The use of masks, an essential item during the Covid-19 pandemic , does not impair breathing or pose risks to healthy people during physical exercise. This is what a survey by the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo showed, which evaluated 35 people, 17 men, with an average age of 30 years, and 18 women, with an average of 28.
For the research, the group used three-layer fabric masks, in accordance with the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) , to perform physical activities (it is worth remembering that the best protection during the day is with the use of PFF2 masks, also called N95). The exercises were of different intensities.
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"We did it with the aim of investigating whether the use of masks during exercise hindered performance, the functioning of the body in people who do regular physical activity, but who are not athletes", explained Bruno Gualano, professor responsible for the study, in an interview to Agência Brasil . Thus, the participants ran on a treadmill with and without a protective mask, with monitoring of breathing, blood oxygenation and cardiac function.
The change in the inspiration effort only changed in moderate and intense exercises. In other words, with the use of the mask, the person needed to inspire more than without it. Other than that, the body is able to adapt well to the protection item. There were also no changes in the body's response, with no change in cardiac output or oxygen saturation.
The only time there was a loss of performance was in the effort considered critical, the maximum load a person can develop. In this case, the body cannot compensate for the additional difficulty that the mask imposes on breathing, causing people to reach their limit faster.
Even so, there was no significant change in cardiac function or blood oxygenation. “There is no suggestive physiological change that could incur a risk to the practitioner's health”, emphasized the professor at the Faculty of Medicine .
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