Should you wear a mask on your next run?
March,31,2021
An ICU doctor from Bradford, Tom Lawton, recently went viral for disproving the theory that face masks deplete oxygen levels during exercise. Lawton tested the theory by running 21 miles wearing a face mask and tracking his oxygen levels with a pulse oximeter.
'I work in intensive care, I know physiology so I knew that this wasn’t true,' he told CTV News. 'I thought: How can I demonstrate it? How can I reassure people who would like to do their bit and wear a mask but are scared?'
Lawton checked his oxygen levels every half hour during his run, with the knowledge that any reading above a reading of95 per cent was considered 'normal'. 'The [reading was] 98 to 99 all the time, completely normal oxygen levels all the way,' he says.
While Lawton said that doing a half marathon while wearing a mask was 'unpleasant' his ability to breath was not constrained at all, which should come as some comfort to anyone who is thinking about masking up ahead of their next run.
