TED-Ed: How high altitude affects your body | Andrew Lovering

The video explores the physiological effects of high altitude on the human body, focusing on the challenges faced when ascending to the summit of Mount Everest. It explains how rapid altitude changes can lead to oxygen deprivation and altitude sickness, such as AMS. The body adapts through short-term responses like increased breathing and heart rate, and long-term acclimatization involving hemoglobin concentration changes. Despite these adaptations, high altitudes pose risks like HACE and HAPE. Genetic factors in some populations offer advantages, but climbers continue to push human limits.

What adaptations occur in the blood when a person stays at high altitude for several weeks?

Why is it important for climbers to acclimatize when ascending to high altitudes?