Effect of a Warm-Up Protocol with and without Facemask-Use against COVID-19 on Cognitive Function: A Pilot, Randomized Counterbalanced, Cross-Sectional Study

Maamer Slimani, Bianca Miarka, Hela Znazen, Wassim Moalla, Amri Hammami, Armin Paravlic and Nicola Luigi Bragazzi
Additional contact information
Maamer Slimani: Department of Health Sciences (DISSAL), Postgraduate School of Public Health, Genoa University, 16132 Genoa, Italy
Bianca Miarka: Postgraduate Program in Physical Education, School of Physical Education and Sports, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-599, Brazil
Hela Znazen: Department of Physical Education and Sport, College of Education, Taif University, P. O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia
Wassim Moalla: Higher Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Sfax, LR19JS01 EM2S: Éducation, Motricité, Sport et Santé, University of Sfax, Sfax 3000, Tunisia
Amri Hammami: Higher Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Ksar Said, University of Manouba, Manouba 2037, Tunisia
Armin Paravlic: Science and Research Centre Koper, Institute for Kinesiology, Faculty of Sport, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Nicola Luigi Bragazzi: Laboratory for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (LIAM), Department of Mathematics and Statistics, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 11, 1-8

Abstract: The present study aimed to verify the effect of a warm-up protocol with and without facemask-use on cognitive function. The sample was composed of 17 healthy, non-smoking physical education students (age = 17.6 years, height = 1.71 m, and body mass = 69.7 kg). They were randomized to perform 15 min of warm-up exercises, while wearing a cloth facemask (EXP) or no mask (CON) on two separate occasions, with at least 48-h separating conditions. Rate of perceived exertion (RPE) and d2 Attention assessment were used to verify cognitive function, using a repeated measures general linear model. The warm-up improved cognitive abilities and the results demonstrated significant differences between the EXP vs. CON groups in post-concentration performance (186.06 ± 15.47 EXP-score vs. 178.12 ± 13.66 CON-score), post the total number of errors (23.47 ± 14.50 EXP-frequency < 29.06 ± 13.74 CON-frequency), and in the post RPE (6.0 ± 1.37 EXP-index > 4.7 ± 0.85 CON-index). Wearing a cloth facemask caused positive effects on cognitive function. This data suggests that wearing a cloth facemask during warm-up may stimulate/improve the cognitive function.

Keywords: COVID-19; pandemic; coronavirus; facemask; exercise; neuropsychological tests (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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