With cars parked in garages and no smoke coming out of the industrial chimneys, many people have seen blue clear sky after decades. Air is much cleaner now. However, this is not going to last forever. As economies are being resumed after lockdown, soon, the levels of air pollution will be increased again. In fact, experts claim that suddenly resuming commercial activities will lead to higher levels of pollution.
Therefore, you still need your black mask for men’s face. Even brief exposure to pollutants is not safe for your lungs, heart and even brain. According to an estimation, outdoor air pollution takes 3 million lives worldwide each year. This is the reason why all major cities have introduced policies to reduce urban air pollution.
Beijing has “Environmental Police Force”
Paris has Bike Sharing
London has Congestion Charging
However, it takes time to implement these policies. These policies are expected to have some positive effect. However, this is not enough. Though the number of pedestrians and bicyclists is growing, the number of cars on roads is still high. Most pedestrians and bicyclists wear a black cotton face mask for protection from air pollution. Some wear simple dust masks and some use a three-dimensional black mask with multiple layers for the best protection even from the worst air pollution. Multi-layered masks are appropriate for outdoor use in the most polluted cities.
Risks and Risk Reduction
Polluted air contains harmful gases and particles. Following are the gases found in polluted air:
Carbon monoxide
Ozone
Sulfur dioxide
Nitrogen dioxide
Volatile organic compounds
While gases are also harmful, fine particles cause major concern. These fine particles are under 2.5 microns in size.
Does using facemasks help in reducing exposure to air pollution? Up to what extent the mask will limit exposure to pollution depends on the following three factors:
Type of pollutant
Type and quality of the mask
How the mask is used
Each mask is assigned a protection factor. This factor is the percentage of a pollutant that the mask does not filter. If the protection factor is 10, the mask filters out all but 10% of a pollutant when it fits tightly on your face. A simple paper dust mask cannot provide protection against air pollution exposure. However, there are some inexpensive masks that can be very effective in areas with high levels of air pollution. The protection factor of these masks is 5. These masks can be effective when it comes to larger particles like bacteria. However, they become less effective for particle size smaller than 0.3 microns.
Many fine particles in traffic emission and viruses are smaller. Masks like N95 cannot remove harmful gases. However, exposure to gases is reduced when features like activated charcoal are combined with these masks. These masks are much costlier. You have to learn about the gases the mask can filter and its effectiveness.
Only a limited number of studies have examined the effectiveness of face masks to lessen the negative impact of exposure to air pollution. A Chinese study examined the effectiveness of an N95 mask. A participant wearing an N95 mask walked in the center of Beijing. The blood pressure in the participant with a mask was lower than the blood pressure in the participant without a mask. The effectiveness of the mask was tested on both healthy participants and participants with heart disease. Oxygen delivery and blood flow were improved in masked participants with heart disease. One study was conducted in Shanghai. The blood pressure was lowered in health participants wearing N95 masks.
These results show that wearing a mask helps in reducing the effect of exposure to air pollution. However, no study has been conducted to find out whether wearing a mask lessens the effects of long-term exposure on the lungs. It is critical to see the effects of wearing a mask on both the heart and lungs.
A three-dimensional black mask with its multi-layer design can achieve high-density dust barrier space. Wearing a black mask for men's face for extended periods does not cause shortness of breath.
The studies mentioned in this article show that wearing masks definitely helps in improving blood levels. Most of the major cities are highly polluted. Most people living in these cities wear masks.
