Are Face Masks Good For Exercising? Some Doctors Are Saying No For Now

With COVID-19 on the spread, face masks have become a necessity in everyday lives of people across the globe. Does that mean they should be used while playing sports or doing heavy exercises too? Experts seem to disagree.

Reuters

The research lead for Sport, Health and Exercise at Hertfordshire University conducted an experiment on herself to come up with this understanding. Dr Lindsay Bottoms ran on a treadmill at 10 kmph (6.2 mph) for three minutes. The experiment was meant to copy the physical intensity and duration of fencing.

Dr Bottoms did this with a full fencing kit, twice. Once with a cloth face mask under her fencing mask. The second time without the mask. She used a portable gas analyser to measure the concentration of gases being breathed in and out during the exercise.

Face mask exercise study

(Representative Image: Reuters)

The experiment was able to quantify what can be predicted in such a use of face masks. The study says, ¡°There are negligible levels of carbon dioxide in atmospheric air, and when exercising with only the fencing mask this remains below 1 percent. With the face mask on, it trebled to 3 percent.¡±

The higher concentration of carbon dioxide recorded was obviously in exchange of Oxygen during the exercise. A drop in Oxygen levels accordingly, ¡°When running on the treadmill with only the fencing mask, the concentration of oxygen was around 19.5 percent. This would be equivalent to exercising at 600 m (about 1,968 ft) above sea level.¡± Note that the concentration of atmospheric oxygen at sea level is around 21 percent.

Wearing a face mask dropped this reading to around 17 percent. This is the equivalent of exercising at 1,500 m (4,921 ft) as mentioned by Dr Lindsay Bottoms in her study.

Should face masks be worn?

There are established principles explaining the results. One, during exercise, our muscles produce lactic acid which is then converted to carbon dioxide and exhaled. The carbon dioxide is trapped by the mask and the person will eventually be re-breathing the trapped carbon dioxide.

Another reason is that a mask makes it harder to inhale the necessary quantity of air for high intensity performances, simply because they are bound to resist airflow.

FC Augsburg players on the pitch before the match wearing protective face masks, as play resumes behind closed doors following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) (Image: REUTERS)

The mentioned effects of breathing at such Oxygen levels are reduced cognitive functions and an increasing breathing rate.

There is an increasing need of finding out such effects of wearing a mask during exercises, especially when the major sports resume around the globe. For now, the soccer fraternity has resumed on many levels with other post COVID-19 changes in place. They¡¯re still sans mask during the games though.

Several experts have been affirming that¡¯s the way it should be. Dr Ben Killingley, Consultant in Acute Medicine and Infectious Diseases at University College London Hospital, asserted in an interaction with Telegraph : ¡°No reason comes to my mind that we should be recommending face masks to be used during exercise.¡±

Dr Bottoms ends up in her findings by stating an urgent need of research on the recommendation of wearing a face mask while exercising "to ensure the safety of the sporting community, regardless of any underlying conditions."