"Hypothesis: ... [T]he wearing of facemasks to prevent the community spread of the novel Covid-19 is itself debatable, considering the limited evidence on the subject matter. WHO recommends masks only for Covid-19 patients but the usage of masks is morally 'exploited' among community individuals...
Facemask and physiology alteration during exercise: Exercising with customized tight facemasks induces a hypercapnic hypoxia environment [inadequate Oxygen (O2 ) and Carbon dioxide (CO 2) exchange]. This acidic environment both at the alveolar and blood vessels level induces numerous physiological alterations when exercising with facemasks: 1) Metabolic shift; 2) cardiorespiratory stress; 3) excretory system altercations; 4) Immune mechanism; 5) Brain and nervous system...
Metabolism altercation: ... [I]ndividuals exercising with a mask would have physiological effects similar to a Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) person exercising such as discomfort, fatigue, dizziness, headache, shortness of breath, muscular weakness and drowsiness... The aforementioned symptoms affect the exercising individuals psychologically as well ...
Further, poor saturation of haemoglobin would be anticipated due to increased partial pressure of CO 2 at higher exercise intensity... This acidic environment would unload O2 faster at the muscle level ... creating a hypoxic environment for all vital organs.
Poor immune responses: ... [E]xercising with facemasks induces an acidic environment, and thus mobility of hypoxic natural killer cells to the target cells would be affected, aggravating the chances of infection during the pandemic...
Increased cardiorespiratory stress: The reduced availability of O2 and CO2 would increase the heart rate and blood pressure exponentially even at low workloads. This physiological alteration may increase aortic pressure and left ventricular pressures, leading to an upsurge of cardiac overload and coronary demand...
Altered renal function: Hypercapnic hypoxia reduces renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate posing a risk of reduced renal functions. Thus, aciduria and resulting tubular damage may potentially aggravate the compromised renal functions in individuals with established chronic diseases...
Brain metabolism and mental health: Acute hypercapnia, a double-edged sword, on the one hand, elevates intracranial pressure, lowers cerebral perfusion, and triggers cerebral ischemia and, on the other hand, it is found to be neuroprotective decreasing the excitatory amino acids and minimizing the cerebral metabolism...
Can facemasks increase the risks of Coronavirus? Though the respirator masks are perceived to be the barriers for preventing aerosol depositions to the respiratory tract, the bitter reality is that masks increase the risk of more in-depth respiratory tract infections. As quoted by Perencevich et al. 2020, 'The average healthy person shouldn't be wearing masks as it creates a false sense of security and people tend to touch their face more often when compared to not wearing masks'. The surgical masks are debated to trap the droplets containing the virus inside, increasing rather than reducing the risk of infection."
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