10/07/2022

PHYSIOLOGY

Unit 4a

Learning Objectives
Upon succesful completion of this unit, you will be able to :
• Describe the changes of greatest
physiological significance in day-to-day flight
operation

• Describe and explain the respiration process

• Describe an explain the heart and its related

components and processes

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Unit overview
• This unit focuses on how flying impacts
the physical and mental health of the
pilots, flight crew and passenger.

• It describes the Standard Atmosphere as

well as the respiration and circulation
system and possible problem in day to
day operation

Physiology
• Physiology is the study of how the human body works It describes the chemistry and physics behind
basic body functions, from how molecules behave in cells to how systems of organs work together.

• Aviation physiology focuses on how flying impacts the physical and mental health of the pilots, flight
crew and passengers

• In flight, - the changes of greatest physiological significance involved are

• changes in barometric pressure,
• considerable variation in temperature, and
• movement at high speed in three dimensions

# We must appreciate the limiting factors in adjustment of the human body to flight conditions. *

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The atmosphere is a "gaseous"

blanket covering the earth.
Without the atmosphere there
would be no life on earth.

PHYSICAL DIVISIONS OF THE ATMOSPHERE

• As the illustration of the "standard atmosphere" above, the amount of air surrounding the
earth, varies in pressure and temperature throughout its entire height.

• This atmosphere can be your best friend, but it can also be an enemy. Humans are creatures
that function best at low altitudes

• Precautions must be taken to mitigate the threats of hypoxia, decompression sickness,

hypothermia, and spatial disorientation

• Boyle’s law said if Pressure (P) of gas is halved, its volume is Double

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Respiraton
• The process by which aliving organism exchanges gasses with its environment is called respiration.

• The more obvious features of this process are the absorption of oxygen from the atmosphere and
the elimination of carbon dioxide from the body.

• This is the normal flow: air enters the nasal passages or the mouth, where it is warmed
moisturized, and filtered

• The brain only constitutes 2% of the body weight, but it consumes 20% of the total requirement of
oxygen.

• A normal healthy adult will breathe about 12-20 times a minute.

• Pulmonary capacity is
about 5 ltr of air.

• Residual Volume. This is

the volume of air that
will always remainin the
lungs, even after forceful
expiration. It is
approximately 1,2 ltr

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THE CIRCULATION
The segment of circulation

This deals with the transportation of

blood through out the human body.
HEART Blood transports food, oxygen, and
HEART water to the tissues

Several factors can cause the

HEART demand for oxygen to vary e.g :
ARTERIES Exercise, Altitude, and
VEINS
RATE
Temperature.

RED containS hemoglobin

BLOOD that carries oxygen to
the tissues
CELLS

• normal : below 100-139/ 60-89mmHg ;

BLOOD • between 140- 159/90-94 mmHg : borderline or pre-hypertension
PRESSURE • 159/94 mmHg or above : hypertension.
(depending on • Systolic blood pressure during heart beats, Diastolic (between
age primarily)
heartbeats)

CAPILLARIES

Blood Pressure Disease

HYPERTENSION HYPOTENSION

• "the silent killer." usually occurs without any symptoms • The symptoms are
(several potentially fatal complications, such as heart • dizziness and fainting,
attacks or strokes) • lack of concentration,
• Hypertension can be caused by: • blurred vision, nausea,
• genetic factors • cold or clammy and pale skin,
• obesity • rapid and shallow breathing.
• lack of exercise
• stress • Severe hypotension can lead to a life threatening
• smoking
• overuse of salt and fat condition called shock
• aging or an increased resistance
• Factors predispose to a heart attack • blood pressure reading of 99/60 mmHg or less
• hypertension
• Diabetes/obesity
• genetic Factors
• smoking
• high Cholesterol
• lack of adequate physical activity
• stress and Strain in life
• excessive use of alcohol

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HYPOXIA HYPERVENTILATION TRAPPED GAS

• an inadequate supply of oxygen to
• When a person is
function properly. • On descent, the gas is
breathing at a rate faster
naturally trapped.
• The order of symptoms varies among than normal (12-20
Because of the increasing
individuals:. breaths every minute)
pressure on descent
1. increased breathing rate,
2. Headache/dizziness, • the symptoms of
• this pressure will need to
3. tingling or warm sensations, hyperventilation =
be equalized or an ear
4. sweating, hypoxia
5. poor coordination, block will result
6. impaired judgment, • The only treatment is to
slow the rate and depth
• Factors Influencing Susceptibility to
of breathing
Hypoxia IS Altitude
• Anaemic Hypoxia is caused by the
inability of red blood cells to carry
enough oxygen through the system
• If an ascent is continued above
1500m (5000ft) → hypoxia

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KEY LEARNING POINTS

01 This study of the 02 The knowledge of

efficiency of this topic should
persons in their minimize the risk of
working injury in the
environtment workplace

PHYSIOLOGY

Unit 4b

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BRAIN

• In humans about 86%

of the entire brain
mass is the Neocortex
• involved in analyzing
information

. In this part of the brain

are the "emotions“is the
part of a person's
character that consists of
their feelings, as
opposed to their
thoughts

regulates body functions such as

consciousness, fatigue, heart rate, and
blood pressure. Damage to the brain
stem can cause loss of consciousness

BRAIN SYSTEM – Kahneman theory

• System I ( auto-pilot) : reacts fast on basis of impressions, hunches, intentions
and feelings. The emotional Mind

• System II (rational part) : takes care for the conscious attention for mental
effort, resulting in self-control. makes plans, predicts the future, monitors the
self, and attempts to distinguish between and suppress animal instincts.

• The environment External stimuli make up the world that the mind consciously
and unconsciously interprets and reacts to and play a significant role in
directing behavior

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Perception (linked to memory)

Perception is done through the nervous system and five main senses. Perception is
always linked to memory

Sensory Memory
MEMORY
This model represents how we acquire,
relate, make sense and use the outside Short Term
world information in our mind to Memory
understand what's going on and to react/
make decisions
Long-Term
Memory

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Sensory Memory (Working memory)

• Working memory  Working attention

• holds information for less than one second, after an item is perceived

• The ability to look at an item and remember what it looked like with
just a split second of observation, or memorization

SHORT TERM MEMORY

• (STM) is the entry and the exit from the long-term memory (LTM).
• Capacity for holding a small amount of information in mind in an active,
readily available state for a short period of time.
• Duration of short-term memory around 10 / 15 seconds.
• Estimates of short-term memory capacity limits from 7, + 2 items.
• Very fragile and sensitive to distraction.

• How to Easier remember 203457678890 ?

• Strategies to increase the number of items : gather them into meaningful

“chunks”

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Long term Memory

• Contains all knowledge for along time

• Unlimited capacity, acquisition until death

• Nothing is forgotten... but all could be mislead

SITUATION AWARENESS (SA)

• To put it simply, situational awareness involves picking up cues from the environment,
putting those cues together to understand what is going on, and using that
understanding to predict what may happen next

• In the late 1980s, psychologist Mica Endsley developed a model of situational awareness
with three primary components:
• the perception
• the comprehension
• the projection, space and time

• Transportation and logistics is another example of an industry in which situational

awareness is important, Any breakdown can halt revenue and customer satisfaction,
sometimes for the long term

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SA MODEL

Games 1

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Games 2

BIAS

The The The The The

Confirmation Hindsight Anchoring misinformation self-serving
Bias Bias Bias Bias
Bias

is the the tendency

the tendency the tendency the tendency for people
tendency to to be overly for memories
listen more to see events, tend to give
even random influenced by to be heavily themselves
often to the first piece influenced by
ones, as credit for
information of things that
more successes
that confirms information happened
predictable but lay the
our existing that we hear after the
than they are blame for
beliefs actual event failures on
itself outside
causes

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Sensory System
• Although we generally learn that the body has five senses, some people argue that we
also have 2 additional senses, a vestibular and a proprioception

• The vestibular (movement) sense gives us information about where our head and
body and helps us stay upright when we sit, stand, and walk.

• The proprioception (body position) sense is the body awareness sense, which tells us
where our body parts are relative to each other.

• Meanwhile, Nervous System Conducts sensory information from the peripheral nervous
system to the brain

VISION
• Photopic Vision is the vision through the functioning of the cones under well-lit
conditions

• Scotopic Vision is the vision through the functioning of the rods under low light
conditions

• Mesopic Vision occurs in intermediate lighting conditions and is effectively a

combination of scotopic and photopic vision.

• Night Vision The eyes work independently when adapting to changes in light intensity.
The eye takes approximately 20-30 minutes to fully adapt from bright sunlight to
complete darkness

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Some Defect
• Glaucoma is a disease in which
the optic nerve is damaged.
Raised intraocular pressure is a
significant risk factor for
developing glaucoma

• Cataracts are usually associated

with the aging process. Cataract
can be surgically treated

STUDY CHECK

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GROUP DISCUSSION

THANK YOU

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