breath-rite strips

Why bother trying superstitious breathe-rite strips? I put Post-it notes on my ass to remind me to breathe through my mouth, and if that fails, I've got a rabbit's foot that I rub in an anti-deasil motion over my chest.

Breath rite strips work although I have never used them in a race. They have a little metal wire in the band that pulls your nostrils up allowing noticably more airflow in and out of them. I always thought that they make sense for sleeping to alleviate snoring or alleregy sufferers watching tv or something however runners who are gasping for air with their mouths wide open and nostils flaring are another story altogether. I can't see how the strip would benefit them as we are already getting the maximum amount of airflow through labored breathing.

malmo,

find the ones that are the same bandaid shape as the breathrite strips but have a piece of plastic in it. place it on the bridge of your nose. if placed properly, for someone like me who has a deviated septum but doesn't want to get the surgery, this helps open the pathways anytime, and is particularly noticeable those times of year when I have serious allergy issues and difficulty breathing through my nose, mouth, etc. I am not saying this will make a difference for everyone, it just provides some temporary relief for those of us cursed with f'd up septums and suffer from bad allergies.

Some years ago when Neon Deion was in his prime an interviewer asked him why he didn't wear the strips. He nailed it when he said "if they are so good why don't all the sick people in the hospital wear them?"

I can't believe I wasted my time doing this but I believe in truth above all else. So I've copied in below a summary of various studies on the strips. There are other studies which claim to prove that they do work but if you take the time to read the fine print you will find that ALL of them were funded by the companies that make the strips. Conflict of interest? Hmmmm. I'd so say. N.B.: The FTC is currently investigating whether to censure these same companies for claims about helping sleep apnea. You better buy up a supply of your favorite placebo now because I foresee them getting to be harder to get.

So here is the lit survey:

Other studies have found no effect of the strips on performance. Trocchio et al. (1995) studied 16 college-age male athletes in a progressive test to maximum effort on a cycle ergometer. There were no significant differences in peak oxygen consumption or peak workload with and without the nasal strips.

Huffman et al. (1996; abstract only) performed a placebo-controlled trial of the effects of the nasal strips on metabolic and respiratory responses during exercise. They randomly assigned five non-athletes to ride a bicycle ergometer to exhaustion on separate days using three different treatments: a Breathe Right strip, plain tape (the placebo), or nothing.. The subjects were told that two kinds of strip were being tested. The Breathe Right strip and the plain tape were applied while the subject's eyes were closed, so they did not know which was which. No significant differences were found in breathing or in oxygen consumption between the three trials. When asked which of the strips they preferred, one subject chose Breathe Right, two chose the placebo, and the other two had no preference. In another study with the same subjects, Quindry et al. (1996; abstract only) investigated whether the strips had any effect on post-exercise recovery. Again, no differences were found.

Papanek et al. (1996; abstract only) conducted a study to determine the effects of the strips on sprint performance and recovery of nine men and five women of college age. The investigators included tests for perceived exertion and perceived breathing effort, and ran all sprints on the same day, with 16 min of rest between sprints. The design appears to be an improvement on that of the study reported at the Breathe Right site. There were no significant differences between treatments (mouthpiece, nasal strips, or placebo) on any variables.

Clapp and Bishop (1996) conducted a study to determine the effects of the nasal strips on ventilation and oxygen consumption during treadmill running at speeds and grades that increased until subjects (12 moderately trained healthy males?) reached peak effort. The subjects completed an exercise bout with and without a nasal while wearing a mouthpiece. There were no significant differences between the two conditions at any stage of the 30 min of exercise for either ventilation or oxygen consumption (see Table).

ventilation at 0% grade

ventilation at 7% grade

peak ventilation

peak oxygen consumption

nasal strip

16.4 ± 3.6

22.3 ± 4.7

70.8 ± 22.0

3.2 ± 1.1

no strip

15.8 ± 3.8

22.3 ± 4.5

70.7 ± 22.0

3.3 ± 1.1

Data are mean ± SD; all units are L.min-1.

These studies spurred Daniel Cohen, chief executive officer of CNS Inc. (the manufacturer of the strips), to claim that "accurate research results cannot be expected from studies that do not measure nasal cross-sectional area". Apparently, in those studies where nasal cross-sectional area was not measured (all the studies with negative findings), the strips did not dilate the nostrils! He also claimed that "we've heard from NFL and college trainers all over that for players with congestion, the intangibles are immeasurable [sic]: less congestion, fewer headaches, better focus and improved concentration." As yet, no data have been provided to support this statement.

Conclusions

It's clear that Breathe Right strips have little or no effect on breathing or performance in properly designed studies under normal conditions in healthy subjects.

i'm not sure if people are getting worked up over the fact that in general, for the common, perfectly healthy, there is no benefit. i concede that and will defer to literature for validation. nor am I advocating for people to go out and buy them and start wearing them....personally, for my circumstances, the brand breath rite strips don't work for me. however, for those of us with some sort of anatomical defect and/or bad allergies which can inhibit any and all breathing, through the mouth and nose, things of these nature (the ones with a definitive plastic strip) do actually help during training efforts to improve breathing when these non normal instances are active...trust me, it isn't a placebo effect.

It IS a placebo effect. The fact that you are so convinced that it is working is why it is working. A placebo may be a fake but the placebo effect is real. I have no doubt you feel like you can breath easier with the strips on. So keep using them. However, if you are having problems breathing through your mouth because of a physical defect, I suggest you see an ENT immediately! Such obstructions generally result in death.