Fresh mountain air – harmless, right?

However, there are always health risks when reaching such heights, especially in a quick climb. The ascending height is relative to a decrease in air pressure. We usually won’t take notice of such a change in atmosphere, which happens anywhere under 1500m  because our bodies can easily deal with such fluctuations. But as soon as someone travels from a low to high mountain range, unexpected restrictions to their physical well-being might occur. After a height of approximately 2000m, general symptoms such as a decrease of physical efficiency, headaches and dizziness can occur due to the lowered air pressure and the resulting low oxygen levels. These symptoms are referred to as acute mountain sickness and can affect young and old, smokers or non-smokers, trained or untrained people either way. In heights above 3000m  every third person will be affected by anoxia.

If you are not accustomed to such heights by regular practice, the missing oxygen has to be compensated through an increased breathing frequency. By hyperventilating, people emit an unusually large amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) which can disrupt the organism’s acid-base-balance. Through the lack of oxygen and the increased loss of CO2, the liquid balance in our body is shifted which causes the above mentioned symptoms.

In severe cases, a life threatening pulmonary or cerebral oedema can occur, symptoms such as bad headaches, nausea, impaired consciousness, palpitation, reduced amounts of excreted urine as well as breathlessness have to be taken very seriously. It is recommended to immediately descend to under 2500m altitude once affected. As there are so far no certified medications for treating anoxia, behaving responsibly on such a journey is essential. Be sure to drink enough liquids and after reaching 2500m, do not climb more than 500m per day. If possible, you should avoid flying from the lowland directly into high areas or tackling large differences in height in a short amount of time.

For longer stays in large heights or walking tours in high-altitude mountains, it is recommended to acclimatize to a lower height beforehand. Individual counseling with your general physician can help figure out the appropriate preparation. During an acclimatization, our body adjusts to the shifted ratios of oxygen and air pressure. After a few days the lower amount of oxygen will lead to the body spilling out more of the hormone erythropoietin (EPO) than usual, which leads to a higher count of red blood cells (erythrocytes). After this, our bodies are able to transport more oxygen than usual and will be able to adequately provide the body with sufficient oxygen, even with low intake. For this reason, altitude training and doping with EPO are very common for professional athletes.

The physical changes which occur in large heights have been analyzed through the bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) since the early 1990s, aimed at understanding the change in body composition. Newer findings from 2013 have proven that the BIA can be used for recognizing acute anoxia early on and for making prognostic statements on a person’s well-being. Changes in a person’s total body water (TBW) were measured and it became evident that an increase in TBW was directly related to acute mountain sickness and that therefore the BIA was a reliable method for early diagnosis. This proves that the BIA devices are not only useful for clinical and ambulatory fields of application but that they can provide an important contribution to medical research. The seca mBCA 515 is a BIA device that has been medically validated and is used for measuring body compositions. Thanks to its high reliability and precision it is also currently used for medical studies.

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