulse, ease your breathing when moving, help you recover faster, prevent injuries and strengthen your immune system. There are also numerous health benefits from breathing through your nose.

There are many things that can trigger a migraine, but if the migraine is due to stress or muscle tension, breathing will play a key role. This is also true for tension headaches. I’ve had several GPs send their patients to me so they can learn a more functional breathing pattern in order to avoid tension in their necks, chests and shoulders. These tensions can easily manifest in the head, and cause tension headaches and migraines. (Read about jaw tension in the blog.)

Slowing down your breathing pattern will cause your blood vessels to expand, your circulation and lymph drainage to increase, your body to become less acidic, and pains and muscle tensions to ease. Additionally, the necessary mobility of the spine and ribs will be maintained through increased diaphragmatic movement achieved by a deeper breathing pattern.
Depressive thoughts, digestive issues and poor sleep – which often follow chronic pain – also see great documented effects from calm breathing exercises.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323787
(Article about how practising breathing techniques can increase your lung capacity)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4932035/
(Article about how breathing techniques can improve lung capacity and musculature in older smokers)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3139518/
(About how diaphragmatic breathing increases antioxidant protection and restitution by lowering cortisone and increasing melatonin. Observed in a 24-hour cycling race where those who did one hour of breathing exercises before they went to sleep had better restitution. Mentioned a direct connection between cortisone and melatonin. Claims that breathing should be implemented after all exercise as restitution.)

Diver’s apnoea practise in relation to other sports – 2010