If oxygen is so toxic to our health, why are the mountain dwellers so healthy? Natural selection?

Answer 1

oxygen is only toxic in disproportionate amounts...yes oxygen poisoning exists...it's not necessarily that mountain dwellers are more healthy it's that they are particularly suited to the high altitudes where the air is purer and thinner. In a way it is natural selection because these people, such as those that live in the Andes Mountains, have developed larger lungs and larger hearts in order to get the amount of oxygen needed to breathe.

for people who think oxygen cannot be toxic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_toxicity

Answer 2

Your question has two bad assumptions:

1. Normal oxygen is not toxic to our health. *Pure oxygen* is toxic because it damages cells. But any breathable atmosphere on the planet is not nearly at a high enough level to be toxic.

2. Why do you think that mountain dwellers get more oxygen? They get less.

The reason mountain dwellers are so healthy is because they live away from the cities.

Answer 3

Where are you getting your information? Oxygen sustains life, it is necessary,
they give it to you when you can not get it on your own with your lungs.
Without oxygen (21% in the atmosphere) you would die. Mountain dweller's health has nothing to do with Oxygen, as a matter of fact the rarefied atmospheres of high mountains create larger lungs in some people , like the Indians in the Andes mountains. They need larger lungs to get more of the scarce oxygen.
I fail to find any connection between your question and Natural Selection.

Answer 4

Your sentence doesn't make sense. Mountain dwellers actually get less oxygen, so if your oxygen is toxic and mountain dwellers are healthier, that would seem to answer your question.
Mountain dwellers get less oxygen, so they are healthier. Actually, I suspect that they have to work harder to fill their lungs and have to work harder to do everyday things and the harder work makes them healthier. Most pollutants are NOT up in the mountains, so that probably has some effect as well. Or maybe the sickly ones go down to the valleys where the Doctors are and never come back up.

Answer 5

I didn't know oxygen was toxic to health, but if it is then it would make sense for mountain dwellers to be more healthy. There is less oxygen at higher atmospheres (at least those in the range of mountains) so they would be consuming less oxygen than people at lower altitudes, and therefore be healthier.

Answer 6

Maybe you're thinking of ozone? When it is in the atmosphere, it is good and protects the planet from harmful rays of the sun and all that. But when it comes down to the earth it causes nasty chemical reactions with pollution close to the ground that has adverse effects on people's health.

People in the mountains may be "healthier" because there is less oxygen in the air, so their bodies produce more red blood cells to compensate. Then when they descend from their mountaintops they have all these extra red blood cells that can carry more oxygen around their bodies. Athletes sometimes train at high altitudes to increase their red blood cell counts to improve performance.

I'm not sure how it relates to natural selection, exactly. The question is a bit confusing.

Answer 7

Of all the regions in the United States, those living in the central Rocky Mountains have the longest average lifespan. The primary reason for it is that living in the mountains keeps one active, which is always good for health. Oxygen isn't toxic to our health, but even if it were, the easy but wrong answer to your question would be, "Because there's less oxygen at higher altitudes!".

Answer 8

oxygen is not toxic to our health. unclean air is toxic. pollutants are bad for us, not oxygen.