Hello.
Twice a day I ride bicycle for 2km along a busy city road (2x2 lanes at 50km/h).
From a health standpoint, is it recommended to wear a face mask (N95)? Does it stop exhaust fumes?
Thank you.
It would definitely help, but you’ll need the industrial/respirator type that can filter particles small enough in exhaust fumes.
I wonder if this would be a possible use case for the stupid Dyson headphone filter. It uses positive pressure to provide you with filtered air. However, I’m not certain the filter would be enough to clean exhaust fumes.
Another issue would be that you probably shouldn’t be wearing headphones while biking, but maybe they have a passthrough mode.
From the reviews I’ve seen of it, the Dyson headphones wouldn’t help. I think it was MKBHD that specifically was testing to see if they would block out exhaust fumes and they were next to useless.
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I’d buy it but only for the cyberpunk aesthetic and not for its filter tech, and if it was like a tenth of the price. lol
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Seriously, a wet rag would perform better than that.
An N95 mask catches particulates, not vapors; so it won’t do anything for gasoline vapors or other hydrocarbons, monoxide, nitrogen oxides, or sulfur oxides. It will do something for exhaust particulates and kicked-up dust.
Don’t forget microplastics!
Would it work for things like diesel ash, or is that too fine for an N95?
Won’t stop fumes but it will stop a bunch of particulate pollution and prevent you from accidentally eating bugs!
Free food.
Pure Protien
It would be incredibly difficult to bike with a real n95 quality mask. You would definitely have to get one with exhaust valves for exhalation.
I use a FFP3-Mask with exhaust valves while biking in spring and early summer to filter out pollen and this works really well for me!
Masks without valves are exhausting to me and fog up my glasses too much though.
N95 is the minimum, p100 with organic vapor filter will be better, to get the best you coverage you’ll need a p100 with a multi gas charcoal filter.
With the p100, your looking at a half mask respirator, which I did use during the pandemic and took a 5k run with it. While not impossible, it was harder and for me pretty uncomfortable.
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Oxygenation may be a concern, depending on how winded you get. I’m not saying that you’ll pass out or anything so dramatic, but studies have shown that even mild hypoxia can effect our ability to make complex decisions, which may be an issue when biking in traffic.
Those without respiratory issues don’t have oxygenation issues while wearing masks.
The same air is going into your lungs, the only difference is your diaphragm has to work harder due to the filtering effect of the mask. If it can’t manage that, then you are likely already on oxygen due to low tidal volume and chronic hypoxia.
You can buy a pulse oximeter from CVS for like $20 and test this yourself if you don’t believe me.
Woah, man it’s cool, I believe you. No need to threaten me with a trip to CVS.
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As much as I hated that excuse during the pandemic, I think I’d have trouble breathing when wearing an FFP3/N95 mask while cycling. Granted, I’m talking about cycling as a sport, not for commuting (though I tend to have a decent speed while commuting). Going 30 km/h I really need my air to keep it up.
