Eli5: what does airplane cabins pressurized to 8,000 ft mean and how does that not feel like breathing at high altitude?

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People will visit Denver or New Mexico and feel the altitude at only 6,000 feet or so. They’ll get winded or headaches or other issues till they adjust after a few days.

So how come we breathe without issue on planes if they’re pressurized to 8,000 feet?

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4 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Mostly it is because you are not really exercising at all when you are on an airplane. At most you get up to go to the bathroom.

Compare that to being in Denver, where even if you are not doing exercise that you think of as exercise you might be walking from one side of a parking lot to another, and that is dozens of times more exercise than walking to the bathroom on an airplane.

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