Wearing a mask is always bad for your breath. Is it related to bad lungs?

Recently, in order to prevent and control viruses and protect ourselves, masks have become the standard in our lives. However, many friends responded:

It's too difficult to breathe after wearing a mask!

Actually, it has something to do with your cardiopulmonary function. Difficulty in breathing means that your heart and lung function is poor.

In this issue, Dr. Elephant will talk to you about cardiopulmonary function.

Cardiopulmonary function Cardiopulmonary function includes blood circulation speed, intensity and frequency of heart beating, vital capacity, etc. It reflects the ability of the heart to pump blood and the lung to absorb oxygen, and it is an index to reflect the cardiopulmonary load capacity of the human body.

Cardiopulmonary function directly affects the whole body organs and muscle activities. The better the cardiopulmonary function, the better the health level of the body.

Will wearing a mask for a long time affect cardiopulmonary function? As a physical barrier on the respiratory tract, masks can effectively block viruses, but also increase respiratory resistance and affect normal breathing.

Especially N95 and other high protective masks. Studies have shown that when wearing N95 mask, the inspiratory and expiratory resistance increased by 26% and 22% respectively. This means that we need to "breathe harder" to maintain normal pressure gradient and airflow.

Wearing a mask for a long time can also cause discomfort. The data showed that wearing N95 mask for 4 hours reduced the ventilation volume by 37%. When the partial pressure of carbon dioxide increases and the oxygen saturation decreases, it will also cause fatigue, dizziness, headache and thermal stress, and it is more likely to cause dyspnea in the case of physical activity.

Therefore, be careful when choosing a mask, and don't wear it for too long. It is best to take it off in an open place every 30 minutes or so to get some air. Especially people with poor cardiopulmonary function should pay more attention.

3 strokes test your heart and lungs. Now the pace of life is fast, the work pressure is high, I go to bed later and later, and stay up more and more. Coupled with bad habits such as smoking and drinking, everyone's cardiopulmonary function has generally declined.

You can have a preliminary understanding of your cardiopulmonary function through some self-test methods.

1, climbing test

Can climb to the third floor at a leisurely speed, without obvious shortness of breath and chest tightness, indicating good cardiopulmonary function.

2. Hold your breath test

Take a deep breath and hold your breath. Holding your breath for 30 seconds means that your heart and lung function is good, and holding your breath for more than 20 seconds is also good.

3, there is a sphygmomanometer to do blood pressure check.

The ratio of diastolic pressure to systolic pressure is about 50%~70%. If it is lower than 25%, or higher than 75%, the cardiopulmonary function is poor.

There are many factors that affect the cardiopulmonary function. Besides quitting smoking, exercise is a good way to improve heart and lung function.

Among them, aerobic exercise is the first choice to improve heart and lung function, such as brisk walking, jogging, cycling, mountain climbing and swimming. It is recommended to take 15~20 minutes at least three times a week.

Long-term regular exercise can increase the weight and volume of the heart, slow down the heart rate at rest, and thicken the ventricular wall of the myocardium, making it strong and powerful every time it contracts.

Elderly people or patients with cardiopulmonary diseases should exercise step by step, and warm up for 5~ 10 minutes at the beginning of each exercise to improve cardiopulmonary adaptability. Don't stop immediately after exercise, relax for about 5 minutes to prevent blood pressure from plummeting or dizziness.

In addition, low-intensity exercise, such as doing housework and singing, is equally effective as long as you keep practicing every day.