Mountain and Active Life

Candace Cooley’s own pastimes are running, skiing and cycling, and from 2011 to 2014 she practiced in Breckenridge, Colorado; the entries in this index cover what high country asks of an active body. The first effect is often an illness. MedlinePlus describes acute mountain sickness as an illness of climbers, hikers, skiers and travelers at high altitude, usually above about 8,000 feet, caused by lower air pressure and oxygen levels, and says the best prevention is to ascend gradually.¹ The body then adapts. As The Aspen Times explained, the share of oxygen in mountain air is unchanged but lower pressure means less oxygen with each breath, and the extra red blood cells the body makes in response take two to three weeks to build.²

Sport has its own pattern of injury. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons reports more than 76,000 snow skiing injuries treated in 2018, with knee injuries, especially to the anterior cruciate ligament, among the most common.³ Pregnancy has guidance of its own: the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists states that in a healthy, normal pregnancy it is safe to continue or start regular physical activity, ideally at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week.⁴

The five entries are Acute Mountain Sickness, Altitude Acclimatization, Sleep at Altitude, Sports Medicine and the Woman Athlete and Exercise During Pregnancy. Her interests themselves are described on the interests page.