TO BREATHE OR NOT TO BREATHE, DO WE REALLY NEED OXYGEN?
I choose not to mask. Masking struck me as inherently stupid right out of the box. Being a pilot, I know how critical oxygen is.
Yes, when we breathe we could be spreading germs. We are also oxygenating our bodies. Oxygen is the key to life. We die faster without air than without water or food. We learned that in basic science class years ago. When I was in the grocery store one day at the beginning of this foolishness, fully masked and talking, I got so dizzy I thought I was going to pass out. That ended my mask-wearing.
As an airline pilot, it was my job to pressurize the plane. When I was pregnant with my daughter, she would “jump” or startle every time I pressurized. I didn’t think a lot of it at the time, except to revel in the joy of her life inside me. It was exciting to think I had a little person along for the ride.
Videos of people wearing masks and then checking their oxygen levels are everywhere on the internet. The warning goes off immediately, as we are re-breathing our own CO2 instead of fresh oxygen. Now combine wearing a mask with flying in an airplane as a passenger or crewmember. Studies show that oxygen saturation in flight is reduced by as much as 4% already, without a mask!
These studies were done on healthy adults. Imagine a compromised or sick individual flying for hours in a pressurized cabin with a mask on. It doesn’t take a genius IQ to make the leap from A to B… it is an unhealthy and unwise practice.
A lady in my Bible study group made an observation the other day. “Have you noticed there seem to be more fights on airplanes lately?” I hadn’t thought about it, but you do hear of more and more. Perhaps it is only reported more often, but irritability is one symptom of hypoxia. As pilots, we are trained to recognize hypoxia, yet I had completely forgotten my training.
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/dvt/travel.html
“More than 300 million people travel on long-distance flights (generally more than four hours) each year.1 Blood clots, also called deep vein thrombosis (DVT), can be a serious risk for some long-distance travelers. Most information about blood clots and long-distance travel comes from information that has been gathered about air travel. However, anyone traveling more than four hours, whether by air, car, bus, or train, can be at risk for blood clots.”
We already knew prolonged sitting increases your risk of developing clots on an airplane, but there is also a new link between hypoxia and blood clot risk.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180802115657.htm
Summary:
Researchers have found how hypoxia (a low concentration of oxygen) decreases Protein S, a natural anticoagulant, resulting in an increased risk for the development of potentially life-threatening blood clots (thrombosis). Although hypoxia has been associated with an increased risk for thrombosis, this research showed for the first time a molecular cause.
Airline cabins are pressurized to altitudes varying from 5000 feet to 8000 feet. The more fuel we burn off, the higher we climb – up to 41,000 feet on a long flight. Engines and airplanes are more efficient at higher altitudes. Boeing has done extensive studies on pressurization. The new Dreamliner has a cabin altitude lower than most planes because passenger comfort and decreased jetlag were taken under consideration in its design.
As most airplanes move to composites and away from aluminum, it is a mixed bag. Aluminum can be pressurized to a lower altitude. That’s why the 777 hull is built with aluminum.
https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-787-dreamliner-777x-cabin-pressure-jetlag-2016-9?op=1
“Some passengers on long commercial flights experience discomfort characterized by symptoms similar to those of acute mountain sickness. The symptoms are often attributed to factors such as jet lag, prolonged sitting, dehydration, or contamination of cabin air. However, because barometric pressures in aircraft cabins are similar to those at the terrestrial altitudes at which acute mountain sickness occurs, it is possible that some of the symptoms are related to the decreased partial pressure of oxygen and are manifestations of acute mountain sickness.”
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa062770
“Although immobility may contribute to passengers’ discomfort,15 exercise may not be beneficial. Exercise reduces arterial oxygenation,16 which can increase the frequency and severity of acute mountain sickness17 and affect sensory perception and psychomotor performance.18
We found that ascent from ground level to 8000 ft by healthy unacclimatized adults lowered oxygen saturation by approximately 4 percentage points. This degree of hypoxemia did not affect the occurrence of acute mountain sickness, other adverse health outcomes, or impairment of sensory or psychomotor performance, but it was associated with an increased prevalence of discomfort after 3 to 9 hours. Exercise reduced muscular discomfort but did not significantly affect other ESQ-IV factors.”
A girlfriend of mine got acute altitude sickness while skiing in Breckinridge, Colorado, elevation 9,600 feet above sea level. Breckenridge’s ski resort summit reaches 12,998 feet! It surprised her because she was in good health, but having just reached the age of 70, it wasn’t unusual. Everyone else I was with noticed they were extremely tired and decided to take an early nap after breakfast. There are even oxygen bars to help reduce your discomfort, like the ones in Las Vegas that help you with your hangover.
I learned about hangovers and altitude the hard way. A friend of mine wanted to go up to ten thousand feet at sunrise and take photos. As we climbed, he got sicker, and then told me he was about to throw up. I descended, but not in time. He puked all over the cabin. After we landed he was still sick, so guess who had to clean up the inside of the airplane? Me. He had gotten extremely drunk the night before, and going to a higher altitude with decreased altitude brought his hangover/jet lag back.
http://www.riskingtoofar.com/articles/acute-mountain-sickness
“Altitude illnesses result mostly from swelling from leaky capillaries caused by low oxygen levels. These symptoms develop while sleeping at night. The usual symptoms are a dull headache and mild insomnia. It comes on during the first to third day at altitude and goes away in about three days. Infrequently it can persist and progress to Acute Mountain sickness (AMS). The early symptoms are a feeling of fatigue and irritability then headache, malaise, anorexia and even nausea and vomiting. These symptoms are like flu or a hangover. Exertion will make the symptom worse. If acute AMS does not progress further it is not life threatening and can be treated without descending to a lower altitude.”
https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-787-dreamliner-777x-cabin-pressure-jetlag-2016-9?op=1
“But surgeons wear masks.”
I hear this the most often. It’s a fallacy, and here’s why.
“If a surgeon were sick, especially with a viral infection, they would not perform surgery as they know the virus would NOT be stopped by their surgical mask.
Another area of “false equivalence” has to do with the environment in which the masks are worn. The environments in which surgeons wear masks minimize the adverse effects surgical masks have on their wearers.
Unlike the public wearing masks in the community, surgeons work in sterile surgical suites equipped with heavy duty air exchange systems that maintain positive pressures, exchange and filter the room air at a very high level, and increase the oxygen content of the room air. These conditions limit the negative effects of masks on the surgeon and operating room staff. And yet despite these extreme climate control conditions, clinical studies demonstrate the negative effects (lowering arterial oxygen and carbon dioxide re-breathing) of surgical masks on surgeon physiology and performance.
Surgeons and operating room personnel are well trained, experienced, and meticulous about maintaining sterility. We only wear fresh sterile masks. We don the mask in a sterile fashion. We wear the mask for short periods of time and change it out at the first signs of the excessive moisture build-up that we know degrades mask effectiveness and increases their negative effects. Surgeons NEVER re-use surgical masks, nor do we ever wear cloth masks.”
Masking ourselves and our children is insanity. Not only is it bad for us, but it would also have been considered child abuse just a few short years ago. It is akin to putting your hand over your child’s face or a pillow. It is suffocating us, and it is bad for our health. Stop the insanity and use your brain.
The people in my pickleball class are so excited that N95 masks are free at Rite Aid and Fred Meyers. Whoopee. They can have mine.
A FEW MORE:
https://swprs.org/face-masks-and-covid-the-evidence/
http://Www.Hartgroup.org/masks/
https://www.city-journal.org/do-masks-work-a-review-of-the-evidence
https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/study-shows-how-masks-are-harming-children/
https://groups.google.com/g/town-square-news/c/beY_yKEalAk/m/0agtaSfsAwAJ
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