CREATING A STRONG ECONOMY
Exercising While Wearing a Mask Some types of masks are better than others when exercising in crowded spaces.
By Gretchen Reynolds | June 17, 2020 | New York Times W earing a mask during exercise reduces the risk that we will infect someone else with the novel coronavirus if we unwittingly carry the disease. But wearing a mask also affects how the exercise affects us, according to exercise scientists who have begun to look into the effects of covering your face while working out. Their research and insights, some of them based on self- experimentation, raise practical questions about whether some types of masks might be better than others for exercise, how often masks should be swapped out during prolonged exertions and just how much we should expect our heart rates to soar if we attempt to interval train with a mask on. Almost all of us know by now that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends we cover our faces when we are in crowded public spaces, such as parks or pathways, and in shared, indoor locations, including gyms, to help block the transmission of the novel coronavirus through respiration. These recommendations — which are requirements in some communities and businesses — become particularly pressing when we exercise, since past studies show that our breathing rates can double or even quadruple then, sending out higher numbers of potentially infectious respiratory droplets. But while there is growing evidence that masks can affect breathing in general, as my colleague Jane Brody wrote about this week, little is yet known scientifically about if and how face coverings change the subjective experience and physical impacts of exercise — although many exercisers will tell you that they do. A commentary published this month on the website of the British Journal of Sports Medicine points out that covering your face during exercise “comes with issues of potential breathing restriction and discomfort” and requires “balancing benefits versus possible adverse events.” To find out more about those benefits and adversities, I contacted several scientists who have begun analyzing masks and exercise, including the primary author of the new commentary. Because university closures and other pandemic restrictions prevent large-scale, lab- based experiments now, these scientists’ research efforts primarily have involved wearing masks themselves during workouts or asking a few close colleagues to do the
A woman practices yoga outdoors while maintaining social distancing and wearing a face mask.
same and taking copious notes. But although anecdotal and unpublished, their analyses provide useful tips and cautions for mask wearing during workouts. Perhaps most important, they show that masks do alter exercise, says Cedric X. Bryant, the president and chief science officer of the American Council on Exercise, a nonprofit organization that funds exercise research and certifies fitness professionals. “In my personal experience,” he says, “heart rates are higher at the same relative intensity when you wear a mask.” In other words, if you don a mask before running or cycling at your usual pace, your heart rate will be more elevated than before. “You should anticipate that it will be about eight to 10 beats higher per minute” when you wear a mask than when you do not, Dr. Bryant says. This exaggerated rise in heart rate will be most pronounced during intense efforts, he says, such as hill repeats or intervals. Some people also could experience lightheadedness during familiar workouts while masked, says Len Kravitz, a professor of exercise science at the University of New
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The Business Review | February 2021
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