--- title: The 2-Mile High Club: How Tibetans Endure High Altitudes description: When you or I go up to high altitude, we gasp for a while, maybe faint, and then gradually adapt. canonical: https://time.com/2949907/heres-why-tibetans-can-live-comfortably-at-crazy-high-altitudes/ author: Michael Lemonick article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-02T17:00:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:56:32.146Z article:section: Health og:title: The Reason Tibetans Can Thrive At Crazy-High Altitudes og:description: When you or I go up to high altitude, we gasp for a while, maybe faint, and then gradually adapt. og:url: https://time.com/2949907/heres-why-tibetans-can-live-comfortably-at-crazy-high-altitudes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf800efc582a940df/69869a4cadae44469b543fe1/tibetans-live-high-altitude.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Tibetans Can Live at High Altitudes og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Reason Tibetans Can Thrive At Crazy-High Altitudes twitter:description: When you or I go up to high altitude, we gasp for a while, maybe faint, and then gradually adapt. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf800efc582a940df/69869a4cadae44469b543fe1/tibetans-live-high-altitude.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's Why Tibetans Can Live Comfortably At Crazy-High Altitudes by [Michael Lemonick](https://time.com/author/michael-d-lemonick/) ## Michael Lemonick Jul 2, 2014 5:00 PM UTC  The Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet. The Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet.Dave Bartruff—Getty Images by [Michael Lemonick](https://time.com/author/michael-d-lemonick/) ## Michael Lemonick Jul 2, 2014 5:00 PM UTC When you or I go up to high altitude, we gasp for a while, maybe faint, and then gradually adapt. The way we do it is by furiously generating more red blood cells, to increase the blood’s ability to absorb oxygen, which gets thinner the higher we go. But we pay a price: all of those extra blood cells can make the blood sticky, leading to a risk of high blood pressure, heart attack and, in pregnant women, the delivery of low-birth-weight babies. We pay that price, that is, unless we’re natives of the Tibetan plateau, where people live more or less cheerfully at altitudes of 13,000 feet and more. The secret lies in their genes—mostly in a gene known as EPAS1, which allows them to absorb scarce oxygen without creating extra blood cells. But while genetic traits are often created by mutations within a given species, this one evidently came from outside. According to a [paper just published in the current ](http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature13408)[_Nature_](http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature13408)_,_ the Tibetans’ ancestors evidently mated with a now extinct human species known as the [Denisovans](http://science.time.com/2013/12/05/ancient-human-genes-cause-new-confusion-for-science/), which went extinct somewhere around 40,000 years ago. It’s no surprise that matings have happened between modern humans and other human species. We share a fair number of genes with the more familiar [Neanderthals](http://time.com/2837/neanderthal-genes-in-you/), for example, who were the Denisovan’s distant cousins. But it’s not clear (although it’s certainly possible) that Neanderthal genes gave our ancestors any specific evolutionary advantages. For Tibetans, though, the high-altitude gene allowed them to colonize a region nobody else could survive (some [Han Chinese](http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature13408), which make up more than 90% of the population of China, also have the gene, but it’s relatively rare). “We found part of the EPAS1 gene in Tibetans is almost identical to the gene in Denisovans,” said lead author Rasmus Nielsen, of the University of California, Berkeley, in a statement, ” and very different from all other humans.” What’s perhaps even more surprising is that the scientists had Denisovan genes to work with in the first place. “The only reason we can say that this bit of DNA is Denisovan, said Nielsen, “is is because of this lucky accident of sequencing DNA from a little bone found in a cave in Siberia. We found the Denisovan species at the DNA level, but how many other species are out there that we haven’t sequenced?” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2949907/heres-why-tibetans-can-live-comfortably-at-crazy-high-altitudes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2949907/heres-why-tibetans-can-live-comfortably-at-crazy-high-altitudes/"},"headline":"Here's Why Tibetans Can Live Comfortably At Crazy-High Altitudes","datePublished":"2014-07-02T17:00:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:56:32.146Z","description":"Ancient mating patterns seem to have given these plateau dwellers an odd advantage","url":"https://time.com/2949907/heres-why-tibetans-can-live-comfortably-at-crazy-high-altitudes/","keywords":["Research","Heart Disease","health","Tibet","high blood pressure"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf800efc582a940df/69869a4cadae44469b543fe1/tibetans-live-high-altitude.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michael Lemonick","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/michael-d-lemonick/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf800efc582a940df/69869a4cadae44469b543fe1/tibetans-live-high-altitude.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Tibetans Can Live at High Altitudes","caption":"Tibetans Can Live at High Altitudes","creditText":"Dave Bartruff—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2949907/heres-why-tibetans-can-live-comfortably-at-crazy-high-altitudes/","name":"Here's Why Tibetans Can Live Comfortably At Crazy-High Altitudes"}}]}] ```