![]() ![]() At 5260 meters, close to the level of the Mount Everest Base Camp in Nepal, the atmosphere holds 53% as much oxygen as the air at sea level, making it harder to breathe-and to exercise. Scientists have long known that the body adjusts to the oxygen-deprived conditions of high altitudes. ![]() That finding may be a boon for medical researchers and also for hikers, skiers, and distance runners who don't have time for extended altitude training. What's more, these changes persist for weeks and possibly months, even after descending to lower elevations. The most recent finding: Even short exposures to high elevation can unleash a complex cascade of changes within red blood cells that make it easier for them to cope with low-oxygen conditions. Suddenly, even that simple action, she says, was "immensely more difficult" than what she was expecting.Ī few weeks later, however, Earthman was speeding up a 3.2-kilometer hill with 20 other young participants in a study, called AltitudeOmics, that has now produced a dozen publications. ![]() She felt OK-until she had to walk up a set of stairs. Then, she climbed out of the oxygen-equipped bus that had carried her to an elevation of 5260 meters in the Bolivian Andes. It would be tough, but Earthman-a freshman at the University of Oregon in Eugene-was a competitive 1500-meter runner, after all. When Lauren Earthman signed up for a research project studying the effects of altitude on the human body, she thought she knew what to expect. ![]()
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