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The effects of high altitude on humans are mostly the consequences of reduced partial pressure of oxygen in the atmosphere. The medical problems that are direct consequence of high altitude are caused by the low inspired partial pressure of oxygen, which is caused by the reduced atmospheric pressure, and the constant gas fraction of oxygen in ...
Altitude sickness, the mildest form being acute mountain sickness (AMS), is a harmful effect of high altitude, caused by rapid exposure to low amounts of oxygen at high elevation. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] People's bodies can respond to high altitude in different ways.
Failure to acclimatize may result in altitude sickness, including high-altitude pulmonary edema or cerebral edema . [ 11 ] [ 12 ] Humans have survived for 2 years at 5,950 m (19,520 ft) [475 millibars (14.0 inHg; 6.89 psi) of atmospheric pressure], which appears to be near the limit of the permanently tolerable highest altitude. [ 13 ]
The physics that affect the body in the sky or in space are different from the ground. For example, barometric pressure is different at different heights. At sea level barometric pressure is 760 mmHg; at 3,048 m above sea level, barometric pressure is 523 mmHg, and at 15,240 m, the barometric pressure is 87 mmHg.
High-altitude flatus expulsion was first described by Joseph Hamel in c. 1820 [2] and occasionally described afterward. [3] A landmark study of this phenomenon was published in 1981 by Paul Auerbach and York Miller.
Chronic mountain sickness (CMS) is a disease in which the proportion of blood volume that is occupied by red blood cells increases (polycythaemia) and there is an abnormally low level of oxygen in the blood . CMS typically develops after extended time living at high altitude (over 2,500 metres (8,200 ft)).
A word on sildenafil drug interactions: Mixing antihypertensive prescription drugs (hypertension meds) with Viagra may cause low blood pressure. Since the medication has blood pressure-lowering ...
Altitude research gets round this by studying the effects of oxygen deprivation on otherwise healthy people. Travelling to high altitude is often used as a way of studying the way the body responds to a shortage of oxygen. It is difficult and prohibitively expensive to conduct some of this research at sea level.