Comment by leobg
1 month ago
So then, is it really the CO2 that produces the cognitive impairment, or is the CO2 here just the proxy value that we are measuring, and the real reason for the cognitive impairment is low oxygen?
1 month ago
So then, is it really the CO2 that produces the cognitive impairment, or is the CO2 here just the proxy value that we are measuring, and the real reason for the cognitive impairment is low oxygen?
If the amount of CO2 is basically a rounding error, so too would be the reduction in oxygen.
Nitrogen also causes cognitive impairment. It is essentially a very weak anesthetic. If you can replace all of the nitrogen in your breathing gas with helium then you'll probably gain the equivalent of a couple IQ points (although obviously that isn't generally practical).
Nitrogen narcosis is especially relevant to divers. Recreational SCUBA diving is usually limited to around 30m depth and some divers will start noticing effects (basically like getting drunk) near that depth when using air in the tanks. This is why different mixtures (e.g. trimix) are used at increased depths, though there are other important effects of breathing air at pressure such as oxygen toxicity.
It’s also the metabolic changes in pH. CO2 is a proxy for ph as carbon dioxide acidifies the blood as it dissolves.
You could climb a mountain to test your hypothesis, keeping an eye on partial pressure of O2
We have a natural experiment. People in Denver aren't especially stupid.