Amounts of aerosol from vigorous exercise and conversational speaking are similar, finds first study to examine exhaled aerosol emission rates during exercise

Press release issued: 19 April 2022

Vigorous exercise does not produce significantly more respiratory particles than speaking, but high-intensity exercise does, finds new University of Bristol-led research. The study, published in Communications Medicine, is the first to measure exhaled aerosols generated during exercise, to help inform the risk of airborne viral transmission of SARS-CoV-2 for indoor exercise facilities and sporting and physical group activities.

Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is considered to occur predominantly by inhalation of infectious aerosol. In the first published study of its kind, a UK-wide collaborative team of clinicians and researchers conducted a series of experiments to measure the size and concentration of exhaled particles (up to 20 µm diameter) which are generated in our respiratory tracts and breathed out, during vigorous and high-intensity exercise.

The team found that the size of airborne particles emitted during vigorous exercise was consistent with that of a person breathing at rest. However, the rate at which individuals exhale aerosol mass during vigorous exercise was found to be similar to speaking at a conversational volume.

Read the full University of Bristol press release

Orton CM et al. (2022). A comparison of respiratory particle emission rates at rest and while speaking or exercising. Communications Medicine.