this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2023
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Fun fact: 98.6 comes from an early study of human body temperatures, almost entirely about sick people. The "normal" body temperature only appears in a footnote. And it was never measured to a precision of a tenth of a degree; the actual reported number was 37°C. Actual human body temperatures vary by a lot more than 0.1°F over time and between individuals.
It has also been suggested that the average temperature has actually lowered over time due to the average person harboring fewer parasites at any given time.
That, of course, is due to better standards of hygiene, food, and sanitation.
I noticed during the pandemic that when healthy my body temperature is usually from about 95-97 degrees. So all those times before when I felt like shit and measured myself at a “normal” 98-99 I was probably not fine actually.
Exactly the same with me. My body runs at 36c most of times. Often I would feel ill and go take a measurement only for it to show 37.6c and I'd think this is normal, I'm just tired or something.
There’s actually some theories that say it’s probably pretty accurate, but that our bodies have changed over the years and that’s why 98.6 isn’t average now.