Breathing
Honest answer: yes, for the thing they're designed to do, and no, for the things people sometimes hope they'll do. A nasal strip is not a performance drug and it won't make you fitter. It's a piece of sports kit that does one mechanical job very well, and whether that job matters to you depends on how you breathe.
What a strip actually does
The narrowest point of your airway is the nasal valve, the soft part of the nose just above the nostrils. On a hard inhale it tends to collapse inwards; you can feel it happen if you breathe in sharply through your nose right now. A nasal strip is a flexible spring in a plaster. Stuck across the bridge of the nose, it pulls the sidewalls outward and holds the valve open, so more air gets through on every breath with less effort. No drugs, nothing goes inside the nose, nothing to wear off.
That's the whole mechanism. Less resistance at the valve, more airflow through the
What it doesn't do
It won't change your fitness, your pacing or your technique. It won't help if you breathe through your mouth the entire session, because the mouth never had the problem. And it can't fix congestion deeper in the nose; it opens the valve, not the sinuses.
Think of it the way you'd think of a good pair of socks. Nobody PBs because of their socks. Plenty of people have a worse day because of them.
Who notices it most
Four groups, in our experience.
People whose nose collapses on a hard breath. Some noses are narrower than others, and for them a strip is the difference between nasal breathing being possible at pace or not. Connor, one of our athletes: "I've always struggled with nasal breathing, as you breathe backwards not upwards, NEON helped open my airways. 10/10."
Athletes trying to stay nasal at higher intensity. If you've trained yourself to breathe through the nose on easy days, the strip extends how far up the effort scale you can keep it. Tom, who races HYROX under the hour: "As a sub 60 HYROX athlete, I am always looking for the 1% gains and NEON definitely helped me open my airways when I needed to breathe my best in Zone 5."
Anyone congested or coming back from a cold. Sarah: "I'm poorly at the moment and the nose strip opened up my airways. I even beat my 5km PB today by 1 minute." Not a typical result, but a typical reason people try one.
Sleepers and snorers. The same valve collapses when you lie down. Kristian's wife bought his, and he says they're the best money she's ever
How to use one properly
Clean, dry skin. Sweat, moisturiser or sun cream and the strip won't hold; a skin-prep sheet or a quick wipe sorts it.
Position it across the bridge, just above where the nostrils flare, with the tabs on the soft part of the nose.
Press for thirty seconds. The adhesive needs warmth to bond.
Put it on in the warm-up, not on the start line, so it's settled before the first hard breath.
Where it fits
The strip is the easy part. The bigger gains are in how you breathe: diaphragm first, nose first, and easy days kept easy. If you're new to that, start with why modern life is teaching us to breathe badly and Jacko's diaphragm session, then put a NEON strip on and go for a run with your mouth shut. You'll know within ten minutes whether it matters to you.
