The ability to continue exercise during high-intensity sports such as cycling is dependent on both physiologic factors and the perception of fatigue.
Sports Endurance/ Nasal Airway | Dallas ENT Group | Dallas, TX
In 2008 Ansley, et al (1) showed that head cooling significantly decreased the perception of fatigue and increased the exercise time to fatigue by 51%. Not only were athletes able to exercise dramatically longer with head cooling, but their production of a stress hormone thought to be involved in feeling fatigue, prolactin, was nearly eliminated.
In 1995 White and Cabanac found that this head cooling is achieved by the body during exercise via increased blood flow to the nose (2) and that improving nasal airflow increases cooling (3).
Taken together, these studies suggest that improving the nasal airway in athletes will dramatically improve their endurance. Its important to point out that there have been many misleading claims made over the years about how this works and attempts by not-so-reputable groups to sell useless products based on this information. A better nasal airway does not improve an athlete’s VO2 max (maximum exercise capacity of heart and lungs) or his/her oxygen intake. A better nasal airway does improve an athlete’s ability to continue exercise under conditions of heat and fatigue by measurably decreasing both.
So how can you achieve a “Better Nasal Airway”? One simple solution is Breathe Right Strips. They have been shown in studies to increase the internal cross-sectional area of the nose. However, if you have significant allergies, a deviated septum, or other nasal abnormalities these strips may have limited effectiveness. In that case, treating the allergies or nasal obstruction will give you a Better Nasal Airway.
With improvements in both allergy treatments (such as Sublingual Immunotherapy or Allergy Drops) and minimally invasive nasal surgery (turbinate reduction, septoplasty, nasal valve augmentation), a Better Nasal Airway can be achieved with little effort, downtime or discomfort. Visit our website for more information or an appointment; www.dallasentgroup.com.
1) Ansley L, Marvin G, Sharma A, Kendall MJ, Jones DA, Bridge MW The effects of head cooling on endurance and neuroendocrine responses to exercise in warm conditions. Physiol Res. 2008;57(6):863-72. Epub 2007 Nov 30.
2) White MD, Cabanac M. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol. Nasal mucosal vasodilatation in response to passive hyperthermia in humans. 1995;70(3):207-12.
3) White, M. D. and Cabanac, M. (1995). Physical dilation of the nostrils lowers the thermal strain of exercising humans. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 70, 200-206.
Tags: allergy treatments, better nasal airway, breathe right strips, breathing better, breathing better for athletes, endurance, improve nasal airflow, minimally invasive, minimally invasive nasal surgery, nasal airway, nasal valve, nasal valve augmentation, oxygen intake, septoplasty, turb reduction, turbinate reduction
This entry was posted on Thursday, March 21st, 2013 at 4:18 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.