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.
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.
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.
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.
My resting temperature has been 97.3 for decades.
I have ex-wives who swear it’s colder than that.
Then I want a refund on that $6 digital Rexall thermometer I bought at Dollar General last month, because it’s calibrated wrong! I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!
Oh great! Let’s give everyone another reason to panic. Now the cutoff for testing is gonna be 99.5 instead of over 100.
So let’s just call it 98. Simple enough and close enough to diagnose the sick.
Doesn't matter, I can tell when I am running hot. 8>)
I just bought a new digital thermometer on Amazon. I think it was the last one on Amazon that was less than $100. Good luck getting one now. The cheap ones are back ordered till May. I think they all come from China.
Anyways, I thought it was defective because it kept saying my temperature was around 97.8. I guess it ain’t broke and I’m normal.
Men also run higher body temps on average than women due to a, generally, quicker metabolism. My husband is a Human heater, but my body temp hovers around 96°F, even in summer.
I think standard came from a German doctor who measured in Celsius. That's why 98.6°F just happens to be a nice, round 37°C. The 37 was the original number.
I’m normal at 96/97. (Oral). Been so for decades.