Human Body Temperature Cools: Scientific American
Health officials and the public have long assumed that normal body temperature was a narrow range around 37 degrees Celsius, or 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. In 1851, a German doctor tested 15,000 patients and determined the average. New studies reviewed historical data and suggest that temperatures declined, putting the average at 97.5 degrees Fahrenheit, or 36.3 degrees Celsius. Researchers suggest the temperature decline could be related to surroundings and indoor-temperature controls, clothing styles, increased height and weight, changes in work and exercise habits, and even a decline in infectious diseases. One author theorized that it might be healthier to have a lower metabolism and body temperature. Critics suggest the methods for collecting temperatures may not have been consistent in the historical data sets; also, temperature can vary on activity or time of day. – YaleGlobal
Human Body Temperature Cools: Scientific American
A new study suggests that the typical human body temperature has cooled by about a degree over the past 150 years
Saturday, January 25, 2020
Read the article from Scientific American about a study on average human body temperatures.
Karen Weintraub is a freelance health and science journalist who writes regularly for the New York Times, STAT and USA Today, among others.
Read the study “Decreasing Human Body Temperature in the United States Since the Industrial Revolution” from eLife.
(Source: photo, Kevin Lamarque and Reuters)
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