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| Even Lord Vader Needs Help Breathing |
Differences
in altitude can create a stress on humans that can disrupt the homeostasis. High
altitude creates a stressor on the body by affecting the concentration of oxygen in the upper
atmosphere. There is much less oxygen and thus makes it harder to properly
perfuse all cells with less oxygen available for the body. In the short term adaptation,
the body will increase perfusion with less available oxygen by increasing heart rate and
respiratory rate to manage the proper oxygen saturation levels. From here, an
individual will undergo a facultative adaptation and the beginning of
acclimation causing the production of many more red blood cells to transport
and hold oxygen. Additional capillaries to store blood and help perfuse the
body will be created and the lung capacity will increase to allow for more
oxygen to be processed with each breath.
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| More Red Blood Cells |
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| Lung Capacity Increases |
With the lung capacity and adequate
heart conditions being a survival necessity, any member of the population that
cannot keep up with the body's demand will die out causing a developmental
adaptation upon birth of the next population have better genetics for enlarged
lung capacity and heart volume. Cultural adaptations for the stressor of
altitude could include a change in clothing which would likely be very warm to
ensure a warm core temperature, but also be extremely light weight to lighten
the load of which one has to carry at such a high altitude. This would allow
the body to put less stress on the heart while also maintaining required
temperatures to function.
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| Light, Yet Warm Clothing |
The benefits of studying human
variation along this perspective are of great magnitude in the understanding of
how to improve oxygenation within the medical field as well as within the
sporting world. The information from tests of high altitude training can allow
athletes to find out the best ways in which to maximize their red blood cells
and their oxygenation for peak performance. Medical understandings can change
as to how best in increase the perfusion rate of a patient that has not been
breathing or has inadequate perfusion to the body.
While race could prove as a somewhat
helpful determining factor of someone who did live in a high altitude region,
it is extremely inaccurate due to the ability of a person to migrate to a
different location and live there for generations and lose any possible
advantage that was previously held in the high altitude. I think that someone's
current home is a much better indicator than race in the case of being adapted
for high altitude simply because of the extreme short term effects. Genetic
advantages may linger in someone who moves to a lower altitude, but the body
will adjust once again to a lower altitude somewhat nullifying the effects in a
very short time.
"...developmental adaptation upon birth of the next population have better genetics for enlarged lung capacity and heart volume." Aren't our bodies amazing? How neat is it that continued generations are born to be able to adapt to the environment. Mind blowing I'd say.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know a lot about "high altitudes" and how they effect our body... but now I do! Your blog was very informative and I enjoyed how Darth Vadar made an appearance.
I also enjoyed the advantages about studying the effects of high altitude studies, both in the medical field and the sports world... because the Olympics are on! Woohoo! Not to sure if you chose this topic to relate to or to intertwine to the study of athletes, but it shows how an assignment in Anthropology relates to the biggest sporting event in the world. I also believe that the study of improving oxygenation to patients that struggle with receiving enough oxygen from a day to day basis, is a huge field in which we need to continue studying.
I also like how you reference migration in how we cannot say race is the main factor in human variation but the environment. And it's true. People travel around the world and adapt to the environment at hand.
Good job!
"There is much less oxygen...." Isn't there the same amount of oxygen and it's just in a different concentration as you said in your other comment, "High altitude creates a stressor on the body by affecting the concentration of oxygen in the upper atmosphere"? I believe that a lower concentration is due to the fact that the air is thinner at higher altitudes but you don't explain this. I also wondered about clothing being a cultural adaptation to the effects of a higher altitude. While it might be colder, aren't we talking directly about the effects of only a higher altitude? How would warmer clothing affect, say blood oxygen levels? Maybe I am misunderstanding what the encompassing effects of high altitude actually are. I chose "cold" as my subject and I would relate clothing to that directly but not to high altitude. As I said, I may be misunderstanding exactly what the effects of high altitude are and maybe cold actually is one. Am I making sense in my questions?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post about the vertical limit and the lungs. I never realized that the higher the altitude, you will have a harder time to breathe. The only thing i knew about going to a higher altitude is that the pressure is different. For example, when your flying in an airplane, once the plane goes up you start to feel a different altitude pressure compared to being on ground level. But anyways great post! Enjoyed seeing Darth Vader as i read the blog.
ReplyDeleteWell, you definitely caught my attention with Darth Vadar at the top of your post!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your section on the adaptations. It showed a logical progression over time in a way that helped to explain the order and complexity of each level of adaptation. Nicely done.
I get your point about how race migrates without changing rapidly. But people carry their developmental, facultative and even cultural adaptations with them as well. The key here is that variation is biologically based. Race is a social construct and it is derived from subjective concepts and potentially biases opinion. To understand variation, you need the analysis to be more objective and it must be biologically based.