[deleted]
Time to redefine normal body temperature? (2020)
41–50 of 148 posts
Re: Time to redefine normal body temperature? (2020)
#42Re: Time to redefine normal body temperature? (2020)
#43> [One key possibility] ... Lower metabolic rate: One of the biggest determinants of body temperature is your metabolic rate. Like a car engine that’s idling, your body expends energy just keeping things going, and that generates heat. A lower metabolic rate in modern times could be due to higher body mass (some studies link this with lower metabolic rate), or better medical treatments, preventive measures, and overa…
It seems very likely to be metabolic rate. Most people are way more sedentary than in the past.
I'm curious how direct it is. If someone starts exercising from being sedentary for years does their body temperature raise appreciably?
Re: Time to redefine normal body temperature? (2020)
#44Is it possible that thermometer calibration has just drifted slightly over the last couple hundred years? If you told me that the typical electronic thermometer today actually measured around a degree different than the mercury thermometer Wunderlich presumably used, I wouldn't be all too surprised. Or is there really an accurate and consistent calibration technique that's been in use since at least the 1800s, so we…
Uh surely "mmHg" is a stable unit of measurement where the calibration is self-evident by its own definition.
Re: Time to redefine normal body temperature? (2020)
#45> [One key possibility] ... Lower metabolic rate: One of the biggest determinants of body temperature is your metabolic rate. Like a car engine that’s idling, your body expends energy just keeping things going, and that generates heat. A lower metabolic rate in modern times could be due to higher body mass (some studies link this with lower metabolic rate), or better medical treatments, preventive measures, and overa…
It makes sense. I think it explains some of it.
Re: Time to redefine normal body temperature? (2020)
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even “around” is meaningless without context. A hot day is around 37c (+/- 10), a healthy person is around 37c (+/- 1) and a manufacturing process could call for a temp around 37c (+/- 0.1).
The accuracy is implied in the nimber of dogots usually. So 37 is +-1C, 40 is +-10, and 36.6 is +-0.1
Would 45C be ±1 or ±10?
You can't provide a scaled ranges with the digits alone like that.
Just use ± or a hyphenated range, and take it in context with adjacent measurements.
Re: Time to redefine normal body temperature? (2020)
#47Re: Time to redefine normal body temperature? (2020)
#48Is it possible that thermometer calibration has just drifted slightly over the last couple hundred years? If you told me that the typical electronic thermometer today actually measured around a degree different than the mercury thermometer Wunderlich presumably used, I wouldn't be all too surprised. Or is there really an accurate and consistent calibration technique that's been in use since at least the 1800s, so we…
Uh surely "mmHg" is a stable unit of measurement where the calibration is self-evident by its own definition.
mmHg is a unit of pressure, not temperature. Mercury thermometers do need to be calibrated.
Re: Time to redefine normal body temperature? (2020)
#49Another hypothesis that I've come across on some alternative health sites is that the increased consumption of polyunsaturated fats is responsible for a decrease in metabolic rate/body temperature.
https://fireinabottle.net/this-is-your-body-temperature-on-v...
Re: Time to redefine normal body temperature? (2020)
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even “around” is meaningless without context. A hot day is around 37c (+/- 10), a healthy person is around 37c (+/- 1) and a manufacturing process could call for a temp around 37c (+/- 0.1).
> A hot day is around 37c (+/- 10) Absolutely not. 47C is an emergency, not "hot".
Ah, memories of quiet summer days in Western Australia! No emergencies as far as the eye can see. The wind feels like a hair dryer in the face. Ah yes, a summer day in the sticks.