EverestQuest-Science Lesson Plan 4

Effects of Altitude

Learning Objective:
Compare and predict how life forms can adapt to changes in the environment.

Teacher Directions:
Climbing Mount Everest requires one to endure life at a high altitude. This can be very hard on the body and cause many sicknesses if precautions are not made.

There are some recommendations that will prevent altitude sickness. Having a slow ascent that gives a person’s body time to acclimatize will prevent sickness. Also, when an altitude above 10,000 feet is reached, altitude should not increase more than 1,000 feet per night. Every two to three days, a second night should be spent at the same elevation.

Alcohol, sleeping pills and narcotic pain medicines should be avoided because they hinder breathing. Lastly, a lot of water should be drunk.

If these recommendations are ignored, three diseases could occur. AMS, or Acute Mountain Sickness, is one of them. This is a disease caused by not allowing enough time to acclimatize. The symptoms of this disease include nausea, vomiting, fatigue, dizziness and sleeping difficulty.

HACE, or High Altitude Cerebral Edema, is another, more severe sickness. This disease has the same syptoms as AMS, but they are more severe. A change in mental status and ataxia can also occur from HACE.

High Altitude Pulmonary Edema, known as HAPE, is the worst of altitude sickness. The symptoms of this disease are a cough, weakness, a decreased exercise performance, chest tightness or congestion, rales or wheezing in at least one lung field, blue lips and an increased heartrate.

HACE and HAPE can be deadly.

Learn more on your own about the health problems associated with altitude by reading the following articles and by taking the online quiz.

The Physiological Effects of High Altitude on the Human Body
The High Altitude Acclimatization True/False Quiz

Then use the Problem/Solution diagram* to define the one of the levels of sickness and outline the solutions or specific steps that can be taken to address the problem.

Resources:
The Physiological Effects of High Altitude on the Human Body
The High Altitude Acclimatization True/False Quiz

Activity Sheet:
Problem/Solution diagram*