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Time to redefine normal body temperature? (2020)

health.harvard.edu

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Re: Time to redefine normal body temperature? (2020)

#121

Post by mateo1 »

AstralStorm wrote: post #72
joecool1029 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Mercury is dangerous as hell but if it wasn't for gallium alloy ones I'd smuggle them in the country. It's elemental mercury encapsulated in glass not one of the organic compounds that cause all the acute and longterm health issues. Chlorine bleach is scarier stuff used in the household.

The thing about mercury is that it accumulates, but chlorine does not. Mercury is mostly banned for being persistent pollutant, next after lead. There is no real safe level of mercury intake due to cumulative damage and hard for body to get rid of. There is a safe, heck, required level of chlorine intake. (What is table salt?) Mercury is not any superior at measuring temperature over a resistive electronic or a bimet…

Although in theory electronic thermometers can be just as accurate in practice I've found that across brands the measurements fluctuate to an unacceptable degree.

Re: Time to redefine normal body temperature? (2020)

#122

Post by Hnrobert42 »

kolinko wrote: post #106
riffraff wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same in Italy. 36-36.6 is considered normal, 37 is considered a mild alteration (or life threatening disease if you're a man).

As for being a man - I think there was research that showed that men indeed have it worse during common cold :) Also, I was one of the men that complained a ton during cold. Turned out, at the age of 34, that I had a deviated septum and the level of nose congestion when I was healthy was comparable to when I was healthy. Even slight cold was absurdly doffucult for me. Since they fixed it, the colds are super light fo…

Wow. I am from the US. I have never heard of a man’s cold or that men suffer greater cold symptoms. Is this a commonly known thing where you are from? It sounds like you have a specific expression for it in your language.

What country/ language, if you don’t mind me asking?

Re: Time to redefine normal body temperature? (2020)

#123

Post by peoplefromibiza »

jaclaz wrote: post #101
peoplefromibiza wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that's for a very specific reason: improved accuracy. Let me explain: measurements were usually taken externally from armpits, using analog mercury thermometers, which results in temperatures lower than the actual one by ~0.5 degrees Celsius. If you read the instruction manual of modern digital thermometers, that are more accurate, it states that Oral Time: ~55 seconds Typical temperature interval: 35,5~37,5 °C Anal…

Personally I strongly doubt that "modern" thermometers are in practice more accurate than good ol' mercury ones. The contactless infrared ones, but also the contact digital ones have been proved to provide "false measurements", the stated accuracy is usually +/- 0.2 C, but there are many (ambient) factors that may influence greatly the result, the good thing being that they are very fast. The gallium/galistan ones (1…

> Personally I strongly doubt that "modern" thermometers are in practice more accurate than good ol' mercury ones.

they are not more accurate per se, the reading and calibration is.

many cheap thermometer were printed with the temperature lines out of scale or shifted.

they are also safer to use, it wasn't uncommon that the old ones broke while using them.

Imagine the danger of a glass tube filled with mercury breaking while measuring the temperature anally or from the mouth.

Re: Time to redefine normal body temperature? (2020)

#124

Post by Hnrobert42 »

asats wrote: post #4

Not sure if it's all the countries, but I have always heard the normal body temperature in Celsius stated as 36.5, which is 97.7 F. Is 98.6 an american-only thing?

As an American, I can’t say if it is American only. I can say 98.6°F is the commonly accepted healthy body temp.

I have noticed over the last decade, nurses checking my temp are more likely to say something like “You are 97.6°F. That’s normal.”

Re: Time to redefine normal body temperature? (2020)

#125

Post by lukeschlather »

I want to see a study where they bring in people, measure their temperature, then have them walk a mile then measure their temperature again. The decrease seems small enough that it could completely be an artifact of point-in-time activity levels. Everyone drives to the appointment now where two centuries ago they would've probably walked.

Re: Time to redefine normal body temperature? (2020)

#126

Post by lamontcg »

Yeah, I tend to run at 97.5 normally and 98.6 usually comes with some aches and pains and a slight feverish feeling that I suspect is an abortive infection (tend to get those 1-3 times a year in the fall/winter, although I didn't at all throughout the 20/21 fall/winter). "I have a normal temperature so I kinda feel half like ass and think I'm going to stay home today"

Re: Time to redefine normal body temperature? (2020)

#127

Post by e4325f »

kqr wrote: post #52

The whole enterprise of trying to find "a normal" temperature seems silly to me, increasingly after getting two kids with fevers every now and then. We use both high-quality ear canal and anal thermometers, and while we have enough statistical grounds to unbias their results compared to each other, there remains significant variance. I.e. if we use an anal or ear canal thermometer makes temperature vary ±0.4 °C. Then…

I wouldn't have thought a fever is of sufficient concern that it would warrant sticking a thermometer up your childs arse.

Re: Time to redefine normal body temperature? (2020)

#128

Post by Eisenstein »

e4325f wrote: post #127
kqr wrote: post #52

The whole enterprise of trying to find "a normal" temperature seems silly to me, increasingly after getting two kids with fevers every now and then. We use both high-quality ear canal and anal thermometers, and while we have enough statistical grounds to unbias their results compared to each other, there remains significant variance. I.e. if we use an anal or ear canal thermometer makes temperature vary ±0.4 °C. Then…

I wouldn't have thought a fever is of sufficient concern that it would warrant sticking a thermometer up your childs arse.

Why? It is easier than getting a toddler to hold it under their tongue and is very accurate.

Re: Time to redefine normal body temperature? (2020)

#129

Post by mrspuratic »

Hnrobert42 wrote: post #122
kolinko wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As for being a man - I think there was research that showed that men indeed have it worse during common cold :) Also, I was one of the men that complained a ton during cold. Turned out, at the age of 34, that I had a deviated septum and the level of nose congestion when I was healthy was comparable to when I was healthy. Even slight cold was absurdly doffucult for me. Since they fixed it, the colds are super light fo…

Wow. I am from the US. I have never heard of a man’s cold or that men suffer greater cold symptoms. Is this a commonly known thing where you are from? It sounds like you have a specific expression for it in your language. What country/ language, if you don’t mind me asking?

"man 'flu" meme

Re: Time to redefine normal body temperature? (2020)

#130

Post by m463 »

IanOzsvald wrote: post #91
kqr wrote: post #52

The whole enterprise of trying to find "a normal" temperature seems silly to me, increasingly after getting two kids with fevers every now and then. We use both high-quality ear canal and anal thermometers, and while we have enough statistical grounds to unbias their results compared to each other, there remains significant variance. I.e. if we use an anal or ear canal thermometer makes temperature vary ±0.4 °C. Then…

With our infant using a digital thermometer in the ear, we routinely observe that the left ear is hotter than the right. We take 3 measurements in each ear, we see a similar variance as you mention per ear. Have you observed a similar difference? As adults with the same device we don't see a difference in our own ears.

These kinds of things make me wonder about body asymmetries - like which side the heart is on, and left/right handedness.
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