The transition from fall to winter is a potentially painful time for runners who live in northern regions. Aside from the dangers of snow, ice and darkness, the cold air can cause breathing difficulties, coughing and chest pains. While these symptoms often strike healthy people, they may indicate a more serious lung or cardiovascular problem. Due to the range of potential causes, you should consult your doctor if you experience severe coughing or chest pains when running in cold weather.
Bronchospasms and Bronchoconstriction
For many people, it is normal to experience reactions to cold air when exercising. These reactions often arise from sudden or prolonged constriction of muscles surrounding your bronchioles, conditions respectively known as bronchospasms and bronchoconstriction. By constricting the small tubes that transport air to and from your lungs, these conditions often result in chest pains, tightness, shortness of breath and coughing. This constriction of your bronchioles affects both healthy people and those with asthma, and reactions in healthy people are short-lived, require a brief recovery period and occur only at very low temperatures.
Air Temperature
Your body is able to adequately warm the air entering your lungs under normal conditions, but running in cold weather limits this ability. By breathing in short bursts through your mouth, the temperature of the air that enters your lungs when running in cold weather is lower than normal. This leads to irritation of your lungs and breathing channels, potentially resulting in coughing and chest pains. If you do not experience these symptoms when running indoors or in warm weather, walking in cold weather or breathing through your nose, the temperature of the air entering your lungs likely is the cause.
Asthma
If you experience asthmatic symptoms only when exercising, you may have a condition known as exercise-induced asthma. For those who regularly suffer from asthma, the coughing, chest pains, wheezing and breathing difficulties that typically accompany asthmatic episodes become worse in cold weather. In comparison with normal reactions to cold air, asthmatic reactions when running in cold weather are more severe, occur at higher temperatures and require a longer recovery period. Whether or not you have a history of the condition, you should consult your doctor to rule out asthma as a cause of your reactions to cold air.
Heart Conditions
In a January 2010 interview with "ABC News," Dr. Marie Savard said cold air affects your blood vessels and bronchioles in a similar manner. By constricting your blood vessels, breathing in cold air slightly elevates your blood pressure. If you have a heart condition, this can lead to chest pains, tightness and breathing difficulties when not exercising. As any physical activity increases the severity of these symptoms, Dr. Savard suggests that even light exercise can trigger a heart attack. While your symptoms likely are the result of regular reactions to cold air, severe and chronic chest pains when running in cold weather may indicate an undetected heart condition.
References
- KidsHealth: Exercise-Induced Asthma
- "Allergic Living"; Cold Air and Exercise; Dory Cerny; 2005
- Hill Runner: Winter Running
- American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology: Asthma and Exercise: Tips to Remember
- MedlinePlus: Asthma
- The Lung Association: Asthma
- "ABC News"; Cold-Weather Tingling, Shortness of Breath May Mean Serious Illness; Laura Zaccaro; January 2010
