Abstract
Background: Sedentary lifestyle and physical inactivity represent the high prevalence and public health concern in developed and developing countries. Exercise when performed regularly has beneficial effects on the various systems of the body. Regular exercise has a favorable influence on pulmonary functions.

Aims & Objective: To study the pulmonary functions in competitive runners and to compare the same with matched sedentary control group.

Materials and Methods: In this study pulmonary functions such as FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC, MVV, PEFR parameters were studied in 50 competitive runners in the age group of 19- 26 years. These parameters were compared with matched apparently normal healthy sedentary medical students using unpaired t test.

Results: In our study a very highly significant increase was observed in pulmonary function parameters of competitive runners than sedentary controls. Competitive runners had higher mean of percentage value of Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) (P=0.0034) 2.70 ± 0.40, Forced expiratory volume in first second (FEV1) (P=0.0066) 2.49±0.56, Maximum Voluntary Ventilation (MVV) (P=0.0045) 140.64 ± 20.77 and Peak Expiratory Flow Rate (PEFR) (P=0.0037) 8.35 ± 0.88 than controls. However there was no significant difference in FEV1/FVC ratio (P=0.1337) between the study groups.

Conclusion: The current study has shown that, there is significant positive relationship between running training and pulmonary function in healthy young men. The improvement in pulmonary function could be due to increased strength of respiratory muscles. So running can be recommended so as to improve the pulmonary function of an individual.

Key words: Runners; FEV1; FVC; PEFR; Pulmonary Function