Essay on Human Adaptation to High Altitude

Living in higher altitudes may be a huge adjustment for many people. The global population lives in different altitudes that are measured in terms of the distance from

the sea level. The closer to sea level you are, the more oxygen you are going to be able to have. The further away you get from sea level, the less oxygen you are going to have. When you are not used to having less oxygen you may get a sickness which is referred to as altitude sickness. Altitude sickness can include breathlessness, palpitations and dizziness. Some people may have no problem adjusting to the altitudes and lower oxygen levels. In this paper I plan to examine what high altitude adaptation is and how it works, I will then describe some populations

that have to deal with this type of idea and lastly I will look at how this adaptation relates to their

environment and their way of life. I will also be examining how this can affect the person’s

health and how people are able to adapt to the change in altitude.

Adaptation to higher altitudes means the capability of a human beings to have low

hemoglobin levels thus enabling them to have a complex system of oxygen transportation to their blood. The body essentially has to adapt to the higher altitude to get used to the lower oxygen levels. Palomar University states that there are two major environmental stressors involved with high altitude and the way that humans are able to adapt (Palomar, 2012). The first being The extreme weather changes which can go from sunburning hot days to freezing cold nights. It also states that, “In addition, winds are often strong and humidity low, resulting in rapid dehydration” (Palomar, 2012). The second stressor we need to take into consideration is that the air pressure is really low. This is usually the most limiting factor with high altitude. Which would explain we as humans have trouble breathing at higher altitudes.

The percentage of oxygen just 2 mile in the air is essentially the same as sea level. However, the pressure is about 30% lower than sea level. This is because the higher you get the less dense the atmosphere becomes. When we breathe at sea level, the atmospheric pressure is about 14.7 pounds per square inch. Which causes the air to pass through the lung membranes then into our vascular system. But when you are at higher altitudes, with lower air pressure, it can be much harder to get oxygen into our blood streams. The lack of oxygen can lead to hypoxia. Hypoxia by definition is oxygen deprivation, also known as “high altitude sickness”. This can lead to the lack of appetite, vomiting, headache, distorted vision, fatigue, and difficulty with memorizing and thinking clearly. SOme extreme cases can lead to pneumonia-like symptoms, caused from hemorrhaging in the lungs and an abnormal accumulation of fluid around the brain (Palomar, 2012).

There are three groups of people that have adapted to living in high altitudes. These people are those of Tibet in Asia, the Andes of the Americas, and Ethiopia in Africa, who have acquired the ability to survive at altitudes above 2,500 meters. The Andean adapted to the thinner air by developing the ability to to carry more oxygen in each red blood cell. Meaning, that they still breathe at the same rate as a person would at sea level, but they have the ability to deliver oxygen throughout their bodies more effectively than people at sea level do (National Geographic, 2004). "Andeans counter having less oxygen in every breath by having higher hemoglobin concentrations in their blood," said Cynthia Beall. However, the Tibetans adapted to the lower oxygen levels much differently. They take more breaths per minute to increase their oxygen intake. Tibetans may also have a second biological adaptation, which expands their blood vessels, allowing them to deliver oxygen throughout their bodies more effectively than sea-level people do (National Geographic, 2004). Now when it comes to the Ethiopian highlanders, their adaptation is a complete mystery to scientists. I say this because they do not synthesize nitric oxide or breath more rapidly like the Tibetans or have increased hemoglobin counts like the Andean people. As of right now, no one has found the answer to how these people have survived these frigid climates.  

Overall adaptation to higher altitudes affects everyone differently. There are three groups of people who have adjusted to the high altitudes much easier due to their genetics and growing up in those climates. Either way everyone takes time to adjust to their environments and after my research it is clear to me that being able to adapt to high altitudes is a very important part of adoption. If we are not able to efficiently adapt to less oxygen then this can affect what we are able to do until our bodies can either adjust or give up. 

References

(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www2.palomar.edu/anthro/adapt/adapt_3.htm

High-altitude adaptation in humans. (2021, May 29). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-altitude_adaptation_in_humans

Mayell, H. (2021, May 04). Three High-Altitude Peoples, Three Adaptations to Thin Air. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/high-altitude-adaptations-evolution

Scheinfeldt, L. B., & Tishkoff, S. A. (2010). Living the high life: High-altitude adaptation. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2965377/