Are Nasal Strips the Secret to Better Workouts? Here’s What Experts Say

You’ve probably seen them before—those bandage-looking strips stretched across the noses of runners, rugby players, or even your Sunday soccer teammate. Or maybe you caught tennis phenom Carlos Alcaraz rocking a very-noticeable nose band in the 2025 ATP Rome Open, and thought the same thing his pro peers did: do those actually work? 

Once reserved for snorers, a growing number of fitness-minded folks are strapping on nasal strips for everything from gym workouts and long runs to major competitions and chill recovery days. The logic is simple enough: Better breathing = better performance. But does the science actually hold up? And should you be adding these to your gym bag? 

Here’s what experts had to say about the performance power of these little adhesives.

What nasal strips actually do

Nasal strips are a simple mechanical device that help open up the nostrils, explains Austin Shuxiao, MD, a board-certified internal medicine physician at UHS Wilson Medical Center. 

“The strips look like a band aid, have adhesive covering the whole side, and on the opposite side, it is stabilized by a stiff plastic support,” he says. “The support will adhere to the sides of the nasal bridge and pull them upwards, widening the nasal valve area, thereby allowing more air to pass through that portion.”

It also helps reduce dynamic collapse, especially during heavy breathing. “Think of it as scaffolding for your nostrils—keeping things open when your body needs air the most,” says Geoffrey Trenkle, DO, ENT surgeon and CEO of the Los Angeles Center for Ear, Nose, Throat and Allergy.

The nasal valve area is the part of your nose that is commonly affected by congestion or structural issues (think: deviated septum or inflammation due to allergies). So if breathing through your nose feels like trying to sip air through a coffee stirrer, nasal strips could offer a surprisingly noticeable upgrade.

That said, nasal strips have long been marketed for sleep-related conditions like snoring or even sleep apnea—which Shuxiao says is a bit of a stretch. “Sleep apnea is usually caused by interruptions in breathing due to a collapse of the back of the throat, specifically the soft palate and uvula,” he says. “While it’s possible for nasal congestion to cause sleep apnea, it isn’t typical.”

Can nasal strips improve your fitness performance?

Tldr: Maybe, but it depends.

Let's start with why it matters. Efficient nasal breathing doesn’t just feel better, it's it’s physiologically better, says Trenkle. “There is a great book by James Nestor called Breath, where he describes this well,” he says. “Nasal breathing helps regulate carbon dioxide and oxygen balance more effectively than mouth breathing. It promotes diaphragmatic breathing, and delays the shift to anaerobic respiration by improving oxygen uptake efficiency.” 

When it comes to the little strip's ability to affect real change in your actual fitness performance? “I think this ranks somewhere in the middle of legitimacy,” says Shuxiao. “Some small studies that compared healthy teens and teens with allergic rhinitis found statistically higher VO2max and lower perceived effort with a nasal strip vs a placebo, indicating they may really help in people suffering from congestion.”

But Shuxiao also points out that a 2021 systematic review measuring the change in maximal VO2, heart rate, and perceived exertion between subjects wearing a nasal strip and not wearing a nasal strip found essentially no change between the two. “The strips had ‘little or no effect’ on the amount of air delivered to the lungs and the amount of oxygen extracted through breathing,” he says.

In other words, if your nasal airflow seems more or less fine, don’t expect miracles. But for less-than-perfect nasal pipes, these strips could help.

“This kind of device would help to even the playing field if the sufferer truly had problems with the passage of nasal airflow,” says Shuxiao. “If someone has chronic allergic rhinitis, congestion, or structural septal defects, then the nasal strips will have real benefits by increasing their air intake.”

He adds that while most athletes instinctively switch to mouth breathing during high-intensity effort (it brings in more air more quickly), nasal breathing during competition “is vital in focusing and conserving stamina.” So even a perceived benefit may offer a performance edge. 

“For subjects without structural defects, the benefit is largely placebo,” says Shuxiao. “But placebo effects are real effects, especially in the world of competitive sports.” 

How to use nasal strips correctly

While they’re generally fairly easy to use, it might take a few tries, since everyone’s internal nasal structure is different. “You might not get it right the first few times,” says Shuxiao. “There is usually a sweet spot—and it’s different from what the picture on the package will tell you.”

To find it, place the strip just above the flare of your nostrils, where the nasal valve tends to narrow. “Once you have it in the right spot, you’ll know,” he says. “You’ll suddenly be able to breathe through your congested side (assuming you couldn’t breathe through one or both sides before using the strip).”

The bottom line

Nasal strips aren’t magic, but they can offer real (and perceived) benefits for the right people. “Anyone with chronic allergic rhinitis, chronic nasal congestion, septal defects, nasal polyps, or other obstructive nasal defects is likely to see a real improvement in airflow,” says Shuxiao.

This can be especially helpful for outdoor exercisers in high-pollen seasons, athletes training in cold or dry environments, or anyone recovering from nasal surgery. 

At the end of the day, if you’re curious, trying a nasal strip is a low-risk experiment. “These strips offer a noninvasive way to test whether nasal resistance is limiting your performance,” says Trenkle. 

Even if they don’t make you faster or stronger, they can add some insurance that you’re not working harder than you have to just to breathe. And that in of itself may be all the performance boost you need.