Do Masks Make You Breathe Too Much Carbon Dioxide?
An image posted on social media states that hypercapnia or too much carbon dioxide can cause symptoms such as drowsiness and dizziness. This is true and the image is from Wikipedia . What is wrong is the implied link between hypercapnia and mask wearing.
We remind you that if you are wearing a mask outdoors, it must be a cloth mask . N95 medical respirators should only be used by healthcare professionals, and N95 respirators from hardware stores are not suitable as their valves can allow the virus to pass through .
Can a mask, cloth, or other trap enough carbon dioxide to cause drowsiness or other symptoms? Fortunately, no.
Carbon dioxide is a tiny molecule, much smaller than the holes in any of these types of masks. Remember, masks delay droplets of saliva and mucus while allowing air to flow.
It would be a problem if you were carrying a plastic bag, but this is why masks are made of porous materials. Carbon dioxide can pass through them normally. Masks can feel stuffy because your own respiratory droplets make the air around your face moist, but you don’t poison yourself slowly.
As physician and professor Michelle Cohen points out on Twitter, the research that is sometimes cited is not very relevant. He tested a completely different type of mask than the one we all wear, and while carbon dioxide levels were found to increase slightly, he also found that the subjects did not show any symptoms of hypercapnia.
Again, this is a theory that fails the odor test. If masks really made people sleepy and confused, healthcare workers would show up to work, put on masks, and quickly lose the ability to do their jobs. If this were true, masks would never have become standard equipment. How could a surgeon work for hours if he suffered from carbon dioxide poisoning all the time?
Meanwhile, memes about hypercapnia and masks are being shared by people who opposed masks for some other reason a few weeks ago. It is important to ask yourself if anyone is sharing information because they want to believe it.
However, in some cases, people cannot safely wear masks. According to the CDC , these are people who already have breathing problems and children under two. If you have anxiety, the feeling of wearing a mask can be unpleasantly similar to the feeling you get during a panic attack. But if none of this applies, there is no reason to believe that wearing a mask could harm your health or knowledge. It may be annoying, but it doesn’t poison you.