Making a better homemade mask for COVID19

image of nylon wrapped around a covid19 face mask

I’ve cut and pasted this information so many times I decided to make a blog post about it.

How to make a better homemade mask to protect others and yourself from COVID19?

Read on …..

New York Times: “What’s the Best Material for a Mask?”

Scientists decided to test what commonly available materials make better and worse masks for stopping COVID19. It turns out cotton bandanas are the least effective for making a mask. Cut up HEPA filters are very effective, but can cause health problems by making it hard to breath or if the filters have fiber glass strands in them. Quilting cotton was better than ordinary cotton, and layering fabrics increased effectiveness. When in doubt hold the material up to a bright light. Better materials will block the light, but still let you breath. No mask is completely effective, not even the much coveted N95 masks. If you get close enough to a sick person’s breath, you will get infected. Only the combination of social distancing AND masks will prevent the airborne spreading of COVID19.

Business Insider: Using blue shop towels in homemade face masks can filter particles 2x to 3x better than cotton, 3 clothing designers discover after testing dozens of fabrics

Two particular brands of shop towels, Scott and ToolBox, can make surprisingly effective masks. Between 60% – 90%, if you the mask fits snugly and two layers of shop towels are used.

Youtube: The man at the JimHappy Youtube Channel shows you how to make a shop towel mask with staples, two rubber bands, and a paperclip.  No sewing required.  This is the short version, look at his channel for a longer version with more background information.

NPR: “Adding A Nylon Stocking Layer Could Boost Protection From Cloth Masks, Study Finds”

It isn’t just the material or the mask combined with social distancing that makes a mask effective. A snug fit makes a mask more effective. This NRP article describes how you can make a cloth mask more effective by wrapping nylon around the mask after you put it on.

Not a mask: Fingernail brushes
COVID-19 can not penetrate your skin. People get infected when they touch openings to their bodies on their face. A mask can help you prevent getting infected by blocking you from touching your face. So can a pair of goggles. People most often touch their faces with their fingertips. A fingernail brush can help you get your fingertips completely clean.

image of a fingernail brush

The New York Times: Is the Virus on My Clothes? My Shoes? My Hair? My Newspaper? We asked the experts to answer questions about all the places coronavirus lurks (or doesn’t). You’ll feel better after reading this.

What surfaces do you need to worry about touching to avoid becoming infected with COVID19? This reassuring New York Times article will tell you how to keep safe.

Sleep Hygiene Made Simple

Sleep Hygiene Chart From The Huffington Post

“Sleep Hygiene” is a term for a set of habits that promotes sleeping well and that helps ward off insomnia.

If you go see any kind of specialist about sleep issues, the first thing they will ask you about is your sleep hygiene. Better sleep hygiene will be their first prescription.

The chart above is from a Huffington Post article. I like this chart because it is simple. However, the chart does not show all sleep hygiene habits, but that is probably fine for people who do not have persistent sleep issues.

The one sleep hygiene habit not on the chart that I think is the most useful is a regular bed time.

Most of the recommendations on the chart seems to make sense from common experience. One that might not, is stopping the use of electronics an hour before your bed time.  Televisions, computer screens, screens on mobile phones, and artificial lighting all emit blue light. Blue light inhibits the production of melatonin in your body. Melatonin is a hormone that tells your body that it is night time and time to begin preparing to go to sleep. You can get your smart phone to emit less blue light at by installing special software on it to emit less blue light at night.  On your computer you can install the free software f.lux for Windows ( and Linux though it might not work well ) and Redshift for Linux.   You can also wear amber colored goggles to filter out blue light.

The other recommendation that might not make sense is the one to stop consuming alcohol 3 hours before your bed time. Alcohol will relax you and knock you out right? Yes, it will, but at a price. Alcohol disrupts the electrical patterns in your brain, stopping your brain from regulating your sleep rhythms properly. If you have persistent trouble sleeping you might want to think about minimizing your drinking.

I would also encourage people with trouble sleeping to cut off their caffeine intake even earlier in the day. Stop at lunch time/noon. If you are having persistent problems sleeping you might want to consider permanently reducing your caffeine intake or eliminating it altogether until you start sleeping well again. If you have a serious coffee or soda habit, please gradually step down to spare yourself some of the withdrawal symptoms. Green tea can be a great aide, as it has very little caffeine, but it has just enough caffiene to keep caffeine to keep withdrawal headaches away.

Lastly, you might want to read the book “Say Goodnight To Insomnia”. It was written by a Harvard researcher and pulls the best practices, as verified by real clinical research,together into one place. The author tries too hard to make the book friendly to a popular, sleep deprived, audience. You may find that the first few chapters sound like a snake oil pitch, but please soldier through reading those chapters( don’t skip them ). The advice in the book is incredibly good.

Looking At The World Through Amber Colored Glasses To Fix Insomnia?

Can’t fall asleep? Wake up earlier than you want to?

I’ve been reading that blue light emitted from artificial lights, computers, televisions, and hand held devices inhibits melatonin production. Melatonin is a hormone that tells your body that it is night and time for you to sleep.

There are various products on the web for blocking blue light.

One of these products are amber colored glasses you start wearing 3 hours before your bed time.

About $70.

However, you can also buy the welder’s safety goggles pictured above, which block out almost 100% of the blue light.

About $10 on Amazon.

Uvex S1933X Skyper Safety Eyewear, Black Frame, SCT-Orange UV Extreme Anti-Fog Lens

You can also read the company’s documentation about the kinds of light blocked out by their glasses  here and here.