# that icky feeling when running in the cold
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-icky-feeling-when-running-in-the-cold/21918
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 10, 2000, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-icky-feeling-when-running-in-the-cold/21918 "2000-06-10T00:08:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@AndYrAStar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndYrAStar)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2000, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-icky-feeling-when-running-in-the-cold/21918/1 "2000-06-10T00:08:16Z")
Why do we (well, I and most people that I’ve asked) get that icky raw feeling in our throats/lungs when running around when it’s really cold outside? Someone once told me that your lungs were actually bleeding (eww!) but I’m not sure if I believe it. Any truth to that? If so, why are they, bleeding, anyway?
---
### Author:  [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2000, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-icky-feeling-when-running-in-the-cold/21918/2 "2000-06-10T02:02:22Z")
I don’t know a whole bunch about this but I can say that I am 100% sure that your lungs don’t bleed when you run in the cold. If they did, you’d cough up blood at the very least, and possibly drown in the worst case scenario.
---
### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2000, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-icky-feeling-when-running-in-the-cold/21918/3 "2000-06-10T02:17:10Z")
1. Your lungs expect the incoming air to be warmer. In the winter this is usually accomplished by slower breathing, especially through the nose. Exertion causes you to inhale and exhale quickly through the mouth, so the incoming air is not heated by a leisurely trip through your nasal passages. It’s still cold when it hits your lungs, your bronchial passages contract, and you feel the icky, itchy feeling.
2. And it’s a symptom of asthma.