The Impact of Wearing Different Face Masks on Vigorous Physical Exercise Performance and Perceived Exertion among COVID-19 Infected vs. Uninfected Female Students
Under certain circumstances, masks are an effective and immediate solution to reduce the spread of viral infection. However, the impact of masks on the ability to perform vigorous exercise remains an area of concern. Primarily, this impact has been explored in healthy subjects, yielding contradictor...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-11-01
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| Series: | European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2254-9625/13/11/187 |
| _version_ | 1797459564932628480 |
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| author | Nourhen Mezghani Achraf Ammar Omar Boukhris Liwa Masmoudi Mohamed Ali Boujelbane Rayda Ben Ayed Turki Mohsen Alzahrani Atyh Hadadi Rihab Abid Ibrahim Ouergui Jordan M. Glenn Khaled Trabelsi Hamdi Chtourou |
| author_facet | Nourhen Mezghani Achraf Ammar Omar Boukhris Liwa Masmoudi Mohamed Ali Boujelbane Rayda Ben Ayed Turki Mohsen Alzahrani Atyh Hadadi Rihab Abid Ibrahim Ouergui Jordan M. Glenn Khaled Trabelsi Hamdi Chtourou |
| author_sort | Nourhen Mezghani |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Under certain circumstances, masks are an effective and immediate solution to reduce the spread of viral infection. However, the impact of masks on the ability to perform vigorous exercise remains an area of concern. Primarily, this impact has been explored in healthy subjects, yielding contradictory findings, and little is known of it among COVID-19-infected individuals. This study examined the effects of surgical masks, N-95 masks, and unmasked conditions on the performance and perceived exertion (RPE) of infected vs. non-infected young women during high-intensity, repeated sprint exercise (5mSRT). Following a familiarization session, eighty-three (42 COVID-19-previously infected (PIG) and 43 non-infected (NIG)), female participants (age 20.02 ± 1.05 years, BMI 21.07 ± 2.1 kg/m<sup>2</sup>) were randomly assigned to one of three mask conditions: unmasked, surgical mask, or N95 mask. All participants attended three test sessions (i.e., one session for each mask condition) at least one week apart. At the beginning of each test session, data related to participants’ physical activity (PA) and sleep behaviours during the previous week were collected. In each test session, participants performed the 5mSRT, during which performance indicators (best distance (BD), total distance (TD), fatigue index (FI) and percentage decrement (PD)) were collected, along with RPE. ANOVA indicated no significant main effects of Groups and Masks, and no significant interaction for Groups × Masks for BD, FI, PD, RPE and most sleep and PA behaviours (<i>p</i> > 0.05). For TD, the Groups × Mask interaction was significant (<i>p</i> = 0.031 and ƞp<sup>2</sup> = 0.042). Posthoc analysis revealed, in the unmasked condition, there was no difference in TD between PIG and NIG (<i>p</i> > 0.05). However, when wearing a surgical mask, PIG covered lower TD compared to NIG (<i>p</i> < 0.05). Additionally, different types of masks did not affect TD in NIG, while PIG performed the worst using the surgical mask (<i>p</i> < 0.05). These results suggest post-COVID-19 individuals can maintain physical fitness through regular exercise (i.e., sport science curricula) in unmasked conditions, but not when wearing a surgical mask. Furthermore, the impact of different types of face masks on physical performance seems to be minimal, particularly in uninfected populations; future research is warranted to further explore this impact in post-COVID conditions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T16:53:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e116c19fa17640dd9a7579fabd12a65c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2174-8144 2254-9625 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T16:53:13Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-e116c19fa17640dd9a7579fabd12a65c2023-11-24T14:38:56ZengMDPI AGEuropean Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education2174-81442254-96252023-11-0113112709272310.3390/ejihpe13110187The Impact of Wearing Different Face Masks on Vigorous Physical Exercise Performance and Perceived Exertion among COVID-19 Infected vs. Uninfected Female StudentsNourhen Mezghani0Achraf Ammar1Omar Boukhris2Liwa Masmoudi3Mohamed Ali Boujelbane4Rayda Ben Ayed5Turki Mohsen Alzahrani6Atyh Hadadi7Rihab Abid8Ibrahim Ouergui9Jordan M. Glenn10Khaled Trabelsi11Hamdi Chtourou12Department of Sport Sciences, College of Education, Taif University, Taif 21944, Saudi ArabiaDepartment of Training and Movement Science, Institute of Sport Science, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, 55099 Mainz, GermanySIESTA Research Group, School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, La Trobe University, Melbourne 3086, AustraliaHigh Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Sfax, University of Sfax, Sfax 3000, TunisiaDepartment of Training and Movement Science, Institute of Sport Science, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, 55099 Mainz, GermanyNational Institute of Agronomy of Tunisia (INAT), University of Carthage-Tunis, 43 Avenue Charles Nicolle, El Mahrajène 1082, TunisiaDepartment of Sport Sciences, College of Education, Taif University, Taif 21944, Saudi ArabiaDepartment of Sport Sciences, College of Education, Taif University, Taif 21944, Saudi ArabiaResearch Laboratory, Molecular Bases of Human Pathology, LR19ES13, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sfax, Sfax 3029, TunisiaHigh Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Kef, University of Jendouba, El Kef 7100, TunisiaDepartment of Health, Exercise Science Research Center Human Performance and Recreation, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USAHigh Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Sfax, University of Sfax, Sfax 3000, TunisiaHigh Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Sfax, University of Sfax, Sfax 3000, TunisiaUnder certain circumstances, masks are an effective and immediate solution to reduce the spread of viral infection. However, the impact of masks on the ability to perform vigorous exercise remains an area of concern. Primarily, this impact has been explored in healthy subjects, yielding contradictory findings, and little is known of it among COVID-19-infected individuals. This study examined the effects of surgical masks, N-95 masks, and unmasked conditions on the performance and perceived exertion (RPE) of infected vs. non-infected young women during high-intensity, repeated sprint exercise (5mSRT). Following a familiarization session, eighty-three (42 COVID-19-previously infected (PIG) and 43 non-infected (NIG)), female participants (age 20.02 ± 1.05 years, BMI 21.07 ± 2.1 kg/m<sup>2</sup>) were randomly assigned to one of three mask conditions: unmasked, surgical mask, or N95 mask. All participants attended three test sessions (i.e., one session for each mask condition) at least one week apart. At the beginning of each test session, data related to participants’ physical activity (PA) and sleep behaviours during the previous week were collected. In each test session, participants performed the 5mSRT, during which performance indicators (best distance (BD), total distance (TD), fatigue index (FI) and percentage decrement (PD)) were collected, along with RPE. ANOVA indicated no significant main effects of Groups and Masks, and no significant interaction for Groups × Masks for BD, FI, PD, RPE and most sleep and PA behaviours (<i>p</i> > 0.05). For TD, the Groups × Mask interaction was significant (<i>p</i> = 0.031 and ƞp<sup>2</sup> = 0.042). Posthoc analysis revealed, in the unmasked condition, there was no difference in TD between PIG and NIG (<i>p</i> > 0.05). However, when wearing a surgical mask, PIG covered lower TD compared to NIG (<i>p</i> < 0.05). Additionally, different types of masks did not affect TD in NIG, while PIG performed the worst using the surgical mask (<i>p</i> < 0.05). These results suggest post-COVID-19 individuals can maintain physical fitness through regular exercise (i.e., sport science curricula) in unmasked conditions, but not when wearing a surgical mask. Furthermore, the impact of different types of face masks on physical performance seems to be minimal, particularly in uninfected populations; future research is warranted to further explore this impact in post-COVID conditions.https://www.mdpi.com/2254-9625/13/11/187SARSpost-infectionexercisephysical activitysurgical maskN95 |
| spellingShingle | Nourhen Mezghani Achraf Ammar Omar Boukhris Liwa Masmoudi Mohamed Ali Boujelbane Rayda Ben Ayed Turki Mohsen Alzahrani Atyh Hadadi Rihab Abid Ibrahim Ouergui Jordan M. Glenn Khaled Trabelsi Hamdi Chtourou The Impact of Wearing Different Face Masks on Vigorous Physical Exercise Performance and Perceived Exertion among COVID-19 Infected vs. Uninfected Female Students European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education SARS post-infection exercise physical activity surgical mask N95 |
| title | The Impact of Wearing Different Face Masks on Vigorous Physical Exercise Performance and Perceived Exertion among COVID-19 Infected vs. Uninfected Female Students |
| title_full | The Impact of Wearing Different Face Masks on Vigorous Physical Exercise Performance and Perceived Exertion among COVID-19 Infected vs. Uninfected Female Students |
| title_fullStr | The Impact of Wearing Different Face Masks on Vigorous Physical Exercise Performance and Perceived Exertion among COVID-19 Infected vs. Uninfected Female Students |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Impact of Wearing Different Face Masks on Vigorous Physical Exercise Performance and Perceived Exertion among COVID-19 Infected vs. Uninfected Female Students |
| title_short | The Impact of Wearing Different Face Masks on Vigorous Physical Exercise Performance and Perceived Exertion among COVID-19 Infected vs. Uninfected Female Students |
| title_sort | impact of wearing different face masks on vigorous physical exercise performance and perceived exertion among covid 19 infected vs uninfected female students |
| topic | SARS post-infection exercise physical activity surgical mask N95 |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2254-9625/13/11/187 |
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