Are human body temperatures cooling down?

Under coronavirus lock-down I enter a restaurant with socially distanced tables (and no alcohol in South Africa). My partner and I must fist hand-sanitize and fill out a form. Then a waiter comes over and checks our temperatures. It's an infrared thermometer, applied to any clear area of skin (it's not the old school tub of Vaseline and bending over in the gents as I first feared). My forehead temperature is around 36 degrees Celsius, and my partner's arm around 35. 5.

OK, they're just checking for fever, and we're in the clear.
But then I start wondering ...
Isn't that awfully low?
I clearly remember from school that the normal human body temperature is 37 degrees Celsius.
medlineplus.gov...


Over 37.5 is heading towards fever at 38.
The mercury thermometers always worked like that.
But 35 and 36 degrees?
Jeepers that seems low to me!

Are we still alive, or have we been turned into zombies without knowing it?

And apparently, yeah there is medical literature that says humans are cooling down.
What we were taught is no longer the norm (unless I've been hoaxed).
www.scientificamerican.com...

And the reasons given above, I would say, are rather disputable to downright odd.
Thermometers are more accurate (well who says those infrared thingies are always accurate?), it's the side-effects of various meds (thanks for letting us know of that supposed eeny-weeny effect!) or we have a lot less inflammation in our bodies these days than during the Civil War (how novel we're on a viral lock-down today then, hey?).

Perhaps, as an evolutionary response to global warming, we are becoming cooler?

[OK, Wikipedia refers to variables that may influence readings, but states less reassuringly: "As of 2016 reviews of infrared thermometers have found them to be of variable accuracy.[19] This includes tympanic infrared thermometers in children[20]". Although I must say in my forty odd years of existence, I've never come across temperatures that low to be typical.]
en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: halfoldman

Those insta read thermometers aren't very accurate even in the best of conditions.
I had a rather cheap one for a bit for work when I worked in restaurants, it was great for a quick read.

When I pursued a new career that instrument came in handy, to test temperatures of metals before welding. But it wasn't as accurate as a temperature heat stick (a crayon like thing that melts at a certain temperature).
My boss told me that the inferred reading device I had was a cheap one and they would get me an approved one. I looked up how much it cost, it was about three times the price. But it was also extremely accurate and had a calibration component, whereas my cheap one didn't.
I can't really imagine a random restaurant dishing out thousands of dollars for checking peoples temps.

Interesting tho I too have heard about the theory that, overall, human temperatures are becoming cooler. Might be a climate change thing, or we as a species are perhaps becoming less efficient with storing heat? A global study would need to be done I'd imagine.

I think what you will find is that the original temperature "average" was a simplistic mean average derived from adding up the temps of 100 people and dividing by 100, ergo 98.6* F. I have heard an alternative explanation that in the 1800s pretty much everyone ran a bit of a fever, which would tend to make the average go up slightly.

a reply to: halfoldman

I have been required to take mine at home before going to work and I was surprised it was lower than I thought too, granted it will be lower since its within an hour of rising from bed but still:
96.5 F - 35.8 C
97.0 - 36
95.9 - 35.5
stuff like that

www.abovetopsecret.com...

There was a discussion back in January about it.
That link has some sources in it.

My body temperature has always run sub-normal. I suppose I am a deviant by definition.

a reply to: Metallicus

Mine had always been in the 98.4 range until lately. Last few times at the doctor and at home I am reading 97.2 or so.

I have been using a digital thermometer every day since the end of March, first thing in the morning. For the most part, my temperature ranges from 97.3-98.1 F. So it’s never 98.6 or anything close to it. I wasn’t sure if it was just me that this was going on with. So I guess if I had a 99F temperature, I would really start panicking. I have no idea what the hell is going on anymore. I take my temperature first thing in the morning to reassure myself that I’m not running a temperature, ergo, I do not have COVID-19.

Perhaps things are no longer like a hot movie scene from the 1980's.
Get some ice blocks and watch them melt on some hot abs, like eggs in a pan.
Flip it's been 40 minutes now, and they're still square!
Sounds like one of those "I'll do anything for a green card moments" from TLC channel's 90 Days Fiance.
It's not that I don't like you babes, it's just lower body temperatures in the tropics these days.
Next time, make her take the ice-block test Big Ed!

No doubt, scientific data shows humans are getting "cooler".

But we can't touch this level of "coolness" again:



(And Vanilla Ice is part Choctaw people, so not meaning anything racial. Just being cool as ice. And in my youth, man was he cool.)

My wife and daughter have been getting lower than normal temps in recent years. Mine is pretty consistent around 98.6.

My normal body temperature, by mouth, is usually about ninety seven degrees F.
Both my parents had the same 97F and my brother has a normal 96.8 as well as my granddaughter does. Both my daughters have a temp of around ninety eight, pretty warm blooded. I come from a family line where a temp of 97 is the norm....with their corrections for taking it other ways, it equals out to the same 97 temp.

That low temp might have some advantages, but it does lower some types of enzymes a person can make, it is a metabolic trait. I guess my family had the low temp for generations, we are more used to it than people who just now are getting lower temps, I suspect some will be more sickly because of it. My low temp is tied to hypoglycemia, and hyponatremia/hypovolemia tendencies. But, I have not been able to find good research that pinpoints exactly the best solution. I can raise my body temp just by drinking a glass of milk, I am kind of allergic to milk, so it triggers my immune system to raise body temp to what most people think about as normal.

I'm not really bashful about the whole bashful thing. The MIB told me I'm fine as long as I don't eat anyone. But I think that goes without saying that I'm cold blooded. So, I need my sunlight. That's why I've been so ornery with this whole lockdown.

At first I couldn't even go to my favorite basking spot. Yeah, I know. I can just get UV lamps, but those just don't hit right.

There's nothing like find the perfect rock to spread out on and zen out. It's really good for those who like to meditate.

10/10 would recommend. Mine is a large flat boulder next to a stream. The warm sunlight. Then a quick dip in the water. Then a good scare to the children playing downstream.

Almost got caught on video with my skinsuit off. Luckily he dropped the camera. I still play that video at the annual "Cryptid Chiller."

*I'm not really bashful about the whole being a reptilian thing.