One study: wearing a muzzle while exercising does not affect your health

An Italian study has confirmed that wearing face masks (masks) during strenuous exercise is a safe procedure and may reduce the risk of the novel Corona virus spreading in indoor gyms.
According to the British newspaper The Guardian, researchers at the Monzino Heart Center in Milan tested the respiratory rate, heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen levels of six men and women while they exercised with stationary exercise bikes.
The volunteers, on average 40 years old, did three sets of exercises. One without a face mask, the other with a disposable surgical mask and the last with an FFP2 mask (a mask containing a particulate filter).
Researchers found that a thicker FFP2 mask resulted in a greater reduction in oxygen uptake than a surgical mask and that wearing masks in general reduced participants’ ability to perform vigorous exercise by about 10%. %, probably because they had a slight difficulty in breathing. through the mask.
“10 percent is not much at all,” said Dr Massimo Mabelli, who led the study. Most importantly, we have found that wearing a muzzle does not affect people’s health during intense exercise, even when they are working at their maximum capacity.
However, the study team stressed that more research needs to be done to see if the same applies to people with heart or lung disease.
And the World Health Organization previously advised last year not to wear a mask when exercising, saying it “may reduce the ability to breathe without difficulty.”
The organization said, in a tweet posted by its regional office in the Middle East, via its official account on the “Twitter” site, “Masks should not be worn while playing sports because masks can reduce the ability to breathe without difficulty. And sweating can quickly wet the muzzle, making it difficult to breathe and promote the growth of germs. “
However, the organization stressed the need to follow the necessary preventive measures when playing sports, including staying away from others for a distance of at least one meter.