Klarinet Archive - Posting 000366.txt from 1998/04

From: Lee Hickling <hickling@-----.Net>
Subj: Re: High & dry (climate, that is)
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1998 08:39:55 -0400

>From my experience, Bill Hausman is right when he says different people
react in
different ways to altitude. Friends had me worried the first time I went to
Denver. It wasn't a music gig, but I walked all over downtown and did
whatever I felt like doing, without any discomfort - and I was a pipe
smoker then with a fairly sedentary life style. So I'd advise people to go
easy at first, rest all they can, and be alert for cardiovascular distress,
but not to get up tight. There seems to be a great deal of individual
difference in response to high altitudes.

And stress can cause as many physical problems as "altitude sickness" does
- particularly hyperventilation, to which wind instrument players are
sometimes prone, depending on their breathing habits. One's hematology can
make a difference. Even a mild degree of anemia can make it harder to
adapt to a higher elevation, while a little hyperemia (overabundance of red
blood cells) can be of benefit.

.
Lee Hickling <hickling@-----.net>