Altitude Sickness: How do you deal with It

Have you ever traveled to a mountainous area, went for skiing, mountain climbing or hiking and felt sick? No, the mountains are not haunted, it’s the altitude sickness which is also called mountain sickness. Altitude illness is experienced when the air pressure and oxygen level drops into the surrounding air.

You must be thinking that if mountain high altitude pressures are causing the sickness, then how about people living in the mountains?

Well, people living on higher levels in the mountains comfortably live as their body is used to the air pressure. Travelers, Climbers, and skiers are at more risk to experience altitude illness as their body needs time to adjust to the surrounding air pressure. Furthermore, ascending to a higher level of 8000 ft above the sea level rapidly without allowing your body to rest is also a significant cause to endure mountain sickness.

Altitude sickness is a personal thing which varies from person to person. Some people start feeling sick at lower altitudes around 2300 m, while others do not even get high elevation sickness at around 8000 ft. Your chance of getting an altitude sickness depends on how quickly you ascend to higher altitudes, how high you elevate and in what elevations you sleep. However, there are different levels of altitude sickness, starting from least dangerous Acute mountain illnesses to the most intimidating high-altitude illnesses such as high-altitude sickness pulmonary edema (HAPE) and high altitude cerebral edema (HACE).

High altitude sickness prevention- anyone can develop high altitude sickness, and being physically fit or eating healthy does not help to prevent it. However, one of the best ways to diminish the impact of high elevation illness is to allow your body to get used to the changing altitudes as you are traveling into higher altitudes. Lack of oxygen in the red blood cells is the reason for getting mountain sickness. Therefore, one should climb the mountains or travel slowly so the body can get enough oxygen. If you climb over 1000 ft a day, then sleep at a lower altitude, and for every 3000 ft, you climb to make sure to at least rest for a day at that height before climbing higher.

In order to prevent the high-altitude illness, one can take the following measures:

• No consumption of alcohol
• No smoking
• Drinking plenty of water
• Ascend slowly
• Take rest
• Avoid exercising
• Eat digestible food

Tamana Qader