Body temperature has long been recognised as a key indicator of health. Far from being a standard quantity, human body temperature is extremely variable and can vary depending on a number of factors. Show Doctors have used body temperature as a measure of illness for centuries. For the better part of two centuries, western medicine held normal body temperature or “normothermia” to be 37°C-38°C [98.6 to 100.4 °F]. Since then however, our understanding of normothermia has evolved. We now understand that “body temperature”, far from being consistent throughout, actually refers to a hodgepodge of different temperatures at different locations in the body. For example, if you measure your rectal temperature, you are likely to get a reading that’s higher than an oral measurement. This is because your body is an open system that is constantly interacting with the external environment. At the surface level, the temperature of the body (i.e peripheral temperature) is directly influenced by the ambient temperature. But despite the many factors that influence temperature, your body maintains its core temperature fairly constant. Core temperature refers to the temperature of the inner organs of the body. The body uses a wide range of mechanisms to ensure that core temperature is maintained within a narrow range that is most suited for the various reactions involved in the body’s metabolic process. Here are some of the variables that influence your body temperature1. AgeOne of the most elementary factors that influence normal body temperature is age. The influence of age on body temperature is most easily observed in the case of children and elderly people. Children tend to have very high metabolic rates, i.e their bodies convert food to energy at a much higher rate, on average, compared to adults. This also translates to kids, on average, having a higher baseline body temperature, than adults. On the other end of the age spectrum, the opposite is true. Older people, especially those older than 65, generally tend to have lower baseline temperatures than their younger counterparts. And this decline is progressive - this study shows that people in the 65-75 age group had higher peak temperatures than those in the 75-85 and >85 age groups. In addition to having a lower baseline, older people also have more muted immune responses, all of which makes it very challenging to detect infections. That’s why continuous fever monitoring could be crucial in geriatric care. Because they have lower baseline temperatures, using standard benchmarks to detect fevers are bound to fail. So, it is all the more important that a unique, individualised baseline is established, against which spikes can be caught more readily 2. SexIt was all the way back in 1868 that the idea of body temperature varying by gender was floated by German physician Carl Wunderlich. Wunderlich claimed that women, on average, tended to have higher body temperatures than men. Numerous theories have been floated to explain this - women having a higher percentage of body fat than men, female sex hormones etc. A 1993 study found no significant differences in body temperature between its male and female subjects. In fact, this review published in 2019, found that its female subjects, on average, tended to have a slightly lower body temperature than men. However, it dismisses this difference as insignificant. It has to be noted however, that a woman’s body temperature is higher during ovulation and pregnancy, and lower at the start of the menstrual cycle. 3. Time of The DayBody temperature undergoes significant fluctuation over the course of a day. This is called “diurnal variation”. It is usually at its lowest early in the morning and slowly climbs up after a person wakes up, reaching its peak late in the afternoon. This variation corresponds to the level of metabolic activity, which is lowest during sleep and slowly climbs up as the day progresses. 4. Exercise or Physical ExertionYour muscles need energy to function. During strenuous physical activity, your muscles generate a tremendous amount of heat, which results in an increase in your body temperature. The body tries to dissipate the excess heat in order to restore the body to a normothermic state. However, sometimes, the body finds itself unable to cope with the increase in temperature and lose enough heat to maintain the core temperature stable. The more work your muscles are required to do, the more heat they generate. The extent to which your body temperature climbs during exercise is linked both to the intensity of the activity and the amount of heat lost by your body. Training in hot/humid conditions makes it harder for the body to keep its core temperature within the normal range. This paves the way for dehydration and/or heat illness, which is extremely dangerous. This is why experts warn against intense exercise in hot weather. The more your body is conditioned to a certain level of physical activity, the better it is at being able to dissipate heat. So, the key takeaways from this should be to be patient and take your time with conditioning your body and to hydrate adequately before intense workouts. A Continuous temperature monitoring device could offer you insights into how your body is coping with your workout intensity. It uses continuous temperature measurements to assess how your body temperature varies in relation to its baseline. Using continuous temperature monitoring could help you efficiently tailor your workouts to your body’s level of conditioning. 5. StressBody temperature increases in response to stressful situations. Stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline mediate this increase in body temperature. This increase in temperature is an adaptive response of the body to deal with perceived threats. Adrenaline, which mediates the body’s “fight or flight” response, stimulates increased heat production in the liver, in addition to driving other adaptive changes. The liver being one of the body’s largest and most metabolically active organs, has a notable impact on body temperature. Click here to know more about psychogenic fever (fever caused by stress and anxiety). 6. MealsThere is usually a slight increase in body temperature shortly after a meal. If you use a continuous temperature monitoring device, you can notice a small increase in your temperature, 20-30 minutes after eating. This reflects an increase in your metabolic rate, to facilitate digestion. 7. Drugs and SmokingMany pharmaceutical drugs, including several classes of antibiotics (cephalosporins, penicillins etc), methyldopa, phenytoin, among others, are known to cause an increase in body temperature. Additionally, many commonly used recreational substances such as MDMA and cocaine also cause body temperature to rise. Smoking cigarettes has also been known to cause spikes in body temperature. 8. Site of MeasurementBody temperature readings vary depending on the site of measurement. Here are some basic guidelines to understand how temperature readings may vary across the most common measurement sites. As a rule, an axillary temperature is usually 0.3°C -0.6 °C [0.5°F-1°F] lower than an oral temperature and a rectal reading is 0.3°C-0.6°C [0.5°F -1°F] higher than an orally measured reading. Invasive methods are required to obtain an exact measurement of the body’s core temperature. In many cases, it doesn’t make sense to opt for invasive methods, despite their reliability and accuracy. Rectal readings have been considered a happy middle ground between accuracy and convenience. but in recent years, rectal measurement of temperature has increasingly gone out of favour because of patient reluctance and concerns that it spreads infections.
Your body temperature can reveal a lot about your health. Body temperature is one of four key vital signs doctors look at, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. An infection can cause a fever, but your body temperature also fluctuates according to your age, your sex, and even when you tell a lie. Learn more about normal body temperature, fevers, and other factors that affect body heat. The average normal body temperature is generally considered to be 98.6 degrees F, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. But "normal" body temperature can range from 97 degrees F to 99 degrees F, and what’s normal for you may be a little higher or lower than the average body temperature. Your body is always adapting its temperature in response to environmental conditions. For example, your body temperature increases when you exercise. And if you check your temperature with a thermometer, you will see that it’s higher in the late afternoon and evening than first thing in the morning when you rise, according to the Mayo Clinic. Babies and young children have a higher body temperature than older kids and adults, because the surface area of their bodies is larger relative to their weight, and their metabolism is more active. Newborns typically have an average body temperature of 99.5 degrees F. A fever is a temporary increase in your body temperature, and it’s often caused by illness, according to the Mayo Clinic. A rectal, ear, or temporal artery (forehead) temperature of 100.4 degrees or higher generally indicates a fever. Fevers usually subside within a few days. If you have a fever, you may also experience the following symptoms:
For adults, a body temperature of 103 degrees F or higher can be a cause for concern, and warrants a call to your doctor, according to the Mayo Clinic. Also call your doctor if along with a fever, you have a severe headache; an unusual skin rash; unusual sensitivity to bright light; stiff neck and pain when you bend your head forward; mental confusion; persistent vomiting; difficulty breathing or chest pain; abdominal pain or pain when urinating; or convulsions or seizures. For infants and toddlers, a temperature that is only slightly higher than usual could be a sign of a serious infection, according to the Mayo Clinic. Call your doctor if your child is younger than 3 months and has a rectal temperature of 100.4 degrees F or higher; between 3 and 6 months old and has a rectal temperature up to 102 degrees F and seems atypically irritable, lethargic, or uncomfortable, or has a temperature higher than 102 degrees F; or between 6 and 24 months and has a rectal temperature higher than 102 degrees F that lasts longer than one day. If your child is 2 years old or older, call your doctor if they have a fever that lasts longer than three days, or if they seem unresponsive to you. Young children from 6 months to 5 years old might have febrile seizures with a high body temperature, which usually involve loss of consciousness and shaking of limbs on both sides of the body, according to the Mayo Clinic. Call for emergency medical care if a seizure lasts longer than five minutes, or take your child to the doctor as soon as possible after the seizure to figure out what caused it. Most people fret over a fever, but it actually can be helpful. Various over-the-counter medications can lower a fever, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB), but sometimes it's better left untreated, according to the Mayo Clinic. This is because fever seems to play an important role in helping your body fight off infections. Still, your doctor may prescribe an antibiotic if he or she suspects a bacterial infection, such as pneumonia or strep throat. Fever is one of the symptoms of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Low body temperature is not a symptom of COVID-19. If you think you may have been exposed to the new coronavirus, the CDC recommends that you take your temperature twice daily to see if you have a fever. The CDC defines a fever as 100.4 degrees F or higher. If you have a child younger than 4 years old, use an ear thermometer to take their temperature, or place a regular thermometer under your child’s arm in the center of their armpit, the CDC recommends. If your child’s armpit temperature is 99.4 degrees F or higher, they have a fever. If you have a high body temperature or any other symptoms of COVID-19 and want to get tested, the CDC recommends calling your state or local health department or a medical provider. Most people with COVID-19 have mild illness and are able to recover at home, the CDC notes. RELATED: Coronavirus 101: Your Ultimate Guide to COVID-19 If it seems like you're always cold, even during the dog days of summer, it could be your age. Studies show that as we age, our average body temperature declines slightly. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing that measured the body temperature of 133 nursing home residents found that body temperature was below average in those 65 to 74 years old; even lower in people 75 to 84; and lowest among those older than 85, some of whom had a low body temperature of 93.5 degrees F under normal circumstances. This is important to know, because seniors may actually be running a fever at lower temperatures than younger adults. There really might be something to the saying “cold hands, warm heart.” In a study published in the Lancet, researchers at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City found that women’s core body temperature is, on average, 0.4 degrees higher than men’s (97.8 vs. 97.4). But women’s hands are 2.8 degrees F colder than men's on average — 87.2 degrees F, compared with 90 degrees F for men. Remember your mom telling you to wear a hat when it's cold outside, because most body heat is lost through your head? It turns out that her advice may not have been completely spot-on, according to an article published in the medical journal BMJ. Studies have shown that there is nothing unique about your head when it comes to heat loss — any part of your body that is not covered loses heat and will reduce your core body temperature proportionally. Fibbing won't cause your nose to grow, but it will make it colder. Despite this discrepancy with the old children's story, researchers at the University of Grenada in Spain dubbed their findings the "Pinocchio effect." In a study published in April 2018 in the Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, they used thermal imaging to demonstrate that the anxiety brought on by a lie causes the temperature of the nose to decrease and the areas around the forehead to increase. Like your food spicy? It may raise your body temperature — and your metabolism. A study published in Physiology and Behavior had participants add about 1 gram of red pepper to their food. Their core body temperature rose, but their skin temperature was lower. Study authors theorize that this increased heat production along with decreased sensations of appetite demonstrates a potential benefit of consuming red pepper for those who are trying to manage their weight, especially for people who don’t usually eat spicy foods. Therapeutic hypothermia is a type of treatment sometimes used for people who have cardiac arrest (when the heart suddenly stops beating), according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. Once the heart starts beating again, healthcare providers use cooling devices to lower the patient’s body temperature to around 89 to 93 degrees F. Lowering the body temperature right after cardiac arrest can reduce damage to the brain, and raises the chances that the person will recover. This isn't just crime-show fodder. After people die, they no longer produce body heat, and the body slowly cools. This process is called algor mortis (Latin for “the coldness of death”). Algor mortis has been used as a tool in forensic investigations to estimate how long a person has been deceased after their body has been discovered. But various factors affect body temperature, so it’s not a totally reliable or accurate technique. |
What happens when the body temperature rises up significantly beyond the normal temperature?
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