How to get over altitude sickness?

If you’re planning a trip to or South America, and intend on ticking off a number of bucket list items, you’re definitely going to spend more than a couple of days above 2500m.

Not felt until you surpass 2500m (for the most sensitive ones), soroche (altitude) sickness is essentially your body telling you it’s not getting enough oxygen. The higher you go, the thinner the air gets. This means that, there is less oxygen for your body to use. The thing is that you don’t have to be climbing a mountain to be affected by it. In fact, it can affect you in many towns in such as Cusco or La Paz, because they are already so high.

The symptoms can range from a throbbing headache, loss of appetite and nausea (even vomiting) to a feeling of tiredness, altered sleep and dizziness. You could compare it to a bad hangover.

Unfortunately, there is absolutely no way to predict who will suffer from altitude sickness, you could be the healthiest person and suffer bad altitude sickness or a chain-smoker with a beer gut, and not feel a thing.

Here are some tricks to help with altitude:

• Get use to altitude: you need at least a few days to acclimatise to any significant altitude. Your body needs to get used to functioning properly on less oxygen and that process takes time.
• Avoid going on hikes directly, take a few days in the city to get use to altitude. The more progressive you’ll do it, the better you’ll feel. People taking planes from low to high altitudes often feel pretty bad in the beginning because they went too high too fast.
• Do not ascend any higher, if your body is already struggling, going any higher is only going to make you feel more unwell. The only solution is to go down!
• Eat coca leaves: when hiking or whenever you feel like you need a boost, chew on a coca leaf. You should just keep the “juice”, not actually eat the leaf itself. Don’t worry, it will not make you addicted!
• Drink mate de coca (coca tea): drinking the coca leaves hot has a better effect over the body. It will give you strength so you should avoid drinking it at night or it will disrupt your sleep
• Drink a lot of water to rehydrate (I said water not Coca Cola!)
• Regularly eat small snacks: your body is using a lot of energy so you need to refuel with protein. Prefer healthy snacks such as bananas, dried fruits, almonds and different types of nuts, granola bars
• At dinner, try eating light to avoid having a difficult digestion at night. Altitude will already disturb your sleep so don’t make it worst. Prefer a nice soup.
• Before a hike, have a good breakfast/lunch, you’re going to need the energy
• Sleep as much as possible the night before a hike. Knowing that you probably won’t sleep well, go to bed earlier that usual.
• put coca leaves under your pillow at night: a friend recommended it and I was hesitant but after a few restless nights, I tried and.. slept the whole night through! So I can actually vouch for this technic!
• When walking, take your time, don’t rush it or you will regret it later. Follow your body’s rythme, not someone else’s.
• Avoid smoking
• Avoid alcohol, coffee and energetic drinks (prefer mate de coca)