Diya Adhikary, Amity University Kolkata
Normal body temperature plays a vital role in not only detecting illnesses or diseases but also in all the biochemical reactions taking place inside the body as these reactions cannot tolerate wide temperature fluctuations. Enzymes play a major role in various chemical reactions by acting as catalysts, helping in the completion of important processes like muscle building, break down of food during digestion, destroying toxins, etc. Every enzymatic process that takes place inside our body has an optimum temperature. Severe low body temperature (hypothermia) or severe high body temperature (hyperthermia) can lead to the inhibition of such processes, often resulting in organ damage or failure, or, in some cases even death. A lot of factors influence the maintenance of body temperature, for which our body itself regulates the internal body temperature through the hypothalamus.
The question here is whether the normal human body temperature is still 98.6℉? Or has it possibly changed with the increasing years? We know that the body temperature differs depending on several parameters like seasons, environment, gender, course of the day, age, body size, weight, etc. Though the normal body temperature is considered to be 98.6℉, according to recent studies the normal body temperature has depicted a gradual decrease over the last two centuries.
DISCOVERY OF THE NORMAL BODY TEMPERATURE AND RECENT ANALYSIS:
A German physician, Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich had first discovered (in the 1800s) that the average body temperature was 98.6℉ (37°C). He did so by measuring the axillary temperatures (armpit) from about 25000 people.
However, researchers have analyzed that the average oral temperature from three periods of time (1860-1940, 1971-1975, and 2007-2017) has gradually decreased by more than a degree (Fahrenheit). And after taking several parameters that contribute to the overall body temperature into consideration, the final and new normal body temperature has been concluded to being 97.5℉.
CAUSES OF DECREASE IN NORMAL BODY TEMPERATURE:
According to Dr. Julie Parsonnet, who is a professor of medicine, health research, and policy at Stanford University School of Medicine, two major causes that caused the decrease were:
- Lower Metabolic Rate – Metabolic rate is the number of calories or the amount of energy expended by an animal over a specific period. It contributes to our body temperature (metabolism produces heat). And over time, with rapid advancements in technology leading to people having a more sedentary lifestyle than ever before, the metabolic rate has also decreased due to less consumption of energy that would’ve been necessary for physical exertion otherwise. The decrease in inflammation (due to improved public health), and the increased ability in controlling the ambient temperatures we reside in (using heaters, air coolers/conditioners, etc.), are some of the factors that resulted in lower metabolic rates.
- Lower Infection and Inflammation Rate - Humans are physiologically more developed now than previously. The rarity of infectious diseases (tuberculosis, syphilis, etc.), shifts in the microbiomes, and advancements in the treatment and cures of various diseases and disorders have strengthened our immunity towards harmful pathogens in general, thereby leading to much lower infection and inflammation rates.
CONCLUSION :
Now that we know that there is evidence depicting the decrease in the normal body temperature from 98.6℉ to 97.5℉. This potentially raises questions in our minds regarding how the enzymes in our bodies must have adjusted to the temperature drop, the potential variations in their structures and ultrastructures, ultimately leading to possible subtle changes in their functionality (and in turn in the functionality of those associated with it), and how the body must have adapted by making potentially millions of micro-adjustments to adapt any such changes, to ensure the continuity of all the necessary enzymatic reactions necessary for life to occur. Further research is deemed necessary, and their findings are much awaited for the revelations and explanations. But in the meantime, for getting a correct answer on our GK test, we all must memorize that the new normal body temperature is approximately 97.5℉, and not 98.6℉.
Also read : Nanodecoys from special lung cells can kill SARS-CoV2
REFERENCES :
- Protsiv, M., Ley, C., Lankester, J., Hastie, T., & Parsonnet, J. (2020). Decreasing human body temperature in the United States since the Industrial Revolution. ELife, 9, e49555. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.49555
- Sund-Levander, M., Forsberg, C., & Wahren, L. K. (2002). Normal oral, rectal, tympanic and axillary body temperature in adult men and women: A systematic literature review. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 16(2), 122–128. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1471-6712.2002.00069.x
- Obermeyer, Z., Samra, J. K., & Mullainathan, S. (2017). Individual differences in normal body temperature: Longitudinal big data analysis of patient records. BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.), 359, j5468. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j5468
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