How to reduce altitude sickness

Altitude sickness can occur when the body has not adjusted to thinner air and lower oxygen availability. Headache, nausea, dizziness, unusual tiredness, and poor sleep may begin after gaining height. Mild symptoms can worsen if you continue climbing, so treat them as a reason to pause and reassess rather than a challenge to push through.

Plan a route that allows acclimatisation, avoid rapid gains in sleeping altitude, and schedule rest after reaching a higher level. Drink regularly, eat small nourishing meals, and avoid alcohol or sedating medicines unless a clinician has advised them. If symptoms begin, stop ascending, rest at the same level, and tell your group. A travel-health clinician can discuss whether preventive medicine is appropriate for your itinerary and medical history.

Descend promptly and seek emergency help for breathlessness at rest, confusion, inability to walk normally, fainting, a worsening headache, repeated vomiting, or a cough producing frothy or blood-stained sputum. Do not leave a severely unwell traveller alone. Oxygen or emergency treatment may be needed while arranging descent.

Ask how your planned route affects risk, when to pause or descend, whether your medicines need adjustment, and what emergency plan your travelling group should carry.