Posted on 03/17/2020 9:42:24 PM PDT by steve86
CHICAGO — For centuries, 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit was said to be the average, normal body temperature. It’s not.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.com ...
More recently, researchers have known normal body temperature is actually lower than 98.6 and can vary by gender, size, age, time of day and other factors. But now there’s also evidence that shows we’ve been cooling off since the 19th century when 98.6 was established as “normal.”
As the coronavirus, dubbed COVID-19, continues to spread, temperature checks are necessary for those feeling ill, public health officials say. Fever, along with coughing and shortness of breath, make up the symptoms of the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Research published in January in eLife shows body temperature has not only dropped since German physician Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich’s study in 1851 established the average body temperature as 98.6 degrees, but it has also dropped since the 1970s. The findings indicate that Americans’ average, normal body temperature has dropped about 0.05 degrees Fahrenheit per decade, based on their birth year, to 97.8.
“People are stuck on the 98.6 number, but that number has always been wrong,” said Dr. Julie Parsonnet, one of the authors of the study and professor of medicine at Stanford University. “There’s never been a real number because people vary.”
But Parsonnet’s research indicates there are still unknowns when it comes to the continued decrease in body temperature.
>> temperature has dropped about 0.05 degrees Fahrenheit per decade
Global cooling... I knew it.
I’m sure the demented leftists will tie this to global warming, saying it’s our body’s response to increasingly warmer temperatures.
The erf has a fevah.
Algore
98.6 was always just a mean temp anyway.
Say WHAT!? You mean the science on normal body temperature isn’t even settled?
Not for cold blooded Rat vermin.
My wife always says I am a lot more warm than her, about like or cats that run at or above 100°F.
Mine has almost been in the 97s.
I used to worry when the doc told me.
He said don’t worry.
Giving a REASON would have been nice :)
I was young and never asked.
When I got older, I jut didn’t care :)
How do you like that?
* Body temperatures going down
* Global temperatures going up
The universe is in perfect balance - 7 billion with reduced body temps perfectly offsets any global warming.
Now that we are REALLY old, any body temp above room temp is great news.
So do you have the virus if your temp is 98.6
What is the point of the article.
As long as Nelson Mandela is still dead.
I rarely hit 98. It’s usually 97 point something.
Mine has always been the inverse: 96.8
The brain likes it cool; so having the average go down is a good thing.
I feel feverish at 98.6. I usually run in the 97s.
My resting temperature has been 97.3 for decades.
I have ex-wives who swear it’s colder than that.
Haha!!! Love that song!
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