Wearing masks do not affect oxygen intake.
If what you say is true, all healthcare workers who are wearing masks 8-12hrs a day would be collapsing - and most of them are double-masking with cloth masks on top of N95 masks.
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It’s easy to find examples of health care workers complaining about masks interfering with their breathing[1]. That was just the first example I looked at there are plenty more.
[1] https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/trouble-breathing-i...
"I feel from the moment that I put them on that I can't get quite enough to breath." That's what they are feeling - they may be claustrophobic, etc. And I believe they are feeling that.
But let's look at actual data - there's no measurable impact on blood oxygen saturation when wearing masks:
https://twitter.com/MurseWordsworth/status/12767990206738882...
https://twitter.com/AlisonKabaroff/status/127738060548793958...
https://twitter.com/DrRobDavidson/status/1277565585568784385
I'd just like to clarify that blood oxygen levels is not what makes you feel like you can't breathe. It's the amount of CO2 in the blood that's the issue. The first tweet addresses this point though.
I'm not entirely convinced by the test shown though. Doing a similar test while doing light exercise would be more convincing.
Another important factor to consider is that people breathe differently. Some people breathe more through their nose, others through their mouth. Maybe this can have an effect? Then there's also the fact that some people can take much stronger breaths (pulmonologists are always disappointed by my spirometry test results).
Mask wearing is important, but it doesn't feel right to just dismiss the reports that some people have more difficulty breathing with masks just because it doesn't happen to me.
My mother who has severe issues maintaining her oxygen levels and has to be on oxygen while she sleeps wears a mask while she's out and about fine.
I'm guessing the issues people face is less about the masks and more about the sensation of wearing a mask which spikes anxiety levels and causes the sensation of being unable to breath. If Japan can reach near ubiquitous levels of mask wearing without issues especially given their larger elderly population, I'm sure they'll be fine.
Otherwise if they have an actual medical issue that prevents wearing a mask then by all means.
> My mother who has severe issues maintaining her oxygen levels and has to be on oxygen while she sleeps wears a mask while she's out and about fine.
"It works for me" or whichever other anecdote is given to dismiss a valid complaint has never held any water and never will.
> If Japan can reach near ubiquitous levels of mask wearing without issues especially given their larger elderly population, I'm sure they'll be fine.
Masks aren't fun to wear, I was out in one yesterday in Japan and my wife, who is Japanese and has worn a mask long before this pandemic was a glint in a bat's eye, was complaining about being out of breath and uncomfortable.
They're well known for being uncomfortable even in the winter, and they have plenty of negatives beyond that.
Besides, if you saw the way people wore masks in Japan you'd never use it in an argument.
Arguing with blood oxygen saturation is prety much strawman. Nobody here claims that facemasks impact that. Effects of insufficient CO_2 elimination are much earlier. If you were in badly ventilated room with 2000 ppm CO_2, you would feel dizziness even that you would still have full oxygen saturation.
That’s not data, that’s a few anecdotes.
You seemed fine with anecdotes upthread.
That’s because even one example suffices to prove an existential claim such as masks can interfere with breathing. That’s not true for universal claims such as masks don’t interfere with breathing.
The claim was "Wearing masks do not affect oxygen intake", not "they can't impact breathing in any fashion".
You'd have to rule out confounding variables like panic attacks, nervousness, etc. - especially in first-time medical workers - and obtain actual evidence of impact on oxygen saturation for those anecdotes to be useful.
You must be confusing me with another commenter. I specifically said: “complaining about masks interfering with their breathing.”
First, it is not an issue of oxygen intake, more an issue of CO_2 elimination. The fact that non-rigid cloth facemasks at least partially block air exchange is obvious just from how they are inflating during exhalation.
Second, i also wondered how healthcare workers could use that for full shifts. Perhaps my experience is related to my health issues (asthma in the past). Or perhaps improvised cloth facemasks are just much worse in this regard than surgical face masks or N95 respirators. Cloth facemasks could have just bigger air 'buffer'. N59 respirators with valve and coth mask on top could be much better, as they would have partially separated in- and out- airflow.
CO2 elimination is also not an issue:
https://twitter.com/MurseWordsworth/status/12767990206738882...
And those with chronic health issues also see no problem with masks, despite having existing pulmonary conditions:
https://twitter.com/G17Esiason/status/1277249837059264512
Basically, the volume of air that your lungs can move, in addition to the force of exhaling/inhaling, easily overcomes any air "trapped" in the mask.
Blood oxygen saturation is not informative in this context, and it's disconcerting to see medical professionals treat it like it is. You can hyperventilate until you pass out without your blood oxygen saturation changing.
> Blood oxygen saturation is not informative in this context, and it's disconcerting to see medical professionals treat it like it is.
Watch the full video. CO2 is addressed.
> You can hyperventilate until you pass out without your blood oxygen saturation changing.
Passing out when you hyperventilate is from too little CO2 rather than “retention.“ The opposite of what is being claimed masks cause.
I did watch the first video in full; the other link, and three others in another post only address blood oxygen. I made no claims about CO2.
I don't think wearing a mask will meaningfully affect the breathing of most people, but blood oxygen isn't meaningful in demonstrating as much.
Passing out from hyperventilation is a second order effect of hypocapnia; the proximate cause is cerebral hypoxia, despite the blood being saturated.