Shortness of breath.

[Doug101]

Hi, I’m new here and just wanted to ask if anyone else has the same issues happening and what might be done.

Here’s what’s going on. I started riding again about 3 weeks ago. I’m a 69 year old male, a bit overweight but not morbidly obese. I have a family history of cardiac problems and had bypass surgery in 2016 and two stents in the first couple years after. Since then everything is fine. Stress test and echocardiogram are normal. No damage to the heart, it’s all in the plumbing. I’m riding 4-5 times a week and have made it to 5 miles in about 27 minutes. That all sounds good for my age and cardiac history and the fact that I haven’t been on a bike for a couple years. But here’s the thing. About 1 to 1 1/2 minutes into the ride I start getting short of breath. But that’s it. It just feels like I’m not breathing deep enough. There are no other issues. I wear a tracking watch. My heart rate stays level, O2 sat is fine. No chest pains, no dizziness or lightheadedness, no weakness and it doesn’t slow down my pace. Sometimes it clears in 1 to 2 minutes and stays gone, sometimes it takes 8 or 9 minutes. Yesterday it came back at about 20 minutes into the ride and cleared in about 45 seconds. I talked to my cardiologist and she said everything cardio seems normal and there’s no signs of a cardiac problem. She recommended connecting with a bike forum to see if anyone else has this and what tips they might have. She thinks it’s possible that it could be allergy related but that would take some testing that cardiology doesn’t do.

Thanks for any input.

[GirishH]

Dear @Doug101, welcome to the forum! I’m so glad you are still riding despite your health challenge s, and it’s great that you consulted your cardiologist.

​I really appreciate how meticulous and detailed your query is. Hopefully, someone with a similar experience will chime in soon.

​I had an experience the other day, that made me chime in.

I was at around 4,300 meters (14,000 feet)—with another 100 meters left to climb. I was completely running out of energy and air. So, I rest and proceed. That evening, after reaching my destination at 4,400 meters, I rested but couldn't sleep well.

​The next morning, I checked my blood oxygen levels, thinking that might explain why my energy was so low. Surprisingly, it was at 95%, which is normal.

​My thought is that the body simply needs time to adjust to a new exercise routine—or it's telling us to slow down a bit. I’m not usually a details-and-stats guy, but I checked my blood oxygen this time just because I felt so completely wiped out.

Wishing you the very best as you pursue your exercise routine inspite of the challenges..

(06-11-2026, 03:20 PM)Doug101 Wrote:  Hi, I’m new here and just wanted to ask if anyone else has the same issues happening and what might be done.

Here’s what’s going on. I started riding again about 3 weeks ago. I’m a 69 year old male, a bit overweight but not morbidly obese. I have a family history of cardiac problems and had bypass surgery in 2016 and two stents in the first couple years after. Since then everything is fine. Stress test and echocardiogram are normal. No damage to the heart, it’s all in the plumbing. I’m riding 4-5 times a week and have made it to 5 miles in about 27 minutes. That all sounds good for my age and cardiac history and the fact that I haven’t been on a bike for a couple years. But here’s the thing. About 1 to 1 1/2 minutes into the ride I start getting short of breath. But that’s it. It just feels like I’m not breathing deep enough. There are no other issues. I wear a tracking watch. My heart rate stays level, O2 sat is fine. No chest pains, no dizziness or lightheadedness, no weakness and it doesn’t slow down my pace. Sometimes it clears in 1 to 2 minutes and stays gone, sometimes it takes 8 or 9 minutes. Yesterday it came back at about 20 minutes into the ride and cleared in about 45 seconds. I talked to my cardiologist and she said everything cardio seems normal and there’s no signs of a cardiac problem. She recommended connecting with a bike forum to see if anyone else has this and what tips they might have. She thinks it’s possible that it could be allergy related but that would take some testing that cardiology doesn’t do.

Thanks for any input.

[ReapThaWhirlwind]

I think it's very normal to experience things like this at your age.

The first concern I would have is you're having iron issues. Being low in iron is the first flag to throw for having shortness of breath issues. I would suggest having that checked out with your doctor, but possibly, supplementing lightly see how things pick up. Another supplement you can and should throw on top of this is creatine. Creatine will boost your metabolic capabilities significant. Lipsomal NAD+ is the next one! Modern science has been showing that NAD+ supplementation could be the single biggest longevity/well-being hack available by natural means. It really supercharges the body in a lot of very dynamic ways. I'll leave protein uptake as the last flag to throw here for nutrition. Hopefully electrolytes supplementation comes naturally as common sense. But increasing your protein uptake with a few shakes each day helps to boost your metabolism with the extra aminos the body desperately needs that it aggressively consumes to power so many cellular processes.

Aside from nutrition, note that when you're getting back into exercise, you have metabolic factors to build up first. One of them is mitochondria function and mitochondrial mass. This takes some time to build up, but every time you go exercise, you are stimulating your mitochondrial mass to upregulate. There are supplements you should look into to boost mitochondria function further, such as Urolithin A. It is increasingly important to supplement for our body as we take aging damage, to help cover against systemic degeneration that occurs from aging damage (and systemic deficits).

Just pace yourself and keep the challenges subtle until you feel your body picking up. The body responds to intensity best, but there certainly are hurdles in the way of being able to reach that performance potential safely.

[JJMarsh]

(06-11-2026, 03:20 PM)Doug101 Wrote:  Hi, I’m new here and just wanted to ask if anyone else has the same issues happening and what might be done.

Here’s what’s going on. I started riding again about 3 weeks ago. I’m a 69 year old male, a bit overweight but not morbidly obese. I have a family history of cardiac problems and had bypass surgery in 2016 and two stents in the first couple years after. Since then everything is fine. Stress test and echocardiogram are normal. No damage to the heart, it’s all in the plumbing. I’m riding 4-5 times a week and have made it to 5 miles in about 27 minutes. That all sounds good for my age and cardiac history and the fact that I haven’t been on a bike for a couple years. But here’s the thing. About 1 to 1 1/2 minutes into the ride I start getting short of breath. But that’s it. It just feels like I’m not breathing deep enough. There are no other issues. I wear a tracking watch. My heart rate stays level, O2 sat is fine. No chest pains, no dizziness or lightheadedness, no weakness and it doesn’t slow down my pace. Sometimes it clears in 1 to 2 minutes and stays gone, sometimes it takes 8 or 9 minutes. Yesterday it came back at about 20 minutes into the ride and cleared in about 45 seconds. I talked to my cardiologist and she said everything cardio seems normal and there’s no signs of a cardiac problem. She recommended connecting with a bike forum to see if anyone else has this and what tips they might have. She thinks it’s possible that it could be allergy related but that would take some testing that cardiology doesn’t do.

Thanks for any input.

Try nasal breathing and slower start. Could be exercise asthma. Antihistamine might help. Heart is fine, so keep going.

[Flowrider]

Gday @Doug101 and Welcome!

My thoughts


There's no rush to get where you'd like to be.

Slowly, 1% per day. It's not motivation that will get you there. It's a commitment to your process repeated daily.

Do the breathwork even when you're not on your bike.

Visualisation is an amazing concept!

You're training your subconscious to help you get the results.

Go for it and let us know how you're getting on

[GirishH]

@Flowrider and @Doug101, i totaly agree with the power of Visualization, whether posituve or negative. I love how it affects or benefits us based on our visualization.

@Doug101 , wishing you the very best.

(06-18-2026, 10:11 PM)Flowrider Wrote:  Gday @Doug101 and Welcome!

My thoughts


There's no rush to get where you'd like to be.

Slowly, 1% per day. It's not motivation that will get you there. It's a commitment to your process repeated daily.

Do the breathwork even when you're not on your bike.

Visualisation is an amazing concept!

You're training your subconscious to help you get the results.

Go for it and let us know how you're getting on

[froze]

Doug, if you have done a complete heart and lung workup with scans and stress tests and they found nothing then for kicks, try taking 50mcg, which is the same as 2,000 IU of Vitamin D3 times 3 a day. If you are taking a multivitamin look to see how many mcg of Vit D3 is in it, usually it's less than 50mcg, so simply add more. Not all Vit d3 is the same, the best one is NatureWise Vitamin D3 5000 IU, followed by Nature Made Extra Strength D3 Gummies (5000 IU); there are premium choices that will cost more but won't give any better benefit.

As we age our body cannot manufacture Vit d from the sun, which is why a lot of older people are on vit d supplements. What happens to older people is actually these 4 issues:

1. Respiratory muscle weakness:
Low vitamin D is linked to reduced strength in the diaphragm and other breathing muscles. That can make breathing feel more effortful, especially during exertion.

2. Higher inflammation in the airways:
Vitamin D helps regulate inflammatory responses. Deficiency can worsen airway inflammation, which may contribute to sensations of tightness or reduced airflow.

3. Increased risk of respiratory infections:
Low vitamin D is associated with more frequent or more severe respiratory infections. Anything that affects the lungs can temporarily cause shortness of breath.

4. Fatigue + muscle weakness combo:
Many people with deficiency report feeling “winded” more easily because their whole system is underpowered.

Getting a bottle of Vit d3 is a cheap experiment, it will take between 2 to 6 weeks of taking it to realize any effect, and 6 to 12 weeks for full effect. If nothing happens than go see a different doctor because you have a problem somewhere, it could be the heart, the lungs, some sort of virus which could be possible if you traveled outside the US in the last year, you could also have long term covid. Anyway, you need to get a handle of this ASAP; if you were me, I would get the Vit D3 AND AT THE SAME TIME schedule appoints with a different doctor for the heart and lung situation. They should be able to do blood draws to find out if you have some sort of virus.