I asked this question clumsily last week, so I'm trying again!
Doing a bit of research for a product idea I may or may not have and would love to know the answer to this question:
Would you say you breathe more through your nose or your mouth on average when commuting by bike?
Any thoughts appreciated!
pcosmic
Mouth 100%
I don’t see how anyone can exercise while maintaining nose breathing. I don’t think my nose is big enough!
Nose... Otherwise...
Laurent Jalabert rode past us climbing the Col d'Aubsique with a few minutes lead on the Tour with his mouth clamped firmly shut.
Plus, when breathing through your mouth you lose more moisture and ends up dehydrated much sooner. This was told to me by a dude who used to do ultra endurance cycling.
Kinda want to ask are you new here? The derogatory mouthbreather term is quite frequent around these parts.
I read here and other places years ago, that breathing through the nose is the preferred method, from a general good health perspective and also a sustainable exercise perspective - if you can't breath through your nose (and you are ordinarily able to) then you're going too hard. I'm not an pro athlete so that's good enough for me.
If I think about it, I'll breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth. But mostly I don't think about it, so.. er, I don't actually know. Fact that I smell weed when I go past some houses and don't taste diesel fumes tells me I'm probably a nose breather.
Read Breath - a book all about breathing and there's a chance you'll be nose breathing as much as possible from then on.
Depends if I have a cold or not, I seem to have had a cold since November though this year....
I've heard a few people say they're blowing out their arse on a tough climb, so maybe there's a third option?
Genuinely no clue.
What is a commute though and why specify that particularly over just 'riding a bike'? Is it because your concept of a commute is urban and less intense (or one or both of those)? My bike commute is 27 miles each way of rural lanes, like what your average roadie seeks out on a Sunday morning. So I guess I must breath like your average roadie....whatever that is.
Nose to work mouth home.
Mind you it's less than 5 mins to work and downhill even on the ss I could just about freewheel all the way. Home can be a lifting hour round the hills or a 5min HIIT session powering the bike back up the hill.
Arse mostly, a little through my ears
Surely I can’t be the only eye breather on here?
Is it because your concept of a commute is urban and
Pollution?
As i need to. Depending on how hard i'm going. Heart rate bouncing of the limiter on a long climb, it'll be every orifice i can suck air in through.
On the long flat bits, it'll probably just be nose. (That was a hilly 30 km each way commute). The commute before that (7-8km of urban side roads) was nose all the way. Except for swearing at halfwits.
The rest of the night and day, it's nose.
Nose… Otherwise…
You *do* realise he''s talking about all day long breathing, not just hard exercise?
Laurent Jalabert rode past us climbing the Col d’Aubsique with a few minutes lead on the Tour with his mouth clamped firmly shut.
Jalabert and his 49.9 Hematocrit?
Certified mouth breather here. Tried to breath through my nose on my lunchtime ride today and its nigh on impossible if I'm even moderately pushing. I do have a permanent sniffle....perhaps sinus issues? Any hints or tips on how to improve the nose breathing?
I normaly do both at the same time..probably a little more through my mouth as it's a bigger hole, lol!
For pleasure riding I don't really notice, but..
Intentionally nose breathing for me on a commute, for reasons two
A) If I find I need to breathe through my mouth I know I'm going too hard for a commute and don't want to be too hungry/tired/hot at work
B)I blow some black snot out after my hour across london. I'd rather have it fly out my hooter than stick in my lungs.
Mouth breather as can't get enough air in otherwse.
In through nose out through mouth (when deep breathing).
When I'm late I end up blowing out of my arse, if that helps...
Any hints or tips on how to improve the nose breathing?
I see a number of people looking at a third option are confusing breathing with talking.
Depends how hard you are working ???
If taking it steadily to work taking in the beautiful country side then nose. If running late and need to put some effort in the mouth. If there are loads of insects then nose.
If you are working harder than Zone 2 its impossible to breath just through your nose so says GCN.
Wherever possible, you should be breathing in through your nose. You've got all sorts of grot filters in that system which you bypass when you're gulping air down via your mouth.
Source: something I saw on TV ages ago, might have been Johnny Ball.
My nose is pretty much constantly partially blocked. so much so I worry about whether I'd pass out if I was kidnapped (just in case you're short of stuff to worry about).
mouth breather when exercising, apart from when riding through a cloud of midgies.
I’ve been riding 5-6 days a week for the last 2years and recently noticed some strange little openings developing down the sides of my rib cage.
Turns out they’re gills.
In through nose out through mouth
Was told by a sports dude that in through your mouth, it through your nose.
Helps you control your breathing, your lungs fill with air and you're less likely to start breathing too quickly.
Nose 90%. But then I have a very high hematocrit / hemoglobin around 180, so I don´t need to breathe too hard when going at a leisurely pace. Slow, long deep breaths through the nose.
I try to ride at a calm pace most of the time, riding hard is to be done when not commuting - or on the way home.
Also I have had a bee fly in my mouth and sting there, that is no fun at all. Luckily it did not fly all the way to the throat before stinging, my mouth swelled enough as it was.
So did this thread actually have a point?
My nose is pretty much constantly partially blocked. so much so I worry about whether I’d pass out if I was kidnapped (just in case you’re short of stuff to worry about).
I had this. Turned out it was a dust mite allergy. Been feeling I was constantly fighting a cold off for years. I now have a prescription for a nose spray, and feel and breathe so much better.
Breath through your nose if possible.
I have allergic and get bad nasal blockage which resulted in breathing through my mouth when I am asleep. But it will dry out the mouth pretty quickly and may cause complication to the saliva gland or "infection" (mine may be due to allergy). Specialist Doctor just said saliva gland blockage because my mouth is very dry.
I wonder how many copies of that get read right to the end..
My copy has been read all the way through by several people... Do we win a prize?
