212. Mountain Sickness
I have not openly described mountain sickness in details because this is a complex subject which facing mountain lovers. Acute mountain sickness in short is AMS. People prone to suffer from AMS, infact AMS danger and discomfort can be reduced or be avoided.
AMS is a form of brain instability. Brain instability is triggered by lacking of oxygen flowing in a brain. three major areas of brain which vulnerable to instability are prefrontal lobe, temporal lobe and occipital lobe. Brain instability can happen to anyone on the ground but at higher mountain range the trigger rate is much higher, especially with mountain height above 6000m.
some vulnerable group of people at sea level whom may have potentially brain instability, they should consider taking extra care when climbing high mountains.
People are born diffrently, even among sibling. If a person at a sea level or may be with ascend 2000m of mountain climb, he has already experience asthma, headache, insomnia, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, motion sickness, sleep apnea, blood oxygen drop, with sound and smell hallucination or seeing somethings like shadow black or white or coloured etc then he should need more preparation for his body and he should try not to scale mountain above 3000m or trekking with care at all times.
Like my wife her threshold limit is 2500m, with proper training she may go up mountain higher to 4500m. If any thing above this range, she might experience hypoxia, extreme tiredness, headache, loss of appetite, eyes pains etc. so everyone has own limit for how far he could climb.
As for me, my threshold limit was 3200m, with proper training I can go max 5500m. Any height above 5700m I would have difficult taking care of my walking, my eyes sore.
Using medicine to overcome AMS is not a solution as individuals react to medicines differently.
The extreme cases of AMS are HACE and HAPE which involve water retention in a brain and in the lung. The symptoms can be loss of consciousness , seizure etc and that situation must warrant immediate action, descending immediately and with proper medical care.
Get a good mountain guide, a good preparation, acclimatization to altitude and not going too high, too fast up the mountain is a way to enjoy mountain trekking where you can get better and fitter mind & body development.
As a rule of thumb, for mountains above 3000m, ascend 500m daily is the optimum tolerant level for a normal brain.
爱山者仁，爱水者智。
The kind loves the gentle calmness of the mountain while the wise loves the sparks of brilliance dancing in the water.
Now we could look at the positive aspect of trekking:
"Improved cardio-respiratory fitness (heart, lungs, blood vessels)
Improved muscular fitness
Lower risk of coronary heart disease and stroke
Lower risk of high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes
Lower risk of high cholesterol and triglycerides
Lower risk of colon and breast cancer, and possibly lung and endometrial cancer
Increased bone density or a slower loss of density
Reduced depression and better quality sleep
Lower risk of early death (If you are active for 7 hours a week, your risk of dying early is 40% lower than someone active for less than 30 minutes a week.)
Weight control; hiking burns up 370 calories an hour (154-lb person)
reference: goodhiker.com"
