Bradley's Nose Strip

[CREPELLO]

I noticed Mr Wiggins sporting a nose strip on his time trial. Apparently, they are supposed to aid nasal breathing. Does anyone here use them and are they any good?

I suffer from quite a wet nose, shall we say, even in fairly warm weather. I get somewhat pre-occupied with this sense of congestion, although it's not quite like the congestion of a proper cold. But anything that could give my breathing a sense of ease could be a real aid.

[jezer]

I suffer from nasal drip in the summer, mainly hay fever, but I think it is generally from heavy breathing under effort as well. I remember as a BCF road race official in the early 90's seeing riders using these nose plasters. I could not understand why so many riders seemed to have injuries to their noses

[Ayesha]

Your lungs will only exhange about 3 % of the oxygen out of the inhaled air you breath.

If, and probably when you reach 75% MHR, you have trouble getting enough air in through your nose, you could try breathing through your mouth.
If, and probably when you reach 100% MHR, you have trouble exchanging O2, you could try training a bit more.

A fairly fit individual reduces the 20.7 % O2 in the air to about 17.5 % with a good deep breath. Just imaging if you could reduce the O2 density from 20.6 % to 2.5 % ! You could utilise 5 - 6 x the amount of muscle you do now !

Its well known that the other primates , eg Chimpanzee, has 5 - 6 x more musclular strength per mass than humans. Genetic researchers at Uni Calif have isolated the part of Humans' and Chimps' genome which controls this.
When we see an Individual Time Trial average speed of 38 mph for 50 km, we'll know whats happenning. In about 30 years, professional sports people will be required to have a full DNA profile to determine whether their mother's egg and father's sperm was tampered with.

[[XAP]Bob]

They are springy strips, which pull apart the sides of the nose. They ought to allow better breathing, as normally your nose closes slightly as you inhale (lower pressure inside).

[eileithyia]

Form and fashion, someone says they work, the athletes are given them to wear as part of sponsorship deals... end of.
They are supposed to dilate the nasal passages... yet when working at such high levels note most of them have their mouths open and are breathing thru that.
So nasal dilatation a lot of help there then.

[NUKe]

It all about the little bit extra. it might only be 0.1% change but they all add up.

Back to the OP question I have used them in the past and they definetly do open the nasal passages, they are sold to stop snoring, but do work to a degree on the bike, But eliethyia is right as you start going faster you tend to mouth breath so the effect becomes negliable. At this time of year a wet nose indicates some form of hay fever. You might find Beconaise a better solution but seek medical advice first

[Ayesha]

Each of us are born with approximately the same number of alveoli in our lungs. They are the small sacks where gas exchange happens. There are more than enough for any extremity of exercise. Even Bradley isn't using all of his.
As I've said, the amount of O2 exchanged is about 3% out of the 20.7% in the air.

If 60% of the available alveoli are being used, it doesn't matter if 1.5 litres or 2.0 litres is breathed in. Air gets to the alveoli that are awake and ready to perform the exchange.

To increase the lung's exchange capacity, it is necessary to do high altitude / low O2 density training to encourage the sleeping alveoli to wake up.

After riding up the Alps, Bradley DOES NOT need those nose spreaders at 10 m above sea level where Hampton Court palace is.

[NUKe]

I understand your theories of lung capacity and the amount of oxygen taken from each breath. but using the nose band is about increasing the size of the inlet/outlet manifold, this allows the lungs to exchange the gas in there more efficiently with less effort, just like increasing the bore of an exhaust or smoothing the inlet manifold. If you like less effort to breath and a quicker exchange rate.Even when you breath through the mouth you are still breathing through the nose as well. It might only be a very marginal figure but the whole philosphy of team sky and team GB has been to look at all the marginals. I doubt Bradley would wear one if they hadn't found at least a small gain.

Particularly with biology nothing is as black and white as in engineering

When I wear one, like I think the Creppelo was eluding to ,its for a different reason. In my case mild hay fever can block/ have the nose running so its just a matter of keeping the nose open so you can breath through it for longer

[Ayesha]

As I've implied, a human being can inhale more oxygen than the active alveoli know what to do with.

When Brad Wiggins is at full throttle operation, his exhaled breath is about 16 - 17 % O2. Approx 5/6 of the air he inhales is effectively unused.
If he wishes for more power, he should work on improving his O2 uptake through hard work on an ergometer. Using the internal combustion engine analogy, he should consider fitting Twin-spark ignition to increase burn optimisation and reduce the amount of unburned hydrocarbons going to the catalytic converter.

The has never been a human being who lived who can extract 20.7% of the oxygen out of inhaled air. If there was, he'd be in the strength league of a Chimpanzee. I would feel happier wrestling any of the WWF guys than the Alpha male chimp at Twycross zoo.

Increasing the air passage inlet will, of course, increase the volume flow per time, but when the air is in the lungs, its the alveoli that are the limiting factor for getting oxygen exchange into the blood.

[pete75]

Aren't they the same things that supposedly stop people snoring?

[[XAP]Bob]

We absorb oxygen by diffusion/osmosis, so we need a decent partial pressure of oxygen in the lings. The more often that air is replaced (preferably in a turbulent fashion in the alveoli) then the higher the partial pressure, and the more rapid the uptake. Indeed Bradley may well exhale even greater proportions of oxygen than.most people - that just indicates a higher transfer rate possible in the lungs. Combined with excellent bloodflow to maintain a low partial pressure in the blood stream and you're onto a winner...

[CREPELLO]

When I wear one, like I think the Creppelo was eluding to ,its for a different reason. In my case mild hay fever can block/ have the nose running so its just a matter of keeping the nose open so you can breath through it for longer

Thanks for this. Although I don't have hayfever (it's an air temperature thing for me - the colder the wetter the nose), your experience does suggest there may be some benefit. Anyway, the strips are cheap enough to experiment with, although I'll leave it till the colder weather.

Your lungs will only exhange about 3 % of the oxygen out of the inhaled air you breath.

If, and probably when you reach 75% MHR, you have trouble getting enough air in through your nose, you could try breathing through your mouth.
If, and probably when you reach 100% MHR, you have trouble exchanging O2, you could try training a bit more.

A fairly fit individual reduces the 20.7 % O2 in the air to about 17.5 % with a good deep breath. Just imaging if you could reduce the O2 density from 20.6 % to 2.5 % ! You could utilise 5 - 6 x the amount of muscle you do now !

Its well known that the other primates , eg Chimpanzee, has 5 - 6 x more musclular strength per mass than humans. Genetic researchers at Uni Calif have isolated the part of Humans' and Chimps' genome which controls this.
When we see an Individual Time Trial average speed of 38 mph for 50 km, we'll know whats happening. In about 30 years, professional sports people will be required to have a full DNA profile to determine whether their mother's egg and father's sperm was tampered with.

The science is all very interesting, but for a regular cyclist as myself, it's more of a comfort thing. Cycling with a partially blocked up nose is bound to be less efficient than having mouth and nose to breath. Psychologically, it certainly feels that way, which is why I get pre-occupied with it.

[Doug.]

Hello.
Re.the above.
I suffer from nasal congestion and blocked sinuses.
Very keen to try the "nose strip",can any one help me as to where I can buy them and their product name ?
Thank you.
Doug.

[Si]

Hello.
Re.the above.
I suffer from nasal congestion and blocked sinuses.
Very keen to try the "nose strip",can any one help me as to where I can buy them and their product name ?
Thank you.
Doug.

You can get similar ones in Boots - branded as an anti-snoring aid.

[Doug.]

Thank you.
I have done a "Google" search and located what I think is a similar product.
I shall give them a try.
Regards
Doug.