Your 80-Hours-A-Week Job At Sea Level Will Not Be An Issue

Needing to acclimate to high elevations for a South American mountain trek but don’t have one minute to spare? Simply obtain an altitude chamber and train from the office:

The chamber came equipped with a mask, which [Richard] Wiese could strap over his mouth and nose. The air coming through the mask was even more hypoxic, like the air at twenty-one thousand feet. After issuing a few disclaimers, Wiese had the visitor strap on the mask. “It’s going to be a horrible experience, and at some point you’ll say, ‘Take this off!'” he said. The mask went on, and within a minute the world grew heavy, the light pre-surgical. The pulse sped, as the blood’s oxygen level dropped. “More of your cells are being killed than are being rejuvenated,” Wiese explained. To mimic conditions inside a snowbound tent, Wiese and the visitor played a few hands of blackjack. “Look at you bobbing around,” Wiese said. “Your eyes are looking a little buggy. Try standing up.” This experiment did not go well. Nor did a brief one involving a step machine inside the chamber. Finally, the revelation that the visitor was feeling an unfamiliar tingling in the vicinity of his left femoral artery prompted an immediate removal of the mask.