International Mountain Day 2022: 5 tips to deal with altitude sickness

A trip to the mountains is always special but once you reach there and prepare yourself for some hiking or sightseeing, you may suddenly experience fatigue and dizziness. The reason for this may be Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) in high-altitude areas. But that should not be the reason for you to not backpack around the beautiful mountains across the world. Essentially, when we go higher, our breathing becomes less efficient, and thus we are able to take in less oxygen every time we inhale. In response, our body makes an effort to get the oxygen it requires, so we start breathing more rapidly. But despite this effort, the oxygen entering our blood and muscles is still low, which is why physical activities appear to be difficult at higher elevations. This condition is known as hypoxia, and this is the cause of altitude sickness symptoms.

On the occasion of International Mountain Day, here are some of the tips to deal with mountain sickness:

Drink water: Drink enough water as this helps your body adjust to high altitude. There is low humidity in high-altitude areas which keeps the air dry, so you should drink twice as much water as you usually do.

Sleep at a lower altitude: Altitude sickness worsens at night when we sleep. One should climb high during the daytime and should return to a lower altitude for sleeping, this is especially true if you are planning to climb more than 1,000 feet in a day.

Acclimate before going up: Adapting to a higher altitude may take a day or two, so if you are not in any hurry, you should take it slow and then spend a couple of nights at an intermediate altitude. This provides time for your body to adapt to a lower level of oxygen and pressure.

Be easy on yourself: Climb at a pace that is comfortable to you. Don’t go too fast and avoid doing exercise that’s too strenuous.

Don’t drink and smoke: With an increase in altitude, the number of oxygen molecules per breath decreases. Your body then adjusts to having less oxygen. So smoking and alcohol consumption in such a situation only interferes with the body’s oxygen metabolism.

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