Why Do You Wheeze When Exercising in the Cold
Starting an exercise program is a bummer: you finally get the courage to do a few high-intensity intervals or run in the cold for the first time, and after ten minutes you can barely breathe. Here’s why and what you can do about it.
Wheezing during exercise, especially when the air is cold or dry, is actually quite common. About 15% of athletes and at least 90% of people with asthma have a condition called exercise-induced bronchospasm .
If you give up your first cough, you are missing out on an opportunity. There are some fairly simple strategies that can help you control wheezing and keep you exercising to your heart’s content. In fact, many Olympic and professional athletes have an EIB . So it shouldn’t be an obstacle between you and your workout.
What is exercise-induced bronchospasm?
Your airways branch out into smaller and smaller tubes before reaching the alveoli , where oxygen can enter the bloodstream. Bronchospasm means that these tubes, bronchi, and bronchioles are compressed to shrink the airways. When your airway is smaller, it is difficult for you to get enough air in your lungs and you may feel short of breath.
This is the same process that occurs during an asthma attack, but it does not have to be an asthma attack. You may have EIB without asthma (which can cause symptoms in other areas of your life, not just during exercise).
Cold and dry air seems to be the trigger for the EIB. When you play sports and breathe quickly, a lot of air passes along the surface of the bronchi. If the air is cold and dry, the loss of water and heat can cause narrowing of the bronchi (sometimes called bronchospasm). Even hot and dry air, like in a desert climate, can cause a reaction .
Bronchospasm usually occurs after 5-20 minutes of exercise. This is especially true for continuous exercise, such as a long run or bike ride. This is less likely if you are doing short exercises or mostly anaerobic (like weightlifting).
How to prevent exercise-induced bronchospasm from ruining your workout
There are three main approaches to managing EIB: avoiding the things that trigger it, warming up to reduce the chance of airway blockage, and taking medication.
Avoid Triggers : The easiest way to avoid cold, dry air is to simply stay inside in freezing weather. I have a mild case of EIB, so I jog on the treadmill on the coldest days (although otherwise I love running in winter ). Swimming is one of the friendliest sports for people with EIB: the air around the pool is often warm and humid.
Airborne irritants can also cause the EIB, including pollutants in smoky cities and even rink exhaust fumes . Pay attention to where and when the wheezing is strongest. You don’t need to avoid these places entirely, but you need to be prepared.
Put on your mask . A ski mask that covers the mouth warms and moisturizes the air entering the lungs. You can spend up to $ 90 on expensive heat transfer masks or shell out a dollar on a bandana. Both work on the same principle.
Warm up slowly . We praised a good warm-up and this is even more important if you are trying to manage your EIB. According to areview published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise , the ideal warm-up to prevent bronchial constriction involves short, intense intervals. These bursts of effort cause a “refractory period” during which the lungs do not contract, essentially giving you free time to exercise without causing symptoms. Runner’s World’s Alex Hutchinson summarizes what we know about the perfect warm-up :
- The total duration should be at least 20-30 minutes.
- Start with a light jog, cycle, or swim and gradually increase your pace.
- Run multiple bursts of 80 to 90 percent of maximum intensity, each two to five minutes long.
Take your medications . If the steps above are not enough to keep your EIB under control, ask your doctor for an inhaler. The recommended treatment is to give you a beta2-adrenergic agonist inhaler such as albuterol , which you can use just before exercise to keep your airways open. This works 80% of the time. Your doctor will then try other medications, or may review the diagnosis if you did not get a complete test initially.
Other conditions that can cause wheezing
There are other reasons why you may cough and wheeze during exercise, so be sure to see your doctor if it could be anything serious. Here are some of the possibilities:
- A “stalker cough” or “trekking” is a cough that occurs after exercise but does not include wheezing and is usually not severe enough to warrant treatment. If you just cough every now and then that doesn’t bother you, it doesn’t matter. Keep on running.
- If you have a cold or allergies, it can also interfere with your breathing. (It can also trigger an EIB if you’re already prone to it.)
- Exercise-induced laryngeal obstruction (EILO) occurs when your vocal cords block the airway instead of moving to keep the airway open, as they should during exercise. EILO cases are sometimes misdiagnosed as EIB, so speak up if your EIB treatment isn’t working because it might not be EIB.
- Heart disease can cause symptoms including shortness of breath and chest pressure . Check if there is a chance that this is the case.
To diagnose EIB, your doctor will likely measure how hard you can breathe both before and after exercising, as well as after a few puffs from the inhaler. (They may also run other tests to rule out other conditions.)
If you have a mild case of EIB, you can control it yourself, but be sure to see your doctor if it is bad or if there is a likelihood of a serious condition such as a heart problem.
So there are many ways to deal with this fairly common problem. If you wheeze during exercise, you’re in good company (Jackie Joyner-Kersey and Jerome Bettis wheezed too). Warm up well, avoid triggers and seek medical attention if you need it, then get out and enjoy your workout.