Effects of wearing non-woven face mask and performing calculation task while walking on gait pattern, breathlessness, and calculation performance

Abstract

The present study investigated the effects of wearing a non-woven face mask and performing a calculation task, while walking, on gait pattern, breathlessness, and calculation performance. Twenty-one healthy adult males walked 4.0 km/h and 6.0 km/h on a treadmill with and without wearing a face mask. A calculation task using a smartphone was added to the gait task, and the participants were asked to perform two-digit addition calculation tasks displayed on the screen as quickly and accurately as possible. Heart rate, perceived exercise intensity, breathlessness, and cadence during gait tasks were measured. Although wearing the mask did not significantly affect heart rate or cadence during gait, breathlessness and perceived exercise intensity were significantly increased. When the calculation task was performed during gait, wearing the mask significantly decreased the correct answer rate, although the number of responses was not affected. Wearing the mask therefore reduced the calculation performance during gait. These results suggest that wearing a mask during gait may increase breathlessness and may worsen mental demands such as performing a calculation task, even if it does not affect physiological responses or gait patterns. As walking in daily life requires a variety of cog-nitive/mental demands, the impact of wearing a mask on the implementation of these demands may need to be considered.