How to prepare for denver colorado's thin air?

Question

I am going on my honeymoon on September 28-October 6. What precautions can I take. Denver residents please!!!!

Answer 1

Hello.

I moved to Denver several years ago and can attest to the fact that the slightly thinner air does affect you to a degree at first.  But the truth is it effects you along the lines of I felt like I should have been finished with a 2.5 mi. run as far as fatigue when I had only gone about 1.5 mi.  The altitude in the city is just not that severe.  Unless you have many aerobic activities planned (and since it's your honeymoon I imagine you do ;-) you are unlikely to have any ill effects here in Denver.  If you are here in the city for a day or two that will go quite aways as far as allowing your body to acclimate a bit to even higher altitudes.

In my own personal opinion and experience most folks in reasonable shape and relatively young age (under 50) have no trouble at all up to around 8000 feet of elevation.  However, you don't have to be very far west of Denver to reach that elevation and if you had any of our famous "14ers" on your agenda (mountains over 14000 ft elevation) you should be very cautious.  I personally have had a relatively "fit" flatlander friend go down with HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema.... which is quite dangerous) at around 12,000... she got an ambulance ride down to Denver where the air is dense enough for most people to function with no problems.  She had no permanent ill effect but it was very frightening, not least for her.

Drink lots of water (our climate and air are dry so you lose water without feeling sweaty) because dehydration makes the effects of altitude much more evident and aspirin does help if you get an "altitude headache" because not only is it a pain reliever but it also thins your blood slightly.

Hope this helps... and congratulations in advance.

Answer 2

Denver residents are used to the condition, you actually want the opinions of travelers, I would think. It's not really that severe, try to breathe a bit more deeply than normal, but don't gasp, if you smoke, cut down a little bit and for the first couple of days pace your activities and if you find yourself a bit short of breath sit down for a bit and catch your breath. You'll find that your lungs compensate for the slight drop in air pressure by expanding slightly and as you're there for a while you'll notice the difference less and less.

Answer 3

First of all, Denver isn't very high in comparison to the mountains.  There is really nothing you can do to prepare other than be in really good physical condition in the first place, which will help you acclimate faster.  You should be prepared with aspirin (higher altitudes cause headaches) and diarrhea prevention (different pressures in your body cause weird things to happen).  

Lots of times higher altitude makes you feel really, really good on the first day and you try to do too much.  Just take it easy your first day and you should be OK.  And drink lot of water; the atmosphere is very dry.  

Answer 4

It's not really that bad once you get used to it, it will probably only affect you when you first get here, then you shouldn't really feel it if you drink a good amount of water.  

Answer 5

It's not bad.  I went away there and it didn't really affect me at all.

Unless you are way up high on the mountains, you should be fine.

Answer 6

Just take it easy  and drink plenty of water