Altitude adjustment
I've been trying to get a good picture of what adjustments your body makes to cope with high altitude, and over what timescale these different adjustments happen. Since I'm not finding this information clearly in one place, I'm needing to piece it together from multiple sources, and I process information better when I actually, y'know, process it, so here's what I'm figuring out.
Problem:
Response:
Sources:
I'm not finding any good info on the cause of the edema (increased fluids causes swelling and/or pressure) which can take place in the lungs (pulmonary edema), brain (cerebral edema), or even the extremities, but my guess is that when the body tries to pump more blood places it just goes overboard.
Originally posted on Dreamwidth.
comments there. Comment here or there.
Problem:
- Same percentage of oxygen, but less overall pressure of it.
- Less oxygen in the air means less oxygen present in the lungs.
- Lower pressure of oxygen means that what oxygen is there doesn't diffuse from the lungs into the blood as easily.
- Less oxygen to many organs, especially your brain.
- Less pressure of water vapor, resulting in faster evaporation of sweat.
Response:
- Immediate-2 Days:
- Common symptoms include fatigue, dizziness, headache, feeling sleepy, and unable to sleep. Yes, both drowsiness AND insomnia, both T$ and I have experienced this at times due to altitude. It sucks.
- 2-5 Days:
- Body responds by breathing faster, which also means you're taking CO_2 out of your blood more quickly, which changes your body's pH balance, which the kidneys try to fix. Increased breathing rate also results in more water loss.
- Body also responds by attempting to pump more volume of blood, so heart beats faster and pulse goes up, heart beats stronger and blood pressure goes up, and more liquid is added to the blood, dehydrating the rest of your body.
- Between these two things (and don't forget that you're also evaporating sweat more quickly due to the lower water vapor pressure), if you're paying attention you will notice that you're always thirsty, and if you stop to think how much water you drank you'll be shocked. Please pay attention and drink LOTS of water.
- Body responds by breathing faster, which also means you're taking CO_2 out of your blood more quickly, which changes your body's pH balance, which the kidneys try to fix. Increased breathing rate also results in more water loss.
- 2-6 Weeks:
- Lungs increase in size to help you take in more oxygen.
- Build additional hemoglobin-containing red blood cells to help you absorb more of the oxygen in your lungs, and carry it to the cells.
- Additional capillaries are grown throughout the body and/or existing arteries/veins/capillaries dilate in diameter to let oxygen get to the cells more readily.
- Lungs increase in size to help you take in more oxygen.
Sources:
- http://anthro.palomar.edu/adapt/adapt_3.htm
- http://www.exercisephysiologymd.com/altitude/how-long-does-it-typically-take-to-adjust-to-altitude/
- http://www.livestrong.com/article/446093-how-long-does-it-take-to-acclimate-to-elevation-when-running-a-race/
I'm not finding any good info on the cause of the edema (increased fluids causes swelling and/or pressure) which can take place in the lungs (pulmonary edema), brain (cerebral edema), or even the extremities, but my guess is that when the body tries to pump more blood places it just goes overboard.
Originally posted on Dreamwidth.
comments there. Comment here or there.