The Mask-Induced Exhaustion Syndrome

“Is a mask that Covers the mouth and nose free from undesirable side effects in everyday use and free of potential hazards?” asks a team of German physicians from different specialties in an extensive meta-analysis on the side effects of wearing a mask. In the abstract, the German scientists assert that, although many countries introduced the requirement to wear masks in public spaces for containing SARS-CoV-2, up until now, there has been no comprehensive investigation as to the adverse health effects masks can cause. Their answer is that yes, wearing the mask for hours every day, in the long run, has more than 20 serious side effects.

Based on the evaluated literature, the researchers [1] found that wearing a mask can produce adverse effects relevant to different disciplines of medicine. It is a psychological and physical deterioration, manifested by multiple symptoms, called generically Mask-Induced Exhaustion Syndrome (MIES). The main causes of these symptoms are obvious changes in respiratory physiology in mask wearers.

Broadly speaking, Mask-Induced Exhaustion Syndrome (MIES) can occur in both sick and healthy people, with typical changes and symptoms, such as: "increase in breathing dead space volume [2], increase in breathing resistance [3], increase in blood carbon dioxide [4], decrease in blood oxygen saturation [5], increase in heart rate [6], increase in blood pressure, decrease in cardiopulmonary capacity [7], increase in respiratory rate [8], shortness of breath and difficulty breathing [9], headache, dizziness [10], feeling hot and clammy, decreased ability to concentrate, decreased ability to think, drowsiness, decrease in empathy perception [11], impaired skin barrier function with itching, acne, skin lesions and irritation [12], overall perceived fatigue and exhaustion”.

Wearing masks does not cause immediate clinical deviations from the norm of physiological parameters, but according to the scientific literature, a long-term pathological consequence with clinical relevance is to be expected owing to a longer-lasting effect with a subliminal impact and significant shift in the pathological direction. Changes that do not exceed normal values, but are persistently recurring, such as an increase in blood carbon dioxide, an increase in heart rate, or an increase in respiratory rate, should generate in the long-term run high blood pressure, arteriosclerosis, and coronary heart disease and of neurological diseases.

There is a pathogenic damage principle with a chronic low-dose exposure with long-term effect, which leads to disease or disease-relevant conditions and has already been extensively studied and described in many areas of environmental medicine. Extended mask-wearing would have the potential, according to the facts and correlations we have found, to cause a chronic sympathetic stress response induced by blood gas modifications and controlled by brain centers. This in turn induces and triggers immune suppression and metabolic syndrome with cardiovascular and neurological diseases.

In addition to the potential long-term effects of wearing a mask, experts also mention short-term side effects, directly proportional to the duration of wearing the mask: carbon dioxide retention, drowsiness, headache, feeling of exhaustion, skin irritation (redness, itching), and microbiological contamination (germ colonization) [13].

Overall, the exact frequency of the described symptom constellation MIES in the mask-using populace remains unclear and cannot be estimated due to insufficient data. Theoretically, the main mask-induced effects of the drop in blood gas oxygen and increase in carbon dioxide extend to the cellular level with induction of the transcription factor HIF (hypoxia-induced factor) and increased inflammatory and cancer-promoting effects and can, thus, also have a negative influence on pre-existing clinical pictures.

The list of the main side effects caused by wearing a long-term protective mask is as follows:

Furthermore, the German physicians point out that wearing a mask is not recommended for people who exercise and for pregnant women.

For all these reasons, the paper points out that, first of all, medical doctors should protect the health of their patients, having as the base of their actions the guiding principle of the 1948 Geneva Declaration, as revised in 2017. According to this, every doctor vows to put the health and dignity of his patient first and, even under threat, not to use his medical knowledge to violate human rights and civil liberties.