Hiking in Colorado

21 April 2008

Breathing Correctly

Posted by kris under: Tips & Tricks .

I have been hiking for quite a while now and I have also been hiking with many different people during that time. I found that there are many people that have problems with breathing while they are hiking, including my wife. Therefore, I decided to look into how to breathe better while you are hiking since I was having a hard time teaching people how to breath correctly on my own.

First of all breathing just through your nose is not good when you are exerting yourself. You just can not get the volume of air through your nose as you can through your mouth. This is the problem that my wife was having she was trying to breath through her nose. She was really into Pilates which teaches you to breath through your nose instead of your mouth, but his does not apply to hiking. There are some rumors out there that say that say there are good reasons to breathe through your nose but none of them are true. You should breathe through your nose when it is cold out because it helps warm it up. This will not really help because even when you breathe through your mouth the air still warms up before it gets to your longs. One of the other arguments is that breathing through your nose helps with filtering out pollutants. Once again this is not a problem as long as the person has healthy lungs. The pollutants are cleared from your longs by small hairs, called cilia, which move the pollutants towards your mouth. The pollutants are then mixed with saliva and moved through your body.

There are some things that you should do when breathing through your mouth to help you when you are exercising. First of all, breathe from your belly instead of your chest. Your belly should move in and out more then your chest, this way your lungs have more room to expand. As part of this, your breathing should not be overly labored, if it is that means that you are either not breathing correctly or you are pushing yourself too hard.

Another technique that runners use and can be applied to hiking is rhythm breathing. There are two main types, 2-2 and 3-2 breathing rhythms. With the 2-2 you will begin inhaling when you step with your left foot, continue to inhale when you step with your right foot, then start exhaling when you step down with your left foot again and continue to exhale when you step down with your right foot again. Continue to do this patter and you hike. The 2-3 rhythm helps if you are uncomfortable with the 2-2 rhythm or if you get a side ache. With this rhythm you exhale more then you inhale. You will start by inhaling with your left foot and continue with your right, then you will start to exhale with your left foot and continue to exhale through your right foot another left.

Hopefully you will find these tips and tricks interesting and helpful. I know they have and will help my wife.

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