Breathing can hold us back. The nose provides additional passageways for air to be cleaned, warmed and humidified before entering the sensitive lower respiratory system that can be damaged by air debris or cold and dry air.
Breathing through your nose also helps to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system and will keep you more relaxed, saving energy. This results in a 20 per cent increase in the efficiency of oxygen uptake.
Most people breathe through their mouths. When we do this, we tend to breathe too much, and breathe more shallowly resulting in most of the air we take into your body not actually being used for oxygen exchange. It’s in our mouth, throat and bronchi, and it never makes it to our lungs.
Nose breathing is hard and can be uncomfortable, so it’s best to ease in during low intensity activities to start, then progress the exercise intensity as you get more comfortable with it. As nose breathing forces us to breathe slower, this slow-paced breathing can activate anti-inflammatory pathways and increase lung capacity, which consequently increases aerobic endurance, emotional wellbeing and sleep quality’….win/win/win!!
"Your breath is your best friend."
Professor Ramchandra Gandhi
If running is your thing, then try some different breathing patterns
Try breathing in through your nose for four seconds, then out through your mouth for four seconds.
After one minute, add a two-second hold after the inhale but before the exhale.
Then challenge yourself with an eight-second inhale, followed by a two-second hold and a four-second exhale.
Adding these types of breathing challenges to your exercise session will enhance your breathing skill and efficiency while also increasing the mindfulness and feeling of enjoyment of your exercises.
When it comes to your inhales and exhales, finding the practice that feels more natural and comfortable is really what’s really going to allow you to progress and push harder in the intensity of your exercises.
So next time we say Breathe…you’ll ‘nose’ what to do 😊
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