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Mt. Everest Climbers Measure Lowest Blood Oxygen Levels

popularmechanics.com — On top of the world, just below the more than 29,000-foot high peak of Mount Everest, a team of four British medical researchers braved the elements and took their own blood samples. What they found was staggering—their oxygen levels were the lowest ever recorded, well below levels that would normally prove lethal on the ground.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jan 9, 2009

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  • aufte, on 01/09/2009, -0/+62I'm getting mixed messages here.
  • TubeDigger, on 01/08/2009, -0/+59They dropped dead a minute later
  • JamesBondJr, on 01/08/2009, -0/+53Good thing they didn't drop dead a minute later
  • WickedClown, on 01/09/2009, -0/+35"If the reason for climbing Mt. Everest is that it's hard to do, why does everyone go up the easy side?"
    - Carlin
  • inactive, on 01/08/2009, -2/+25That's pretty amazing. My first thought was that it wasn't abnormal at all since they are at such an altitude.
  • inactive, on 01/09/2009, -1/+18Keep that in the back of your mind and you'll never have to worry about going through a messy divorce.
  • BestDudeEver, on 01/09/2009, -0/+14It's amazing that humans can endure Yetis
  • polska1, on 01/09/2009, -1/+14It's amazing what a human body can endure
  • jcaino, on 01/09/2009, -0/+12So that's where Rudy put all of NYC's homeless?
  • Tomholius, on 01/09/2009, -3/+15I accidentally the blood oxygen level. Is this bad?
  • serif69, on 01/09/2009, -0/+12http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/images/totalrecall0 ...
  • Junior612, on 01/09/2009, -0/+11And Yetis.
  • inactive, on 01/09/2009, -0/+10The BBC brought cameras up with them and documented the whole thing. It was a special program on the BBC called "doctors in the death zone" or something like that.

    Watching BBC just makes me depressed that we can't have smart programs in America.
  • risenphoenixkai, on 01/09/2009, -0/+9My wife gets high-altitude sickness at anything above about 7500 feet. Based on that, she'd probably die if she even looked at Everest.
  • inactive, on 01/09/2009, -0/+9That they were low? No.
    That they were WELL below levels that would normally prove lethal on the ground? Yes.
  • burchie2, on 01/09/2009, -1/+8they are acclimated to the oxygen levels...more red blood cells in their blood than average...spent several months living at high altitude...if you threw a new yorker on top of Everest they would probably die...common sense...
  • masgrada, on 01/09/2009, -0/+7As a medical laboratory scientist I seriously question the methodology used in this study. Measuring blood gas is a very sensitive test and if done at all incorrectly or with uncontrolled methods (especially given the altitude ambient pressure) it will seriously f*ck with your results.

    If it most certainly would kill you any other time, it would most certainly kill you this time. I have a very hard time accepting the validity of these results.
  • humanawho, on 01/09/2009, -0/+7Can someone explain why the level of oxygen in blood which common sense would say should be a density (amount of oxygen per about of blood) is given instead as a pressure? in the article it makes it seem like o2 is responsible for your blood pressure which doesn't seem right.
  • cliffdogg, on 01/09/2009, -0/+6I highly doubt that *pushes glasses further up nose*.
  • Tomholius, on 01/09/2009, -0/+6i accidentally the verb
  • inactive, on 01/09/2009, -0/+6It's not the 'pressure' of O2, it's the partial pressure of O2.
  • bomb288, on 01/09/2009, -0/+6You should probably a doctor.
    Oh wait..
  • DrDigg, on 01/09/2009, -0/+5mean PaO2 was 24.6 mm Hg
    Holy crap that is low.
  • nepidae, on 01/09/2009, -0/+5Because they didn't die a minute later.
  • grungegbunny, on 01/09/2009, -0/+4Wow I wonder if some new treatments can come from this knowledge.
  • jiesa, on 01/09/2009, -0/+4I want to know what a Sherpa's normal blood oxygen level at that altitude is. It would be interesting to compare with the lowlanders' data.
  • mbraynard, on 01/09/2009, -0/+4I sleep in an alt tent and to interval workouts at altitude. It helps in a lot of ways - anti-aging, too, I believe, but it makes it easier to go do a race in CO, too.
  • risenphoenixkai, on 01/09/2009, -0/+4Aside from the fact that there is no free oxygen in Mars's atmosphere, the atmospheric pressure at Martian "sea level" is roughly half of what the air pressure in Earth's atmosphere is at an altitude of 100,000 feet, or more than three times the height of Mt. Everest.

    So no, there is no chance whatsoever of human beings surviving on the surface of Mars without spacesuits.
  • inactive, on 01/09/2009, -0/+4It's still a specialty channel for a lot of people.

    It just sucks that American television is better funded and better produced, but wastes it on stupid ***** like "The Biggest Loser" and "Flavor of Love" and "Chuck"/"Knight Rider" (take your pick of awfulness for the last example).
  • vsaint, on 01/09/2009, -1/+5Anti-grammar too.
  • uberleat, on 01/09/2009, -0/+3The whole blood oxygen level?
  • dvnt1, on 01/09/2009, -0/+3That's what I was thinking.
  • AlkalineAcid, on 01/09/2009, -0/+2I was wondering the same thing.
  • vuke69, on 01/09/2009, -0/+2http://www.bbcamerica.com/ FTMFW
  • gordonf238, on 01/09/2009, -2/+4Why is this news?

    "Climber climbs to altitude where air density is 1/3 less than at sea level. Oxygen levels in his blood measure 1/3 less. "


  • docbob84, on 01/09/2009, -0/+2That's like saying you could acclimate to a pulse of 20 a minute. It's very low, even for acclimation. I was shocked to see PaO2 24.6 mmHg; thought at first it was a mistype and they meant PaCO2. It's insanely low, they would be expected to pass out and die. They didn't; the body is even more impressive than I previously thought.
  • inactive, on 01/09/2009, -0/+2Kevin Costner did it first in Waterworld.
  • wondertwins, on 01/09/2009, -0/+2i wouldnt be surprised to have a negative health status on mt.everest. Its one of the coldest places on earth, there is so little oxygen in the air because of how high the mountain is, and its not a place where humans should even exist or try to.
  • LeepII, on 01/10/2009, -0/+2I would guess that the measuring equipment was calibrated in a normal atmosphere and when it was taken to a low oxygen environment the readings were altered.
  • Aleriya, on 01/10/2009, -0/+2I get altitude sickness above ~6,000 feet, but it takes a day or two to kick in. Flights aren't a problem.
  • inactive, on 01/09/2009, -0/+2Does this mean a human might have half a chance to "breathe" on a planet like Mars normally? If you take decreased pressures and boiling points, chemistry and biological requirements into account?

    Lower gravity and so on would require less energy = less oxygen demand. It could be interesting to study this.
    You would probably feel like a train wreck or a major stoner though.
  • Briresp, on 01/10/2009, -0/+2yojiffyskippy you an RT?
  • inactive, on 01/09/2009, -0/+2That's quite a difference, cheers : )

    The UV and what not "energetic" radiation would be off the charts too I would Imagine.
  • inactive, on 01/09/2009, -0/+2They are damm courageous.
  • dvnt1, on 01/09/2009, -0/+2Not everyone is content to sit at home and criticize folks over the internet that have larger testicles than they do. ;-P
  • zanfr, on 01/10/2009, -0/+1jesus this is not news at all
    for instance i have 71% O2 sat.
  • dimitre, on 01/09/2009, -0/+1what about the relationship between atmospheric level / oxygen level?
    it still can be lethal numbers at sea level...
  • jessebelcourt, on 01/09/2009, -0/+1agreed, i love not being cold to the point my blood cant even breathe
  • inactive, on 01/09/2009, -2/+3It's amazing that Yetis can endure humans
  • SEOtonie, on 01/09/2009, -1/+2Dead people Measure Lowest Blood Oxygen Levels
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