How do soccer players cope with high altitude sickness?

​What is HIGH ALTITUDE SICKNESS? High altitude is classified as: High: 1500-3500 meters above sea level Very high: 3500-5500 meters above sea level Extremely high: 5500-8850 meters above sea level. Atmospheric pressure progressively decreases as altitude increases. This means that a person who ascends to high altitude suffers a decrease in the concentration of oxygen in their blood because of the reduced amount of oxygen in inspired air. The brain detects this change in the blood and increases its signals to the skeletal muscles responsible for breathing. This makes the person to breathe more rapidly and deeply, and the increase in the amount of air inspired helps keep the blood oxygen concentration from falling as much as it otherwise would. The effects of lack of oxygen vary from one person to another, but most people who ascend rapidly to altitudes above 2500 meters, experience some degree of mountain sickness. You may have difficulty breathing (hypoxia), headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, insomnia, fatigue, and slower mental reactions. Over the course of several days, the symptoms of acute mountain sickness disappear, although maximal physical capacity remains reduced. However, treatment is needed for more severe symptoms like life-threatening pulmonary edema and brain edema, where fluid accumulates in lung tissues and spaces of the brain, respectively. 2-3 days hospital stay, or ambulatory oxygen therapy immediately improves a patient’s condition. But full recovery usually takes days, and patients must stay warm and well rested.

Bolivia is a country in South America with the highest point at more than 6000 meters above sea level. Its capital city, La Paz, has an elevation of 3640 meters. Soccer players who have to travel to Bolivia to play Worl Cup in La Paz, have to prepare their body to withstand such a high-altitude. They are given oxygen tubes. Symptoms they would experience would be headaches, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, shortness of breath.

​References Lionel Messi and his Argentina teammates given oxygen tubes ahead of World Cup qualifier against Bolivia to help cope with the high altitude | Daily Mail Online. List of elevation extremes by country - Wikipedia. La Paz - Wikipedia. Savioli, Gabriele, et al. "Pathophysiology and therapy of high-altitude sickness: practical approach in emergency and critical care." Journal of Clinical Medicine 11.14 (2022): 3937. Vander, Arthur J., et al. Human Physiology: the Mechanisms of Body Function. 8th ed., McGraw-Hill, 2001.