# My Lower-Than-Normal Body Temperature? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 25, 2020, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-lower-than-normal-body-temperature/854432 "2020-05-25T10:46:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-lower-than-normal-body-temperature/854432/21 "2020-05-28T18:52:15Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > I just went to the optometrist yesterday and they used one of those no touch readers on me. It popped 94.6. The lady stopped looked at me and then looked at the machine and ran it again and got the same reading. I get my temp taken every day I work before I start my shift and on the no-touch thermometers I read from 94-and-change to 95-and-change. The first few times they double-checked they thermometer was working, and even switched to another one (they have three for when they get a lot of people in all at once). Now they just shrug and note I’m not running a fever. I run cool, always have. On oral thermometers I’m usually 97-and-change. Still on the low side of average, but hardly one of the walking dead. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-lower-than-normal-body-temperature/854432/22 "2020-05-28T19:36:23Z")
When we started temp checks at work, back in late March, I noticed that my temps were continuing to come back low (ranging from 95.8 - 97.3). I suggested that they needed to have their thermometer recalibrated. They did, and my readings continued to come back low. I think I figured it out. I drive with the air conditioning blowing on my face. And the walk from my car to the screening station takes about 45 seconds. ---
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-lower-than-normal-body-temperature/854432/23 "2020-05-29T01:16:15Z")
I recently read something about this phenomenon. “A recent analysis of temperature trends suggests that the average human body temperature has dropped since the 19th century due to physiological changes. The authors of the new study also highlight potential causes of these alterations.” > **[Body temperature: What is the new normal?](https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/327458)** > > A new study finds that the average human body temperature has declined over the last 2 centuries. This may indicate other physiological changes. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-lower-than-normal-body-temperature/854432/24 "2020-05-29T04:04:51Z")
At work, both going into the hospital to make rounds and into the office, I get my temperature taken and also have found out that I run low, usually in the low 96 range, occasionally low 97, sometimes 95something which makes the hospital screener make me stick around and do it again until they get one at least 96, not sure why. I also have low resting heart rate and wonder if the two are correlated in any way. Any other of you cooler folks run slow too? ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-lower-than-normal-body-temperature/854432/25 "2020-05-29T04:57:05Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > At work, both going into the hospital to make rounds and into the office, I get my temperature taken and also have found out that I run low, usually in the low 96 range, occasionally low 97, sometimes 95something which makes the hospital screener make me stick around and do it again until they get one at least 96, not sure why. > > I also have low resting heart rate and wonder if the two are correlated in any way. Any other of you cooler folks run slow too? My resting heart rate is 55-59 according to Fitbit - apparently the [range for adults is 60-100(!)](https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/235710#target-training-heart-rates). Maybe indicating a lower metabolic rate overall? I’m pretty healthy, but I certainly don’t work out in any way, shape, or form. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-lower-than-normal-body-temperature/854432/26 "2020-05-29T09:15:28Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > At work, both going into the hospital to make rounds and into the office, I get my temperature taken and also have found out that I run low, usually in the low 96 range, occasionally low 97, sometimes 95something which makes the hospital screener make me stick around and do it again until they get one at least 96, not sure why. > > I also have low resting heart rate and wonder if the two are correlated in any way. Any other of you cooler folks run slow too? Most of my life I had both a low heart rate and blood pressure on the low end. (This has changed a bit the past few years, due no doubt in part to age but also an unholy amount of stress and less exercise - I’m working on the latter two, not much I can do about the first factor). It might be a matter of having a slightly slower metabolism overall. Or maybe not. Would be interesting if someone looked into it scientifically. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-lower-than-normal-body-temperature/854432/27 "2020-05-29T10:09:07Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > \*\*UPDATE.\*\*BTW I just had to ask. What is the lowest room temperature, resting, not sick, not frozen or dying, body temperature ever recorded? They probably got us all beat. 🙂 Wikipedia had a broad range with little explanation, but by looking up the cite listed I found this: > [@](#): > > Studies from 1935 to 1999 were included. Articles were classified as (1) strong, (2) fairly strong and (3) weak evidence. When summarizing studies with strong or fairly strong evidence the range for oral temperature was 33.2–38.2 °C From here: [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1471-6712.2002.00069.x](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1471-6712.2002.00069.x) 33.2 deg C = 91.76 deg F 38.2 deg C = 100.76 deg F ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-lower-than-normal-body-temperature/854432/28 "2020-05-29T10:20:12Z")
> [@galen\_ubal](#): > > I’m similar - my temp averages about 36.5° C. I would guess that it’s because I’m very thin, with not much muscle and even less fat. No insulation, as it were. My wife tells me I’m a great source of heat. 😃 My temperature is usually somewhere around 96.5 deg F (35.8 deg C). This has held true for all of my life, both when I was rail thin and now when I am… ahem… let’s say, well insulated. I measured it just now and got 96.8. > [@aruvqan](#): > > 94 to 96 is reasonably normal for me. I got told by my oncologist to all the duty nurse if I hit 99 instead of the 101 they normally say. > > I start feeling really wonky when I hit 99, at about 102 I start hallucinating. I’ve hit 102 temperatures and, while I wouldn’t say I felt good, I didn’t hallucinate or feel all that bad. Definitely felt sick, but that was it. Below 100 I don’t even feel all that sick. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-lower-than-normal-body-temperature/854432/29 "2020-05-29T17:14:21Z")
> [@galen\_ubal](#): > > My resting heart rate is 55-59 according to Fitbit - apparently the [range for adults is 60-100(!)](https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/235710#target-training-heart-rates). Maybe indicating a lower metabolic rate overall? I’m pretty healthy, but I certainly don’t work out in any way, shape, or form. > [@Broomstick](#): > > Most of my life I had both a low heart rate and blood pressure on the low end. (This has changed a bit the past few years, due no doubt in part to age but also an unholy amount of stress and less exercise - I’m working on the latter two, not much I can do about the first factor). > > It might be a matter of having a slightly slower metabolism overall. Or maybe not. Would be interesting if someone looked into it scientifically. That’s my speculation - that at least some group of people with both low resting heart hearts and low average body temperature have lower baseline metabolism … which may impact how we age. Not finding much but found [this](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5266228/). > [@](#): > > Scattered evidence indicates that a lower basal body temperature may be associated with prolonged health span, yet few studies have directly evaluated this relationship. We examined cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between early morning oral temperature (95.0–98.6 °F) and usual gait speed, endurance walk performance, fatigability, and grip strength in 762 non-frail men (52 %) and women aged 65–89 years participating in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Since excessive adiposity (body mass index ≥35 kg/m2 or waist-to-height ratio ≥0.62) may alter temperature set point, associations were also examined within adiposity strata. Overall, controlling for age, race, sex, height, exercise, and adiposity, lower temperature was associated with faster gait speed, less time to walk 400 m quickly, and lower perceived exertion following 5-min of walking at 0.67 m/s (all p ≤ 0.02). In the non-adipose (N = 662), these associations were more robust (all p ≤ 0.006) … > > … In older adults, lower basal body temperature appears to be associated with healthy aging in the absence of excessive adiposity. … > > … Casual temperature, despite a high correlation with early morning or basal temperature, exhibited generally weak and no more than borderline significant associations with gait speed and endurance walk time. This suggests that temperature set point or nadir is the more informative parameter and that early morning temperature taken in a fasted and resting state may provide a good approximation of a true nadir. Since temperature follows a circadian pattern and responds to environmental factors, body temperature taken at random time points under uncontrolled conditions may poorly reflect the set point. Unfortunately, most observational studies of aging have not measured early morning temperature. … > > … In this study, we sought to evaluate whether a lower basal temperature is a biomarker of healthy aging. What we discovered is somewhat of a cautionary tale—not necessarily unique to temperature. Our findings generally support basal temperature as a biomarker, but not without qualifications. First, basal temperature is not a valid biomarker of healthy aging in the presence of poor or declining health as serious illness has been found to lower temperature set point (Weinert 2010) which is why the current study was largely restricted to persons in good to excellent health. Second, as the findings clearly demonstrate, excessive adiposity also invalidates lower basal temperature as a healthy aging biomarker. Both declining health and excessive adiposity have amorphous boundaries and are somewhat transitional states which pose challenges for defining the applicable population for any biomarker and for following the relationships between candidate biomarkers and health age over time. A lower basal temperature may indeed support or reflect a slower rate of aging, but this association may disintegrate when disease happens. … Love to have seen if the findings gained strength when cross-correlated with heart rate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-lower-than-normal-body-temperature/854432.md?page=1)