Abstract

Wearing a mask causes physiological changes to multiple organ systems, including the brain, the heart, the lungs, the kidneys and the immune system. We examine changes in oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations in masked airspace that is available to the airways over the first 45 seconds of wear. Our findings of reduced oxygen and increased carbon dioxide in a masked airspace are not inconsistent with previously reported data. We also consider the range of injuries known to occur to the above-named organ systems in a state of hypoxia and hypercapnia. As an excretory pathway, carbon dioxide release by cells throughout the body, and then past the alveoli and then the airways and orifices, has not been previously challenged by deliberate obstruction in the history of the animal kingdom, except for relatively rare human experiments. Self-deprivation of oxygen is also unknown in the animal kingdom, and rarely attempted by humans. We examine the physiological consequences of this experiment.