How to Determine If You Are at Risk of Hypoxia

Hypoxia is a very common condition with mountain climbers and pilots experience. Essentially what hypoxia is that at certain altitudes the body doesn't get enough oxygen. In particular during hypoxia certain tissues in the body do not get any oxygen and as such severe health concerns and consequences result. Mountain climbers are individuals that love their sport. They can't wait until the next time that they can go and hit the mountains.

However, their love for the sport also comes with some serious health risks and concerns. In particular, the mountain climbers are operating at extremely high altitude and thus the oxygen levels are very low. As such, they are they need to particularly pay attention to their blood oxygen saturation to ensure that they are not at the risk of hypoxia. Blood oxygen saturation is the determined as the percentage of oxygen in the hemoglobin. When these levels of blood oxygen saturation fall below certain healthy norms then you are at a risk of hypoxia. The same issue exists for pilots. Pilots, whether its for commercial purposes, hobby purposes, or military purposes, operate at extremely high altitudes and actually at varying altitudes. As a result, they need to ensure that they are monitoring their Blood oxygen saturation or SpO2 levels constant to make sure that they don't run the risk of experiencing hypoxia. A device that has proven to be a great tool for both mountain climbers, pilots, or any other person that operates at high altitudes is the use of a portable pulse oximeter.

A pulse oximeter is a medical and health device that is utilized by many to measure pulse rate as well as SpO2 levels. The device is specially made to operate effectively and accurately at high altitudes and to produce the SpO2 readings quickly and accurately. The device utilizes an infrared light that goes through the human tissue and comes back with an actual number which represents your blood oxygen saturation levels. The use of this device is extremely helpful and useful for those individuals that need to constantly monitor their blood oxygen saturation levels while at high altitudes and on the go. You simply place your finger inside the oximeter and within seconds you get an accurate reading of your levels. The oximeter typically comes with batteries that can provide continuous blood oxygen saturation monitoring which is especially important to these individuals operating at such high altitudes.

In addition, the other function of a pulse oximeter is that it also measures pulse rate. The pulse rate is very important to monitor as well due to the fact that it is one of the most important vital signs in the human physiology. The pulse rate is able to tell you a lot about how healthy your body is right now and whether it is functioning at optimum levels or that maybe there may be a health concern. The device quickly measures the pulse rate and produces a number for your review in order to determine your healthy levels. Should your oxygen saturation levels or pulse rate fall below a specific level the oximeter device will sound an alarm that will allow you quickly assess and alleviate the health concern.