Breathing when it's cold outside

January and February are cold winter months. Hopefully, you are still committed to exercise, and you are learning how to deal with low temperatures. Safety for muscles, safety relating to exercise movement and safety in breathing patterns during cold temperatures are important considerations.

Breathing is something you take for granted when you exercise, whether or not the temperature hovers at minus or plus degrees. Depending on what type of exercise you practice, you will be adjusting the amount of air you take in, the speed at which you breathe, and how often you do your breathing.

If you jog in 10-degree weather, remember that the air at that temperature is very dry and often contains wood smoke, street dust particles and small ice crystals along with the oxygen.

If you must do your exercising in the cold air, try to limit your exposure time. Work out during the warmest part of the day to help cut down on the amount of cold air that you breathe. Wear nonrestrictive clothing around your face and try to breathe through a light, open-weave garment to help warm and filter the air before it has a chance to reach the lungs.

The amount of air you breathe depends on the size of your lungs. Men have a lung capacity 25 to 30 percent larger than women so they have the ability to take in more cold air.

When you exercise during low temperatures, your body immediately tries to warm the air it takes in and spends precious energy warming your respiratory areas instead of working to keep your cold muscles warm.

When you notice your breathing becoming more rapid and shallow, it is time to stop until your body thaws a bit. Overtiring yourself leads to muscular numbness and may aggravate existing vascular problems. If you have suffered a recent illness or are starting out already tired, you will only aggravate and accelerate the cold stresses on your body.

Even in a cold classroom, the capacity for exercise during cold temperatures is cut in half. You may not think at the time that you are working at half capacity, but the body cuts expenditures in breathing as well as muscle movement.

Winter is not the time to be trying for new records in the fitness field. Muscles are always a consideration, but not many people consider the lungs and the effort it takes for them to supply muscles with oxygen at 10 degrees.

-- Jerry Vance is owner of The Sweat Shop/Wet Sweat. She offers classes through Carson City Recreation and Aquatics Center and is a fitness instructor for the Carson City Senior Citizens Center.