Abstract
Mountain sickiness. Causes and mechanisms of mountain sickness are complex and have not been clearly determinated. Up to date the clearest way to prevent it is by acclimatization, although acetazolamide has also resulted to be efficient in some individuals. However acetazolamide is not always recommended and acclimatization is not always possible, existing also a great variability to the responses to both solutions. Little attention, in the rewieved literature, has been paid to psychological aspects of mountain sickness, although it seems to exist indications that some psycological variables may modulate their effects. It may possible that anxiety caused by some negative cognitive interpretation of the effects and consequences of mountain sickness could generate stress and this could cause mountain sickness.
