With just two more days left for Christmas, I can conclude that December has gone fast as every year. Today it will be one of my favourite topic. The altitude, and how it affects us. I’ve been writing of this before, but I think it is good to understand how the altitude affect our body so we can recognise and understand the signs of AMS ans more.

The amount of oxygen is the same in the atmosphere with no changes in altitude. But the air pressure is lower at higher altitude. This the body need to compensate. So we start to breathe faster and also our heart rate will increase. The digestion process needs a lot of oxygen, and when it decrease due to the low air pressure it will be affected negative. We loss appetite and we feel sick. Our unconscious breathing is regulated by the brain stem, this mostly from the  blood carbon dioxide content. At high altitude this will be negatively affected due to low level of carbon dioxide. The result will be that we got sleeping problems and also the compensation of that the body will transport more oxygen to the brain with more blood to the head. This increase the pressure in the brain and we got headache.  Another effect of the lack of oxygen the HIF 1a substance will be produced in the tissues.  With a increased HIF 1a in the blood the kidneys will produce the hormone erytropoetein(EPO)The epo command the bone marrow to produce more red vessels. The kidneys also regulate the acid levels in the blood. Due to that bone marrows increased of blood vessels it can increase with up to 10%. The positive result will just vary for a short period at sea level. This is because the blood need to be thinner for the body systems.

Todays book suggestion will be; Going High – Höghöjdsmedicin för entusiaster

What Does Altitude Sickness Do to the Human Brain? – YouTube

See ya tomorrow…