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question everything

(48,974 posts)
Sun Mar 15, 2020, 12:42 PM Mar 2020

I read recently that body temperature has been dropping

from the "usual" 98.6.

In the past days I have been checking mine, on a digital thermometer and it has been 96.8 even 95..

(Several days ago, late at night, after reading too many posts here I felt pressure in my chest. So have been checking my temp. A good night sleep, though, took care of this)

On edit: found it

Our average body temperatures seem to be dropping

https://www.popsci.com/story/health/body-temperature-dropping-history/

One new study from Stanford University researchers finds that we seem to be colder, on average, than our forebears. The difference they detected isn’t huge—between 1.06 degrees Fahrenheit lower, on average, for men born today compared to those born in the early 1800s, and 0.58 degrees Fahrenheit for women born today compared to those born around 1890—but it adds to a growing body of evidence that body temperature is a lot more flexible than previously thought.

(snip)

She and her colleagues think the changing temperatures are explained by changing human physiology. After all, she says, the lives of Americans in 2020 are very different than those that Union Army veterans were living more than a century ago. Our microbiomes are probably different, thanks to what we eat and what we’re exposed to, and the amount of exercise people get in everyday life is different, too—and those are just two of many factors that may affect metabolism, which is directly connected to body temperature.

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I read recently that body temperature has been dropping (Original Post) question everything Mar 2020 OP
Pretty much around 36 C but apcalc Mar 2020 #1
Mine has been 97.5 for many years. SharonAnn Mar 2020 #9
Huh? Dream Girl Mar 2020 #2
Fixed my typo! Thks! apcalc Mar 2020 #4
I think nerves are causing some people to get sick. louis-t Mar 2020 #3
I take my temp every morning as I am transplant patient. GentryDixon Mar 2020 #5
Thanks question everything Mar 2020 #6
not as simple as temperatures are dropping Terry_M Mar 2020 #7
I think we sit on our butts too much now. docgee Mar 2020 #8
98.6 F is *exactly* 37.0 C, which leads me to suspect that ... eppur_se_muova Mar 2020 #10
Mine Turin_C3PO Mar 2020 #11

louis-t

(23,742 posts)
3. I think nerves are causing some people to get sick.
Sun Mar 15, 2020, 12:45 PM
Mar 2020

A friend called me and said she thought she was coming down with something. Good night sleep cured it.

Terry_M

(756 posts)
7. not as simple as temperatures are dropping
Sun Mar 15, 2020, 12:59 PM
Mar 2020

there was an explanation on a podcast, either Science Friday or something else I listen to.
The suspicion is that the average person (when measuring the temperature of thousands of people who don't have any visible flu symptoms) had somewhat more inflammation in their body 100 years ago than the average person would today.

So not really that your body, when 100% healthy is colder now than it was before but that it was more likely that aside from the flu, other reasons for some amount of inflammation would have been more common while outward appearances were 'normal'.

docgee

(870 posts)
8. I think we sit on our butts too much now.
Sun Mar 15, 2020, 01:54 PM
Mar 2020

Our bodies just don't stay as warm with the lower metabolism.

eppur_se_muova

(37,572 posts)
10. 98.6 F is *exactly* 37.0 C, which leads me to suspect that ...
Sun Mar 15, 2020, 05:00 PM
Mar 2020

body temperature was originally found to be near say 37 -- say 37 +/- 0.5 -- and American/English authors converted that to Fahrenheit and specified that extra decimal place without recognizing the variability. We've all memorized 98.6, but it might as well be 98-99, or evidently 97-98 now.

It's also known to be naturally higher in young, healthy children, which is why you don't necessarily call 99 a "fever".

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