The Impact of Wearing Different Face Masks on Vigorous Physical Exercise Performance and Perceived Exertion among COVID-19 Infected vs. Uninfected Female Students

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

doi:10.3390/ejihpe13110187

The Impact of Wearing Different Face Masks on Vigorous Physical Exercise Performance and Perceived Exertion among COVID-19 Infected vs. Uninfected Female Students

Eur J Investig Health Psychol Educ. 2023 Nov 15;13(11):2709-2723. doi: 10.3390/ejihpe13110187.

Authors

Nourhen Mezghani¹, Achraf Ammar^{2

3

4

5}, Omar Boukhris^{6

7}, Liwa Masmoudi^{4

8}, Mohamed Ali Boujelbane^{2

4

9}, Rayda Ben Ayed^{10

11}, Turki Mohsen Alzahrani¹, Atyh Hadadi¹, Rihab Abid⁵, Ibrahim Ouergui^{12

13}, Jordan M Glenn¹⁴, Khaled Trabelsi^{4

8}, Hamdi Chtourou^{4

9}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Sport Sciences, College of Education, Taif University, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Training and Movement Science, Institute of Sport Science, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany.
³ Interdisciplinary Laboratory in Neurosciences, Physiology and Psychology: Physical Activity, Health and Learning (LINP2), UFR STAPS (Faculty of Sport Sciences), UPL, Paris Nanterre University, 39200 Nanterre, France.
⁴ High Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Sfax, University of Sfax, Sfax 3000, Tunisia.
⁵ Research Laboratory, Molecular Bases of Human Pathology, LR19ES13, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sfax, Sfax 3029, Tunisia.
⁶ SIESTA Research Group, School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, La Trobe University, Melbourne 3086, Australia.
⁷ Sport, Performance, and Nutrition Research Group, School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, La Trobe University, Melbourne 3086, Australia.
⁸ Research Laboratory, Education, Motricity, Sport and Health (EM2S), LR15JS01, High Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Sfax, University of Sfax, Sfax 3000, Tunisia.
⁹ Physical Activity, Sport, and Health, UR18JS01, National Observatory of Sport, Tunis 1003, Tunisia.
¹⁰ National Institute of Agronomy of Tunisia (INAT), University of Carthage-Tunis, 43 Avenue Charles Nicolle, El Mahrajène 1082, Tunisia.
¹¹ Laboratory of Extremophile Plants, Centre of Biotechnology of Borj-Cédria, B.P. 901, Hammam Lif 2050, Tunisia.
¹² High Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Kef, University of Jendouba, El Kef 7100, Tunisia.
¹³ Research Unit, Sports Science, Health and Movement, University of Jendouba, El Kef 7100, Tunisia.
¹⁴ Department of Health, Exercise Science Research Center Human Performance and Recreation, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA.

Abstract

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/m²) 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 (p > 0.05). For TD, the Groups × Mask interaction was significant (p = 0.031 and ƞp² = 0.042). Posthoc analysis revealed, in the unmasked condition, there was no difference in TD between PIG and NIG (p > 0.05). However, when wearing a surgical mask, PIG covered lower TD compared to NIG (p < 0.05). Additionally, different types of masks did not affect TD in NIG, while PIG performed the worst using the surgical mask (p < 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.

Keywords: N95; SARS; exercise; intermittent exercise; performance; physical activity; post-infection; sport science; student; surgical mask.

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.