The Effect of Surgical Mask Use on Recovery Heart Rate During Gradually Increasing Walking

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Ministry of Health recommend distance, hygiene, and the use of masks in the fight against epidemics. Therefore, everyone from children to the elderly, from healthy people to all individuals with chronic diseases must wear a mask while performing their daily activities. After the activities they perform at a slow or fast rhythm, they rest in a mask. Therefore, the study aimed to examine the effect of surgical mask use on recovery heart rate during gradually increasing walking. Nine healthy university students without chronic diseases and orthopedic disorders participated in the study voluntarily. Participants performed a gradually increasing walking protocol on a treadmill with and without surgical masks on two different days at least 48 hours apart, and then recovered in a sitting position for 10 minutes, again with and without masks. Data on body temperature, blood pressure (BP), blood lactate level (LA), heart rate (HR), total quality of recovery (TQR), and borg-breathlessness (B-B) were collected. No statistically significant differences were found between unmasked and masked body temperature, lactate level, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, mean recovery HR, end-of-recovery HR, and total heart rate. On the other hand, breathlessness was felt more in masked recovery compared to unmasked recovery and total quality of recovery was felt lower. As a result; it can be said that the use of surgical masks during gradually increasing walking affects the participants psychologically, although it does not affect them physiologically in recovery.