Human bodies have been getting COLDER since the 19th century

Human bodies have been getting COLDER since the 19th century: Scientists claim that ‘normal’ body temperature is now more than 1°F lower than in the 1860s

  • Body temperature believed to be consistent at 37°C (98.6°F) for humans 
  • Researchers compared more than half a million records of people’s temperature 
  • Modern-day men have a temperature 0.59°C (1.06°F) lower than 150 years ago  
  • Women in the 2000s are 0.32°C (0.58°F) cooler than those from US Civil War

Human bodies have naturally got cooler over the last century, a study reveals. 

The accepted wisdom is that the human body sits, under normal conditions, at a nice balmy 37°C (98.6°F), but this is no longer true for modern-day humans. 

Researchers at Stanford University in the US measured people’s temperatures from the 2000s and compared them to records of soldiers that fought in the US Civil War.

The study reveals that modern-day men have a body temperature 0.59°C (1.06°F) lower than their 19th century counterparts, while women are 0.32°C (0.58°F) cooler.  

Scientists say the cause of the chilling is ‘inherently unprovable’,  but they believe it may be down to improvements in diet and lifestyle. 

   

Researchers at Stanford University in the US measured people’s temperatures from the 2000s and compared it to records of soldiers that fought in the US Civil War and found it had dropped by around 0.03°C (0.05°F) a decade

WHY HAVE HUMAN BODIES COOLED DOWN?  

Researchers have found that over the last century and a half, the human body temperature has dropped. 

It is widely thought to be 37°C but it is now lower than this. 

The researchers are unsure as to the exact reason why, but ruled out the issue being faulty thermometers.

A reduced metabolic rate may be behind the drop in body temperature as the body is not having to work a shard due to comfier lifestyles. 

They also suggest reduction may be due to a population-wide decline in inflammation as our bodies are under attack from disease less often due to advances in modern medicine. 

Dr Julie Parsonnet, professor of medicine and of health research and policy at Stanford University, said: ‘Our temperature’s not what people think it is.

‘What everybody grew up learning, which is that our normal temperature is 98.6°F [37°C], is wrong.’

On average, the bodily temperature of Americans has dropped by 0.03°C (0.05°F) a decade. 

‘Physiologically, we’re just different from what we were in the past,’ says Dr Parsonnet.

‘The environment that we’re living in has changed, including the temperature in our homes, our contact with microorganisms and the food that we have access to. 

‘All these things mean that although we think of human beings as if we’re monomorphic and have been the same for all of human evolution, we’re not the same. We’re actually changing physiologically.’

Currently accepted is the belief that the human body sits, under normal conditions, at a nice balmy 37°C (98.6°F), but this is not true for modern-day humans as body temperature has dropped by 0.59°C (1.06°F) for men and 0.32°C (0.58°F) for women (stock)

Currently accepted is the belief that the human body sits, under normal conditions, at a nice balmy 37°C (98.6°F), but this is not true for modern-day humans as body temperature has dropped by 0.59°C (1.06°F) for men and 0.32°C (0.58°F) for women (stock)

The researchers are unsure as to the exact reason why, but ruled out the issue being faulty thermometers by analysing more than half million measurements. 

With all people likely to have been assessed with similar thermometers, the researchers are confident the data is accurate. 

They believe a reduced metabolic rate may be behind the decrease in body temperature as the body is not having to work as hard as it did for people who lived in the 19th century due to comfier lifestyles.

They also suggest the cooling may be due to a decline in inflammation as our bodies are under attack from disease less often due to advances in modern medicine. 

Dr Parsonnet says: ‘Inflammation produces all sorts of proteins and cytokines that rev up your metabolism and raise your temperature.’ 

The full findings were published in the journal eLife.  



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