I'm writing a story and I need to know: what kind of effects would one have from being on a planet with weaker gravity/atmosphere for an extended amount of time without a helmet/oxygen supply/etc? It would include dizziness because of lack of oxygen, right? And what about specifically effects of less gravity? Thank you <3
First, let’s talk about low oxygen.
Low oxygen is a serious problem for humans. The first noticeable effects would be shortness of breath and heart rate, within a few minutes of entering the environment. I’m going to assume that the oxygen levels are only slightly lowered, because otherwise the person wouldn’t live more than a few minutes. After a few hours, the person would begin to feel faint, light-headed, irritable, and possibly dizzy. Breathing and heart rate would be increased and irregular. The person would feel fatigued and struggle more than usual to perform any sort of task, especially those which require any sort of exertion. One of the long-lasting symptoms of low oxygen in the blood (hypoxemia) is clubbing of the fingers, meaning that the fingertips and fingernails grow unusually large. Another is gum disease. If left unchecked, even mild levels of hypoxemia can cause a host of serious problems, including high blood pressure in the lungs and eventually failure of the right ventricle of the heart.
For more information: WebMD, COPD Foundation, Spinal Cord, Live Strong
Now on to low gravity. Up to this point, there are no direct experiments dealing with low gravity because the effect is nearly impossible to replicate on Earth or in space. For now, the best we have is conjecture. The general assumption is that the effects of low gravity will be similar to the effects of zero gravity, only weaker. The major, known effects of zero gravity are: movement of fluids, muscle atrophy, and loss of bone density. These seem likely to occur at low gravity as well, but to a lesser degree.
For more information: NASA, Davidson Institute, a Medium article
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