If you fly in the Himalayas, Alps, or above 3000 mtrs, this episode is for you - ft. Dr Matt Wilkes

When it comes to dealing with the environment, what is the biggest risk that you can be exposed to if you're not very well prepared for it? Because being prepared for something like that is only experience, and experience comes from trying and getting to know about things. So there's no ideal way to go out and saying that, yes, this is how I will do it unless you've actually done it a few times. And then they're like, no, OK, I need to fine tune it a bit. So I totally agree with you and many people would say, I would say this because it's my passion, but I would say don't underestimate these

environmental factors. I think we have a tendency to do that. If we think about the environmental factors that can affect us, they're really oxygen level, cold G force and sun exposure. I would say like those are the main ones. The oxygen thing is interesting because I've flown a lot in India. It's my favorite place to fly. I was fortunate to fly in Pakistan a few years ago and that was wonderful as well. And to go up nice and high. Undoubtedly low levels of oxygen affect us. They affect our ability to think. They affect in some cases, if it gets low enough, our ability to see effectively in terms of our peripheral vision.

All of those things narrow. They affect our ability to control the glider. And they also have a bit of a hangover effect. So if you get hypoxic and then you go down to a lower altitude, you feel better, but you're still not back to 100% for probably up to about 90 minutes. For those wondering what's hypoxic? So hypoxia is low levels of oxygen in the blood. Technically the term for that is hypoxemia, but I would think about it as we're in an environment when we fly high where the pressure is low. That means that the oxygen molecules, there's still 20% oxygen, same as there is at sea

level, but they're all further apart. So that means to get the same amount in, you have to breathe faster, which is why actually flying at house 2 is so dehydrating, because what's happening is you're breathing in and out lots and you're shedding water each time you do so that that's one of the reasons why it's dehydrating. The other reason is because the oxygen levels are lower. Your kidneys don't work as well, so you don't conserve water in the same way, which is why you desperately need to pee when you fly at high altitude or in cold environments. So oxygen's definitely a thing. It's hard to know what height it

starts to matter at because that depends quite a lot on different people and it also depends on and by different people. Climatisation, sorry, genetics and fitness, it also depends on a climatisation. We'll talk about that in a SEC. The there's a very easy way to fix it, which is to carry supplementary oxygen, But there's also a lot of associated faff that comes with carrying supplementary oxygen. But I can only say from personal experience that when I flew with it in Pakistan, when I switched it on, suddenly my mood improved. I felt warmer. I could think more clearly. I almost felt like I could. I don't know if I could physically see better.

I just felt less blinkered. But I felt a striking increase in bandwidth. So it's changed my perception a little bit in terms of I knew academically that hypoxia was an issue. It's first, it takes a while to really feel it, and when you feel it, you're like OK. Or when you feel it going away or improving with oxygen, it strikes you how much it might be affecting you. What are the first symptoms that come to you that you can understand? Because as we spoke about in the beginning of the show, that it's such a cognitively heavy load and there's so much to look and observe and be constantly

thinking that it's so easy to be drifted away. So how do you identify that this might be coming in the next 10-15 minutes? This is why your point about experience is such a good one, because everybody has their own. It's called a hypoxic signature. And so if you're a fighter pilot, you get put in a chamber, you get made hypoxic and then you get a load of puzzles and other things to do. And there's some brilliant videos of all these like incredibly macho U.S. Marine pilots, just like mashing like kids toys together. It's fun to watch. But the purpose of that training for them is both to realise that

they don't know they're impaired, but also to try and work out exactly what you said, like how did they feel in the the time leading up to that impairment? Because it varies. And so finding our own hypoxic signature as paraglider pilots is a little bit difficult because we don't have access to these chambers. But I think one of the way to do it is to really try and be observant of yourself when you go into these environments. So if say I'm in beer, I'm going over the back, I'm flying up above 4000 metres asking myself what am I feeling, what can I see, what can I think? And actually, because I was

quite interested in this, I put a little note on my cockpit to remind me to think about what I'm thinking because you can get so in the zone. But typically for people, they would say things like mood changes. So you either feel pretty euphoric or you feel a bit sad or a bit constrained or a bit afraid. Not having as big a bandwidth, some changes in motor skills, so you're not thermalling as nicely as you would normally. You're bouncing in and out. Then as you get more hypoxic, the way you communicate with others might be a thing. So sometimes people become less commutative, sometimes they become quite garrulous, sometimes they start talking a

bit of nonsense. Certainly if that's happening, it's too late. But that's also the advantage of flying with buddies because they can point out to you that this thing is happening. Obviously, the most kind of telling sign that it might be happening is just the fact that you are high. So taking a note of your altitude and think that OK, that I'm now entering A vulnerable place. And I would say probably about for most people because this varies a lot between individuals. Once you start flying above 3000 meters, certainly 3 1/2, you are going to be subject to this all right. Let's say how many minutes above

3000? Because a lot of times we are, I wouldn't say exactly dolphining. You're getting high, lower, high, lower, like depending on the glides. So when do you start hitting the point of no return that OK, now I'm pushing my limits and then hypoxia is a very real thing now because I've been doing this for like past two hours. So again, there's no evidence specific to paragliders, but that I guess the aviation like general aviation would be above 10,000 feet for 30 minutes or above 13,000 feet for any period of time. So I don't know what 10,000 feet is that about 2802 thousand 600 metres, something like that.

But that's the general aviation guidance. But it's so individual, like if you're, again, if you're tired, hungover, dehydrated, your tolerance is going to be worse if you're acclimatised. And a climate like whether paragliding is acclimatising or not isn't really known. But the thing that is most acclimatising is the altitude at which you sleep. So if you sleep at high altitude, you know, a little bit higher than normal or closer to the altitude at which you fly, then that is going to help you tolerate the hypoxia. The really interesting 1 though, for me though is cold. Because when we think about hypoxia, we're thinking about supply what's available in the

atmosphere, but also demand how much your body is using. And it's that balance or that lack of balance that creates the problems. And if you start shivering, your oxygen consumption goes up by about five times, and oxygen is being used to keep you warm. And if you can make sure that you're stay nice and warm and you certainly don't shiver, then I think that's one of the most helpful things you can do to give yourself more margin when you're flying. You're in a hypoxic environment.