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Comment by crazygringo | Hacker News Reader

It's good to see people actually talking about this.

I simply cannot run in the winter because of this. It ruins my respiratory system for the rest of the day.

And I can't count the number of times I've had people insist it's all in my head because, they insist, it's only relative humidity that matters, and the relative humidity in the freezing air is still 70%. And they don't understand when I gently explain that the air gets heated by the time it makes it deep into your lungs, at which case the relative humidity has plummeted to something like 10%. And sure, your mucus membranes do their best to humidify that air a little, but when it's well below freezing they simply can't keep up at all. And it's not just your lungs but your throat and vocal cords too.

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Run at 50F weather and get your lungs acclimated to slightly chilly temps. For me, it takes a week or two to get used to even 50F.

Then, once your lungs are used to that, 40F and 30F are next.

I never went below that this past winter. But lung cold weather training definitely exists. Your body really does adapt if you give it the few weeks it needs.

I run in -20 and sweat. That's because I wear face coverings and lots of clothing. I've never had any issues with breathing or pain in lungs.

This may be more common with high volume workouts. I don’t get it on short runs, but distance skiing for 2-3+ hours will take a toll. This isn’t something that happens when I cycle or rollerski for an equivalent workout.

When temperatures drop quickly I find that I need to do a few nose-only breathing workouts (low intensity, HR between 60-70% of max) in order to acclimate like this.

Nose breathing probably helps because your nose will warm up the air before it enters your lungs.

It takes some getting used to, but you probably should breath-in (nose) breath out (mouth) anyway, even in warmer weather. (Keep the CO2 on one side, and fresh O2 stream coming in with slightly better efficiency)

Train breathing through your nose. It'll be uncomfortable at first but you'll get used to it. After some time I was able to do tempo runs with nose breathing only.

Maybe some people have larger nasal cavities or nostrils or something.

But the idea that I could run -- whether in summer or winter -- with enough air exchange through my nostrils alone is simply impossible.

It's not merely uncomfortable. I mean I'd literally pass out from lack of air before five minutes were up. I've tried before and wound up gasping for air no different from if someone had been suffocating me.

And my nose is unremarkable according to my ENT. Not congested with allergies or unusually inflamed or anything. I'm 6'1", healthy weight, athletic, average-sized facial features.

I'm actually baffled by the idea that there are people out there who can breathe through their noses while running.

Ive been a daily ashtanga practitioner for years were nasal-only breathing is important. It took quite some time to make it through the entire practice only breathing through my nose during, same goes for running, at anything more than an easy pace I cant do it. Youd have to be incredibly fit to pull it off.

It's mostly a matter of practice. You build it up slowly and one day you realise nose breathing comes easy.

That absolutely does not work for me when I try to exercise in cold weather. Fast breathing thru my nose in really cold air turns my head into a congealed block of cement within about ten minutes, with zero air flow, and with all that now less-hydrated snot dripping down the back of my throat makes me gag, sometimes violently. Once that is happening, I have to stop exercising and recover for maybe another 15 minutes. I can exercise much longer if I simply deal with the negatives of mouth breathing. I probably have poor quality sinuses, but I don't think my experience is all that unique either.

I should add that I do nose breathe when exercising in warm weather, and that works fine.

I have this happen as well!

Makes it hard to stay fit in the winter.

> It ruins my respiratory system for the rest of the day.

Would you please share your symptoms?

I have a similar result from (in my case) early morning kayaking during winter.

For me at least: its a low-grade cough that persists for maybe 2 or 3 days after the workout. (And again: if I'm not used to cold air yet, this can happen as high as 50F)

Not like "I'm sick" coughing, but "My lungs are definitely tired from that cold air" coughing. I wouldn't say its a big deal or anything, but its enough to make me take my temperature in these COVID19 times, lol.

Very interesting. I go through phases of coughing after cardio exercise and only now realize the correlation with the seasons!

Though late last winter I made a conscious and extremely difficult effort to exclusively nose breath while doing my 5 km runs, inspired by a slightly fuzzy pop-science book. I experienced much less coughing after exercising in the cold after this change. I believe it has helped all my cardio activities since making this change. It was difficult because early on I would get an almost completely blocked nose due to the cold air, and instead of reverting my breathing behavior I would be forced to stop and wait for it to clear. After a while this issue disappeared.

This gives me hope. I thought I just couldn’t breathe through my nose while exercising. I find it super uncomfortable to unbearable when I feel like I’m not getting enough air. I didn’t realize you could just practice more.

I had the exact same experience as you at first - "there's no way this is going to work" - but two things helped, and now I can breathe through my nose doing an hour of cardio no problem (and I feel very calm in fact - it's pretty great).

The first thing I did was that at the start of the workout, when breathing through my nose and immediately getting the sensation that I wasn't getting enough air - I'd force the air through my nose really hard - like _really_ hard - to the point where sometimes I'd get a bit of mucus (as if you were blowing your nose). You'll be surprised how much air can pass through your nose if you push it in and out quite hard.

The second thing was that I'd just start slow. I wouldn't start with a sprint, instead I'd slowly warm up, focusing on my breathing through my nose (with the first minute or two always being that forced push/pull mentioned above). Once my breathing and heart rate felt stable (I track my heart rate whilst I exercise) I would then gradually pick up the pace.

You'd be darn surprised how fast you can go / how high a heart rate you can sustain whilst breathing through your nose. I've sustained 150 bpm for over an hour whilst comfortably nose breathing. It just takes practise. And a bit of a messy nose at first :)

Thanks for the details! I know what I’m gonna try when I row later.

For me it's a sensation of not getting enough air. Like I feel the need to take a really deep breath, but after doing so it was as if I did not and still have the urge.

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