How can you improve your breathing while you are running?

Running is physiologically intense and vigorous aerobic activity. With increase in intensity (speed) oxygen demand also increases thus, body need to do some adjustment or incorporate some specific breathing techniques or patterns so that one breathes efficiently to meet the increasing demands of oxygen and sustain running. With proper breathing pattern or technique one can run faster and farther with minimal effort. Whereas, poor breathing pattern can lead to muscle cramps, early fatigue, and decline in performance. There are various breathing patterns and technique that can be incorporated while running like cadence, musical cadence breathing, affirmation chanting or cantillating etc. Many runners follow cadence breathing pattern while running. It is one of the means to assure the adequate and constant supply of oxygen to the body. Cadence breathing is synchronizing your inspiration and expiration according to your number of steps. For example most common ratio followed is 3:2 i.e. 3 steps on inhalation and 2 steps on exhalation. Ratio usually followed by elite distance runners 2:2 at the beginning of the run and 2:1 at the end of the run. Whatever may be the recommended ratio, one should find what works best for him or her. It is just a trial and error method. Deep breathing can also be practiced to improve lung capacity thereby improving running. Breathing through mouth can also be incorporated but few experts do not suggest its practice.

Hi Avantika,
Running is an intense exercise it requires more oxygen for a good performance and also proper breathing allows more oxygen to enter into lungs and muscles.We need to do cadence breathing, 3-4 steps inhale,then next 3-4 steps exhale.Avoid protracting of shoulders while running,expand your chest and shoulders to increase the air entry into lungs.Start slow by doing just a brisk walk or low intensity mild exercises and gradually increase your pace. This type of running will help to improve your breathing and your run.