We all are trying hard to survive amidst of COVID-19, which has paused the world for a moment, and face masks have proven one of the best preventive solution. Face masks has been used prior to COVID-19 also for protection against air pollution. But, do you know that face masks can reduce chances of respiratory tract infections and allergies? Today we are going to discuss about this.

Very recently my father was admitted to hospital, and during that time I was staying with him for 24 hrs till he got discharged. While he was getting admitted I had throat infection and irritation which was I think allergic. Since I was concentrating completely on my father’s health, so my throat issue was not taken care of. After a day or so I noticed that my irritation was gone. I was amazed as how it happened since I have not taken any medication. Any ways after few days my father got discharged and we came back home.

After coming back home, after a day or two I realized that my throat was again irritating and leading to cough. That night just for experiment I put on my face mask while sleeping (as I used to do in hospital), and the next morning I realized that the irritation was minimum from earlier. I recalled that at hospital we were not allowed to stay without face masks, it was mandatory for every body to put on face masks 24 hrs., may be that was the reason that I got cured of throat infection without any medication. The logic was not clear but it was in my mind.

After few days I observed that my father and mother was coughing at night while sleeping, I asked them the issue, they said it is the itching throat. I prescribed them wearing masks at night while sleeping. Aaaannnnnddddd, it solved the issue!!! Now I started thinking the logic behind every thing.

In between I tried this therapy on few of my relatives also and they gave me positive response. As per my logic, what was happening is that, during the day time we keep swallowing some thing or other and our throat gets cleared creating less chances of infection, but while sleeping at night for 8 hours we do not consume any thing and our throat is prone to allergy and infection. And that is why it itches and we cough. Putting a light face mask at the time of sleeping reduces chances of unfiltered air entering your throat and lungs, thus reducing chances of getting allergies and infections.

Disclaimer : This experiment is observation based, hence you can try it on you at your own risk, if it works on you.

But putting a face mask during cold season helps keeping you warm and protects you from respiratory infections.