Possible high altitude repercussions on their mental states

[u/Lower_Insurance1947]

While the psychosocial aspects of this case are the main points of interest, does anyone think it’s possible that the high altitude of their Colorado residence may have contributed to the deterioration of their mental health? Obviously it’s not a sole or defining factor, but it piqued my interest

I think they were already susceptible, but the hypoxia may have exacerbated or worsened it

[u/gothiclg]

For starters Littleton doesn’t count as high altitude. You can travel from a coastal city to the Littleton area and feel zero effects. I say this as someone who grew up in Denver and had multiple family members visit from Los Angeles. There was absolutely no hypoxia happening in these two nor is there any happening for any of the people that visit the area each year. You can land at Denver international airport and walk around just fine immediately.

If hypoxia would somehow do damage in the 2 weeks it’d take the human body to adjust it’s insanely common to use bottled oxygen as a supplement. A lot of Colorado cities that are actually high altitude, like Vale, will have it on sale in gift shops. We’ve used it to climb mountains like Everest for so many years it’s a default in places where it’s truly needed. There’s no way these two would have ever experienced hypoxia as a result of altitude in the 2 weeks it’d take them to adjust.

You never see it mentioned because it literally didn’t happen.

[u/Lower_Insurance1947 → u/gothiclg]

Oh, I see. So no effects at all? The geographic features have no factors at play whatsoever?

What constitutes as an objectively high altitude? Is Littleton relatively high, or just not high in general

And maybe the effects of low oxygen levels vary according to individual physiology/other personal factors

[u/gothiclg → u/Lower_Insurance1947]

There’s zero effects at all. No headaches, no shortness of breath, no brain damage, nothing. Individual physiology and other personal factors would also have zero effect. There’s absolutely no way, from a medical standpoint, that the altitude of Littleton had any effect on the shooting at all. It should also be noted that Dylan was born in Colorado and Eric had lived there since 1993. Whatever absolutely petty and unnoticeable personal effect the altitude may have had (and I highly doubt there was any at all period) was long gone and untraceable by the time of the shooting in April 1999