Running Benefits: Higher Body O2 Only with Nose Breathing

- Updated on October 14, 2020

By Dr. Artour Rakhimov, Alternative Health Educator and Author

- Medically Reviewed by Naziliya Rakhimova, MD

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What are the benefits of running? Running or jogging is the most natural way to increase body-oxygen levels and this is the main benefit of any physical exercise. The increased level of oxygen can be easily measured using the body oxygen test. Better results mean better physical health and even elimination of chronic diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, asthma, and bronchitis. Indeed, if the body oxygen level remains the same after weeks or months of running, there would be no improvements in symptoms and required medication.

In order to get the most physical and psychological benefits of running, a person needs to have the crucial main requirement for any physical exercise: more oxygen in the body cells after exercise. This result is easy to achieve with strictly nasal breathing (in and out) during running. Then your breathing after exercise will be lighter providing more O2 for brain and body cells.

Nasal breathing ensures the absorption of nasal NO (nitric oxide), and that immediately lowers the heart rate (for the same intensity of exercise). Additional benefits of running with nose breathing include increased CO2 levels in the blood and slower breathing after exercise, which provides more O2 in the body cells. Furthermore, running daily with nose breathing mimics high-altitude training due to mild hypoxia. You do not need to go to the mountains: get more benefits from running due to nose breathing in and out.

Soviet and Russian MDs tested thousands of patients and found that daily exercise with nasal breathing only prevents acute exacerbations due to chronic diseases (no exercise-induced asthma, no heart attacks, no strokes, and so on) and gradually improves oxygen transport due to increased CO2 and NO levels in the lungs and arterial blood. It also helps with weight loss naturally.

Natural lifestyle choices before and after breathing retraining

How to run and benefit from it for beginners

If you want to experience these benefits of running, but have little or no recent experience in running or jogging, you have to start very slowly. Too often, Buteyko students, after they achieve decent daily CP numbers due to breathwork (e.g., up to 30 s or even more), experience failure in their running attempts due to injuries.

Why? Their respiratory and cardiovascular systems are able, at over 30 s CP, to experience positive effects of 1-2 hours of running. Furthermore, after doing breathwork, these students have very high energy levels and a desire to exercise. However, since they had not run in recent days or weeks, their muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones are not fit yet for such a long and intensive challenge.

Hence, it is crucial to consider the following suggestions, for maximum running benefits, when you begin jogging:
– Start with walking for up to 30-60 minutes per session for 3-5 days and make a slow transition to power walking or fast walking for another 3-5 days.
– After this initial period, add only 5 min of very light and easy relaxed jogging or running at the end of your power walk (e.g., instead of 30 min power walk, do 25 min of fast walking and then 5 min of very light and relaxed comfortable running with nose breathing only).
– Increase the duration of running by about 2 min per session only so that your ligaments and tendons can readjust themselves to this physical load increase. Hence, the amount of running will increase very gradually: 5 min, 7 min, 9 min, 11 min, and so forth. In about 2-3 weeks you should be able to run for 30 min without any negative effects.
– Always use running shoes with soft soles. (Consider barefoot walking and barefoot running since these are nearly ideal Buteyko exercises.)
– If you later start to have longer running sessions (up to 30 min and more), run on a soft surface (e.g., grass, sand, snow, or gravel), but not on hard surfaces like roads and concrete pathways to avoid injuries.

This approach is similar to Graded Exercise Therapy, which has been used in clinical practice with very limited success due to negative mouth breathing, which cancels the main benefits of running for most people.

Keep in mind that for breathing retraining and higher body oxygen levels, it is smart and useful to do some “uncomfortable” or “ascetic” things (like taking cold showers with certain rules, sleeping on hard beds, sleeping in a sitting position, and running when it is windy, raining or snowing), but running with pain in your knees or feet is not a good idea. Graduality is the key to success in getting the most benefits of running.

Can I run in the morning?

For most psychological and physical benefits, it depends on one’s morning CP (the body oxygen test result).

Over 90% of students and nearly all people with health problems have a large drop in their CP throughout sleep. Hence, their morning CP can be up to 30-70% lower than their best evening CP or before-sleep numbers. Then people can benefit from a short session (about 10-15 min. is enough) doing reduced breathing or practicing with a device.

Advanced breathing students have very short sleep naturally (about 4.5 hours or less naturally). As a result, they do not experience a large CP drop and their breathing in the morning is as slow and easy as they had before sleep. These students do not require any breathing exercises, or they can do one or a few breath-holds to increase their CP up to 60 s and more, and go running.

In this video below, Dr. Artour Rakhimov explains the benefits of exercise for NormalBreathing vs. Buteyko courses.

A device to run and get maximally benefited

For those who are interested in getting the most benefits out of running, here is an excellent fitness device to train with. Many of my other breathing students (who were never involved in competitive sports) tried this device and found it very effective to run and benefit from exercise. The name and a link to the analysis of this device are provided right below here as your bonus content.

It is called the Training Mask. Here are its review and physiological effects: The Training Mask.

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Sport and fitness articles:
– Simple breathing exercise for higher VO2max
– Increase VO2max by breathing differently at rest
– Exercise is joy if the body is oxygenated at rest
– When exercise is 100% safe for chronic diseases
– Why modern man gets little, if any, benefits from exercise
– Which exercise parameters increase body oxygenation

Go to Sport, fitness, endurance, and exercise

Below are authentic comments, questions, and testimonials from the same page on the old PHP site before we converted it to WordPress.

On 2019-07-21T08:08:48, Dr. Artour (mod) wrote:
I do not teach this exercise to students.

On 2019-07-21T03:38:26, Anonymous wrote:
What about running with the breath-hold, in the book oxygen advantage, to increase the bolt/cp, each week you run with the breath-hold after exhaling, increasing it by 10 seconds every week until you are able to run for two minutes with the breath-hold.

On 2019-04-29T10:04:38, Dr. Artour (mod) wrote:
You can post the link to the page on your FB page then.

On 2019-04-29T05:34:52, Hoshang Wadia wrote:
I am not on Twitter how do I access my bonus content

On 2018-08-27T07:25:12, Dr. Artour (mod) wrote:
Not all advanced students use running as the main exercise, but most do. The speed varies from around 8 to 12 km per hour. Buteyko did not emphasize the speed but mentioned that the bouncing running style causes more shaking and better overall effects.

On 2018-08-25T21:36:07, Jamsha wrote:
Hi! I am curious what speed do best students and you Artur keep up during these 1.5 or 2 hour runs. I assume breathwork during running is more important than speed, but just on average. 9 kilometers per hour? 12 kilometers per hour? Maybe more, less?

On 2018-07-13T06:42:16, Dr. Artour (mod) wrote:
From the physiological viewpoint of adaptation, this idea (“It is known that endurance athletes have an overdeveloped heart where their pulmonary system lags behind”) does not make any sense.

On 2018-07-12T15:46:57, Anonymous wrote:
It is known that endurance athletes have an overdeveloped heart where their pulmonary system lags behind. Will breathing with the Frolov device develop the respiratory apparatus to prevent the imbalance?

On 2018-04-09T13:34:03, Dr. Artour (mod) wrote:
This may relate to some other lifestyle factors too including sleep and diet) that I do not know.

On 2018-04-09T08:13:30, Steve Smith wrote:
Hi Dr. Artour,
It looks as though exercise itself is my vasomotor rhinitis trigger. The more intense the exercise the more swelling in my nasal walls. Even right at the front, in front of the turbinates where the hair grows. I need to flare my nostrils or they completely shut when I breathe in.
I’m sure this is not normal. It does it no matter where I exercise, inside or outside, or in a different town. And is inflamed for hours after.
I’m stuck on what to do.. Exercise helps cp growth but is inflaming my nose! It’s a catch 22!
I have done 2 weeks of very low-intensity exercise but it didn’t help.
Ironically exercise is stopping my rhinitis from healing, but I need a high cp for healing!
My question to you is..
Should I do just 2 weeks of reduced breathing and no exercise, see what happens?
Or will my cp drop?
I finally got my cp to 35-42 seconds 24/7 and am afraid I’ll lose this if I stop exercising.
I hope this question helps others too.
Thanks

On 2017-08-14T08:34:26, Dr. Artour (mod) wrote:
Any exercise with nose breathing is generally useful.

On 2017-08-13T16:05:34, Anonymous wrote:
Since plyometric exercises increase VO2 max further than running. What about jumping squats while nose breathing to increase the vo2 max and thus increasing the control pause by increasing the amount of squatting jumps one can perform

On 2016-08-24T05:36:13, Artour (mod) wrote:
Overbreathing can surely cause and worsen it, while breath retraining fixes the problem.
Zink, ketosis, and enough protein can help on the way.

On 2016-08-23T20:52:12, Anonymous wrote:
Hey Artour,

I know this site is about how important oxygenation is, but what about lowered testosterone due to cardio exercises, i.e. long-running? For a man, this can be quite troublesome.

On 2015-06-26T16:27:44, Reemi wrote:
For information: I found earthing sandals for running with conductive laces and copper inlets in the soles. They feel wonderful to run in. Cooling wind on top of my feet and connected or grounded) to the earth. Again, thank you Artour for all your effort and breakthrough knowledge about Buteyko’s discovery to share this elaborately on your website. I feel so much gratitude to Buteyko and all the pioneers!!

On 2015-02-13T13:51:36, Artour Rakhimov (mod) wrote:
Morning exercise depends on the morning CP. If the overnight drop is small or none, do physical in the morning, or a short breathing session and then physical.
It is not from Buteyko conflicting ideas from Soviet MDs), from my courses.

On 2015-02-13T11:14:00, Anonymous wrote:
Artour, is it better to do 1 hour of jogging at the morning before breakfast), or at the evening minimum 3 hours after supper)? What Dr. Buteyko was saying about it?

On 2015-01-19T22:14:56, Artour Rakhimov (mod) wrote:
Yes, the Mask would mildly warm up air at cold temperatures and will make exercise safer.

On 2015-01-19T21:50:39, Anonymous wrote:
Is it generally safe to jog in the winter in cold temperatures (anything from -20 to -30 degrees Celsius)? With strictly nasal breathing of course. Would the Training Mask make it safer?

On 2014-11-02T16:10:03, Artour Rakhimov (mod) wrote:
There is no reasoning in what you quoted. It is very individual.

On 2014-11-02T10:53:42, Anonymous wrote:
Are you familiar with this?
http://www.doctorbuteykodiscoverytrilogy.com/jogging-buteyko-method.php *(*Below are authentic comments, questions, and testimonials from the same page on the old PHP site before we converted it to WordPress. *,*Below are authentic comments, questions, and testimonials from the same page on the old PHP site before we converted it to WordPress.
Particularly this part caught my attention:
“…That is why I say that a morning jog using the Buteyko method is still best, while a stroll – once again using the Buteyko method – is best done in the evening. That way you will get maximum benefit for your health!”
So it’s best to do jogging or running in the morning and walking in the evening – do you agree? What’s the reasoning?

On 2014-07-18T11:14:50, Artour Rakhimov (mod) wrote:
If the smoothie is raw or nearly raw, there is little difference, and you can add nuts, sprouts or fruits, veggies, etc. You may experiment and see the effects.

On 2014-07-18T10:14:39, Luk wrote:
Artour, I jog every day for 1 hour, from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. – with nasal breathing only – and go to sleep at 1 a.m.
Usually, I don’t get hungry after jogging, but sometimes I do. In such cases, what would you suggest: to drink protein smoothie or carb smoothie? Many thanks.

On 2014-04-22T17:24:22, Artour (mod) wrote:
The softer and better running technique will surely help, but the CP at rest, nose breathing 100% and grounding are among the key factors for success for most people.

On 2014-04-22T17:14:10, Artour (mod) wrote:
No good grounded running shoes yet, probably in 5-10 years…
You may try it yourself with steel straps or rubber bands as they do on PC factories.

On 2014-04-21T11:30:30, Anonymous wrote:
>With nose breathing, grounding during running
How can you do grounding when running? Is there a way to ground your shoes?
Barefoot running can be dangerous with all the stuff or glass people throw away these days.

On 2014-04-20T17:50:33, Anonymous wrote:
Hi Artour,
More than 60% of all runners get injured. This is a big problem for people like us who want to run for a long time every day to increase CP.
Today I read something about chi-running.
What do you think about chi-running to prevent injuries?

On 2013-09-11T07:53:05, Artour (mod) wrote:
There are limits to safe and beneficial exercise; but, for most people, these limits are huge. One needs to see and measure the long-term effects of exercise on the next morning CP and wellbeing. With nose breathing, grounding during running, and especially, the Training Mask, there is no inflammation.

On 2013-09-10T18:35:26, Martins wrote:
Hello Artour!
Does endurance physical exercise like running or jogging more than 1 hour) increase free radicals production and promote inflammation, thus promoting premature aging and chronic illness? Is it true?

On 2013-07-02T06:59:49, Artour (mod) wrote:
Depending on fitness and the current CP, it is possible in a dose-dependent manner.
See the “Advanced Buteyko Breathing Exercises” book for more details.

On 2013-07-02T06:59:00, Artour (mod) wrote:
Depending on fitness and the current CP, it is possible in a dose-dependent manner.

On 2013-07-02T01:35:31, Anonymous wrote:
Is it possible to do reduced breathing exercise during running? Is it beneficial to hold your breath while running until you must breathe? I hope to increase my control pause this way.

On 2013-06-13T13:37:41, Anonymous wrote:
Hey, everyone, I am a current track and field athlete at a Division I school. My event is the 400m. I have had some problems in the past when it came to breathing after a race or during the race. It was either because of the weather or me just being congested. Finally, I discovered something helped relieve this issue. i don’t want to sound like a commercial but you guys should definitely check this out. It helped me breathe better at the end and that’s all it matters.
here is the website: http://nosefilters.com/
&
the video link so you can see what I am talking about.

On 2013-06-08T22:14:35, Artour (mod) wrote:
Warm conditions increase sweating but one can achieve the same with a vest or more clothing); morning exercise may not be easy for people with low morning CPs). When weather is lousy, one also needs to keep motivation high: in some cases, having a good company helps a lot; for other people going to a gym or yoga class when the weather is nasty or seems nasty) could be a better option. There are also those who can train in any weather no matter what.

On 2013-06-08T19:22:01, Anonymous wrote:
Hello Artour, just a quick question, why is it helpful to run in rainy, windy or snowy weather?? Would this extend to running in the early mornings of winter as opposed to warmer midday in winter?

On 2013-02-08T13:35:21, Artour (mod) wrote:
You can ask your doctor about an allergy test for titanium. Generally, this metal is among the safest for teeth implants and other procedures.
“Throbbing” sensation in your arm can be due to other reasons.

On 2013-02-08T00:28:41, Jason wrote:
Dr. Artour Rakhimov,
I have a titanium rod and 2 screws in my left forearm, due to a broken bone from several years ago. I have been stuck at 25-30 seconds morning CP. Could this be a cause? I feel a “throbbing” sensation in my arm sometimes after breathing exercises. Could there be a negative reaction involving this from breathing exercises? – Thank you so much for the site, it is a gift that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

On 2013-02-07T05:12:03, Anonymous wrote:
25sec, and 10-15 morning CP.

On 2013-02-07T02:17:36, Artour (mod) wrote:
What is your CP?

On 2013-02-06T21:31:30, Anonymous wrote:
I have just started running and I am struggling and absolutely hate it! But I’ve come to the conclusion that when you really hate exercise that’s when you need it the most and the more fit you get you don’t need it as much) but now you actually want it and crave it, it’s so ironic don’t you think? Do you know the reason behind this? does less oxygen/CO2 make it less appealing and harder to exercise?

On 2013-02-04T22:21:19, Artour (mod) wrote:
Never thought about it this way, but almost yes. Nose breathing is probably slightly more important than abdominal breathing.

On 2013-02-04T05:15:01, Anonymous wrote:
Correct me if I’m wrong. When running – Abdominal breathing is as important as nose breathing and Chest breathing is as bad as mouth breathing. Yes?