For decades, 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius) has been the widely accepted “normal” average temperature for the human body. But new research adds to the growing body of evidence that humans are actually a little colder.
Additionally, the study suggests that there is no “normal” body temperature, because readings vary greatly depending ondepending on a variety of factors, from the person’s age to the time of day.
The reason is because each person is different, and There are many factors that can affect body temperature, such as age, body type, activity, diet, illness, time of day, and how it is measured.. The temperature is usually measured inside the ear, under the tongue, in the armpit, rectally or on the forehead. There is even an ingestible thermometric pill, and Each of these types of thermometers returns slightly different average temperatures.
What is the normal body temperature
The scientists analyzed oral temperature measurements from more than 126,000 adults seen between 2008 and 2017. They also collected information about each patient, such as their height, weight, sex and age, and noted the time of day they were taken. took the temperature. was taken.
They found that the average human body temperature was around 97.9 degrees, almost a degree lower than 98.6 (36 or 35 degrees Celsius). But are humans really getting colder? Maybe, but maybe not.
It’s also possible that average body temperatures have dropped in recent decades because humans are generally getting healthier. Thanks to advances in medicine and dentistry, patients face less inflammation than they did 150 years ago, reports Dana G. Smith of the
The new study also finds temperature variations depending on patient characteristics and time of day. For example, women tend to be hotter than men. Older people tend to have lower temperatures than younger people. And, among all demographic groups, temperatures tend to be lower in the morning and higher in the afternoon.
Since there is so much variability in body temperature, a high reading for one person could be normal for another. Together, these and other recent findings suggest that doctors should rethink the temperature setpoints they use to determine when a patient is healthy and when something might be wrong.
According to the researchers, individualized temperature assessments and personalized fever thresholds could be more useful than comparing everyone to the average. For example, a doctor might consider how a patient’s current temperature compares to their historical readings.