If you are healthy, you can safely wear a face mask and exercise

According to a new study, wearing a face mask during strenuous exercise is safe for healthy people and can reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading in an indoor gym.

The results of the study are European Respiratory Journal.. In this study, researchers conducted detailed tests on breathing, heart activity, and athletic performance in groups of 12 people using exercise bikes with and without masks.

They found some differences in measurements between wearing and not wearing a mask, but researchers said none of their results showed a risk to health.

These results suggest that masks can be safely worn during strenuous exercise, for example, to reduce covid-19 infections among people visiting indoor gyms.

The study was conducted by a team of researchers including Dr. Elisabetta Salvioni of Centro Cardiologico Monzino of IRCCS in Milan, Italy, Dr. Centro Cardiologico Monzino and Dr. Massimo Mapelli and Professor Piergiuseppe Agostoni of the University of Milan.

“We know that the main route of transmission of the coronavirus is by respiratory droplets, and that intense breathing during exercise can promote infection, especially indoors,” said Dr. Salvioni. And wearing a mask can prevent the spread of the disease, but there is no clear evidence that the mask can be safely worn during strenuous exercise. “

To address this question, the researchers worked with a group of healthy volunteers consisting of 6 women and 6 men with an average age of 40 years. Each person participated in a three-round exercise test. I have worn surgical masks (blue, disposable masks) and “filtering facepiece 2” or FFP2 masks (white, disposable masks are believed to provide slightly better protection than surgical masks).

While volunteers were using exercise bikes, researchers measured their breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen levels in their blood.

Tests have shown that wearing a face mask had little effect on volunteers. For example, the ability to perform aerobic exercise was reduced by an average of about 10% (according to “peak VO2”, the highest possible measure of oxygen uptake).

The results also showed that this decrease could be due to the fact that volunteers had a slight difficulty in inhaling and exhaling through the mask.

“This decline is modest and, decisively, does not suggest the risk of exercising with a face mask, even when healthy people are working at their best,” said Dr. Mapelli. Waiting to be vaccinated-19, this finding can have a practical impact on everyday life, for example, it may make it safer to open an indoor gym.

“But we shouldn’t assume that the same is true for people with heart or lung conditions. Further research is needed to investigate this question,” Dr. Mapelli added.

The team is currently studying the effects of wearing a face mask on daily activities such as climbing stairs and doing household chores for healthy people and people with heart and lung conditions.

Professor Agostoni said, “covid-19 has had a devastating impact on our community and hospitals and has had a devastating effect on the personal, professional and organizational levels. Nevertheless, this is ours. It was one of many studies enthusiastically conducted by young researchers. “

“We are particularly proud of this study because it begins spontaneously in the free time of the current pandemic’s gloomy time and demonstrates the need for clinical research even in emergencies,” Agostoni added. It was.

Professor Sam Bayat of the Grenoble University Hospital in France was the chair of the Clinical Respiratory Physiology, Exercise, and Functional Imaging Group of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) and was not involved in the study. “There is still a gap in our knowledge of how to limit the spread of covid-19, but we believe that face masks play a role and are accustomed to wearing face masks in public spaces such as shops and trains. And the bus. “

“These results are preliminary and need to be confirmed by more people, but face masks can be safely worn for indoor sports and fitness activities and have an acceptable impact on performance,” said Bayat. It seems to suggest that. ”