Athletes have been wondering for months whether wearing a mask while playing sports could harm their health. According to a recent Italian study, this is not the case. On the other hand, these works observed a relative decrease in performance.
Like vaccines, masks have brought their share of fake news since the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic. The people spreading this false information raised several points . According to them, prolonged wearing of the mask would induce a risk of hypoxia (lack of oxygen) or carbon dioxide poisoning (CO2). In addition, the masks of the masks would be too wide, letting viruses pass.
Since the arrival of the coronavirus, there is an activity that many citizens have not given up:sport. Many people continue to run, even during periods of confinement. However, this raises the question of whether wearing a mask during intense physical activity may or may not be harmful to health . A study published in the European Respiratory Journal provided a definitive answer.
Researchers at the Monzino Cardiology Center in Milan (Italy) believe that there is no health risk. Moreover, this favorable response also concerns the practice of indoor sports as is the case in theaters that have long been closed to the public due to the pandemic.
"Even during maximum exertion, the use of masks is safe" , the study scientists said.
Let us mention in passing that this conclusion only concerns healthy individuals. Thus, the researchers estimated that there was no risk for the health of these individuals, but also for the people around in terms of contamination. However, they noted a small downside:a decrease in performance of around 10% . Let's also mention that the objective of this study was to make the upcoming reopening of gyms safer.
In order to provide their opinion, the cardiologists hired a dozen healthy volunteers aged about 40. Each of the participants had to perform three series of tests when using an exercise bike. The first tests were done without a mask, the second with a surgical mask and the last, with an FFP2 mask. However, it was when wearing the FFP2 mask that the 10% drop in performance was recorded. According to the researchers, wearing a surgical mask has only a very slight impact on these same performances.
Finally, the doctors said they did not want to stop there. Indeed, the results are very encouraging for healthy people, but what about individuals suffering from heart or lung disease ? The researchers believe that it is essentially the same, but they want to carry out other work in order to have the heart net.
