Cardiovascular recovery after running on a treadmill with different intensities with N95 and surgery masks in men

The aim of this study was to evaluate cardiovascular recovery after running on a treadmill with different intensities with N95 and surgery masks in middle-aged men.

72 healthy men were randomly divided into six groups: 1. Surgery + submaximal, 2. N95 + submaximal, 3. Surgery + maximal, 4. N95 + maximal, 5. Sub maximal without mask, 6. Maximal without mask. The sub-maximal and maximal exercise protocols included running at a speed of 1.34 m / s with 5% for 20 minutes on a treadmill and a modified Bruce test, respectively.

Hemodynamic factors were measured before, immediately, 1, 3 and 5 minutes after exercise. Analysis of variance in repeated measures was used to analyze the data. Changes in heart rate, systolic pressure, and myocardial oxygen consumption during the recovery period after exercise were not significant in groups with the same activity (maximal or submaximal) with or without masking conditions. Heart rate was significantly higher in N95MAX vs. SURMAX at 1 min after maximal exercise. HR, SBP, and DP were significantly lower immediately after anaerobic exercise within 1 and 2 min of the post recovery period.

Our results showed that facial masks with exercise in healthy individuals can be used during COVID-19 pandemic disease, without having negative effects on postoperative cardiac recovery performance.