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Blood Oxygen Levels w/Mask, On the Joice Trail, 1/2/21 by Ronald Horii
I got a pulse oximeter from my sister as a Christmas present. It's a medical device that clips on your finger and measures pulse rate and blood oxygen levels. It works by shooting red and infrared light into the finger and measuring the relative absorption of the 2 colors of light. Since oxygenated and deoxygenated blood absorb light differently, the difference is used to determine the oxygenation of the blood. This is how it works:
https://www.healthline.com/health/pulse-oximetry
I thought I would use this to confirm or debunk a myth: that wearing a mask to prevent the spread of COVID19 can restrict breathing enough to affect blood oxygen levels. Recent studies have shown that masks do not adversely affect blood oxygen levels while exercising: https://www.healthline.com/health-news/face-masks-and-exercise-what-to-know-before-you-work-out#What-the-study-found
I wanted to test this for myself, so I went on a hike up a steep hill, wearing a mask, and measuring my blood oxygen level with the oximeter. I hiked up the Joice Trail in Santa Teresa County Park.
https://www.sccgov.org/sites/parks/parkfinder/Pages/SantaTeresa.aspx
It's a steep trail at the start, and I'm usually breathing hard going up it. I wore a KN95 mask, which is similar in filter performance and inhalation resistance to the N95 masks worn by medical professionals (who are not allowed to use KN95 masks in the US), https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/whats-the-difference-between-n95-and-kn95-masks/
There's a huge difference in inhalation resistance among different types of masks, especially homemade cloth masks. Using a KN95 mask meant I was using one tested to a known standard. Since it's more effective at filtration than a cloth or surgical mask, it probably has a higher inhalation resistance. These pictures show my hike and the oximeter measurements. The bottom line: wearing a mask did not affect my blood oxygen levels. That doesn't necessarily mean that this applies to everyone, to all levels of activity, and to all different kinds of masks. One thing I can't measure is whether it took extra effort to breathe with a mask on. I'm trying to burn calories, so extra effort is not necessarily a bad thing. All I can say is that it doesn't hurt me to wear a mask while hiking, so I'll continue to wear one. Side benefits are that it keeps the sun and bugs off my face. I had problems with my sunglasses fogging up, so I bought some anti-fog spray on Amazon, and it seems to work.
I got a pulse oximeter from my sister as a Christmas present. It's a medical device that clips on your finger and measures pulse rate and blood oxygen levels. It works by shooting red and infrared light into the finger and measuring the relative absorption of the 2 colors of light. Since oxygenated and deoxygenated blood absorb light differently, the difference is used to determine the oxygenation of the blood. This is how it works:
https://www.healthline.com/health/pulse-oximetry
I thought I would use this to confirm or debunk a myth: that wearing a mask to prevent the spread of COVID19 can restrict breathing enough to affect blood oxygen levels. Recent studies have shown that masks do not adversely affect blood oxygen levels while exercising: https://www.healthline.com/health-news/face-masks-and-exercise-what-to-know-before-you-work-out#What-the-study-found
I wanted to test this for myself, so I went on a hike up a steep hill, wearing a mask, and measuring my blood oxygen level with the oximeter. I hiked up the Joice Trail in Santa Teresa County Park.
https://www.sccgov.org/sites/parks/parkfinder/Pages/SantaTeresa.aspx
It's a steep trail at the start, and I'm usually breathing hard going up it. I wore a KN95 mask, which is similar in filter performance and inhalation resistance to the N95 masks worn by medical professionals (who are not allowed to use KN95 masks in the US), https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/whats-the-difference-between-n95-and-kn95-masks/
There's a huge difference in inhalation resistance among different types of masks, especially homemade cloth masks. Using a KN95 mask meant I was using one tested to a known standard. Since it's more effective at filtration than a cloth or surgical mask, it probably has a higher inhalation resistance. These pictures show my hike and the oximeter measurements. The bottom line: wearing a mask did not affect my blood oxygen levels. That doesn't necessarily mean that this applies to everyone, to all levels of activity, and to all different kinds of masks. One thing I can't measure is whether it took extra effort to breathe with a mask on. I'm trying to burn calories, so extra effort is not necessarily a bad thing. All I can say is that it doesn't hurt me to wear a mask while hiking, so I'll continue to wear one. Side benefits are that it keeps the sun and bugs off my face. I had problems with my sunglasses fogging up, so I bought some anti-fog spray on Amazon, and it seems to work.
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