Human Variation and Race Blog

High altitude affects the survival of humans negatively because even though high altitude and the sea level have the same percentage of oxygen, high altitude’s air pressure is 30% lower because the atmosphere is less dense.  This means, that the air molecules are farther apart.  At high altitudes, since the air pressure is lower it makes it more difficult for oxygen to enter our vascular systems and the result of this is hypoxia or oxygen deprivation.  Hypoxia usually starts with not being able to do normal physical activities such as climbing a set of stairs.  There can also be a lack of appetite, distorted vision, and difficulty with memorizing and thinking clearly.  If you are not able to adjust to high altitudes say when you go on a vacation, you may develop some symptoms that will let you know that you need to go back down to sea level.  In some serious cases, high altitude can lead to a fatality if the person cannot acclimatize correctly.  This environmental stress negatively affects the survival of humans because our body is not equipped to handle such drastic climate changes.  Our body is more susceptible to health problems in higher altitudes because of the fall in atmospheric pressure. 

Our bodies do a short-term adaptation to high altitudes by acclimatizing itself.  Acclimatization is where our bodies produce more red blood cells and capillaries to carry more oxygen.  Our lungs will increase their size to facilitate osmosis of oxygen and carbon dioxide.  The vascular network of muscle, which enhances the transfer of gases, also increases.  

A facultative adaptation that our bodies do when going into higher altitudes is producing more hemoglobin to carry oxygen throughout our bodies.  In order to do this you would need to take an IRON vitamin.  Iron produces hemoglobin.  In doing this you are helping your body acclimate to high altitudes by not stressing the body to much to produce more blood cells and capillaries to carry the oxygen.  

Humans that is more likely to be able to develop in a high altitude area better than most is someone whose ancestors have lived at high altitudes for thousands of years.  Since some peoples ancestors lived in high altitudes for so long, they are usually genetically more suited for the stresses at high altitudes. The solution for the Indians in the high mountain valleys of Peru and Bolivia has been that they are able to produce more hemoglobin in their blood and to increase their lung expansion capability.  Both of these things results in an increase of oxygen that is carried by the blood.  Tibetans and Nepalese live in higher altitudes and they generally breathe faster in order to take in more oxygen and to have broader arteries and capillaries.  This allows an increased rate of blood flow and subsequently greater amounts of oxygen delivered throughout their bodies even though they have relatively low hemoglobin levels.

A cultural adaptation that many people who climb or hike to higher altitudes for enjoyment or to conquer a goal they have set for themselves, have started using oxygen tanks.  The oxygen tanks help them to breathe since they are experiencing hypoxia.  The oxygen allows them to climb to higher altitudes without experiencing severe hypoxia symptoms.  It also helps the body to not work as hard to produce more red blood cells and capillaries to carry more oxygen. 

One of the benefits of studying human variation from this perspective across environmental clines is that, researches believe that living in higher altitude can actually help people that need to lose weight, lose it!  Researches say this probably happens because higher altitudes cause decreased appetite and your body is burning more calories in the higher altitude than it would by working out.  I think this is good because there are a lot of people who would rather not work out but still eat unhealthy.  Eating unhealthy and being overweight is not good for our bodies and causes many health risks.  Even though being in a higher altitude also causes many health risks, I think that living in a higher altitude is productive for people who are overweight and need to lose the weight in order to become healthier.  Even though there are, health risks living in a higher altitude if your body acclimates properly you should be good.

I would use race to understand the variation of the adaptations because it is in our genes and our ancestors culture as to why some humans have an easier time either living or adapting to high altitudes than others do.  If you trace back through history we would be able to figure out why the ancestors of the Indians in Peru and Bolivia chose to live in a higher altitude than settling everywhere else.  Race is traced back into almost everything if you think about it.  Every culture and race is different and has different ways of doing things and different beliefs.  There are races who believe in medicine men and medicine women to heal their wounded and sick.  Those cultures have their own truth and belief behind everything they do just like our culture does too.  Our ancestors settled where they did due to the reasons they have, that is why there are races that live in high altitudes and are able to handle that type of climate and there are races that cannot handle that climate and are not able to acclimate well.  So yes I would use race to understand the variation because I believe so many answers can be answered that way because of our ancestors history.