Elevation Sickness – What it is and how to Prevent it
Being scared of height whether during an airplane journey, or hiking a mountain is a significant issue that affects many persons and may have serious if not deadly consequences on the individual person. The sickness is triggered by the insufficient oxygen.
The easiest symptoms of height sickness can appear at altitudes of 2000 meters and it will express itself through headaches, dizziness, and incapability of motion. These kinds of symptoms will vanish in a day or two if you continue staying at that height. This is also known as altitude sickness.
The most severe sensations of height sickness show up at extremely high altitudes generally over 3000 meters in altitude. Next to the symptoms mentioned previously, others can appear like: loosing appetite, sleep disorders and waking up frequently in the middle of the night. The difficulty that can be encountered when breathing, stomach sickness, temporary losses of memory, encountering difficulty when trying to concentrate are usually the most commonly encountered and severe signs and symptoms that solicit an immediate change of altitude.
Who are the people most likely to be afraid of altitudes?
There is no way to predict who is going to be altitude sick. Surprisingly, seniors, people with low physical activity and poor health are not much more affected by the height sickness than other persons. This also means that if you never experienced this problem until now you can’t be sure that you won’t feel sick next time you take a trip by plane or climb a mountain.
How can this be avoided and steps to prevent it from happening in the future?
The very best solution to avoid this sensation in high altitude is to ascend slowly until you arrive at the destination, and to ascend in such a manner that the complete procedure is going to take a minimum of several days. In the event of a plane flight, ask the recommendation of the physician about the medication you can take to stop the alternative of being plane sick.
It is very vital that you drink just as much water as you can possibly drink to avoid dehydration, an issue that can make the feeling of sick worse. A big quantity of water is lost when you are at low temperatures, but also when you are involved in activities that need a great work, like winter sports.
There is medication available as well. Consult your health care person for recommendations.
Neal writes about health topics and other business topics.