Science warns of change in new normal body temperature

If we are guided by popular criteria, the threshold marking the difference between normal body temperature and the presence of low-grade fever is 37 degrees. This is not a randomly chosen number.

Since 1868, the average body temperature has been considered to be 36.6 degrees, so if you put a thermometer on and it’s between 36 and 37 degrees, obviously, you’ll have nothing to worry about.

The data was discovered by German doctor Carl Wunderlich, who analyzed the temperatures of 25,000 people in Germany using a thermometer and repeated it a total of one million times. Many studies have since supported this fact, but new research from Stanford University has exposed it.

Since 1868, the average body temperature has been considered to be 36.6 degrees.

The team led by Dr. Julie Parsonnet has analyzed the body temperatures of hundreds of thousands of people over the past 150 years and the results obtained differ from Dr. Wunderlich’s by 36 degrees.

There is no exact explanation for this drop in temperature, although it may be because when the samples were collected in 1868, people got sick more often than they do now and had higher body temperatures as a result.

Body temperature is different in men and women

So as the health of the population has improved, average temperatures have declined. A fact that will get us used to seeing low temperatures on the thermometer and will also allow us to debate in the future what are the limits of low-grade fever.

Body temperature is different in men and women. Women generally have lower body temperatures than men due to hormonal changes in the menstrual cycle. In addition, they have less muscle mass and a higher proportion of subcutaneous fat, so they get cold more often than men.