[Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] The Average Human Body Temperature ISN’T 98.6°F Anymore

[jjrudy1 at comcast.net]

Mine has averaged about 97.3 for 50 years.  I’ve always warned the MD so they don’t think that there is a problem

 

John Rudy

 

781-861-0402

781-718-8334  cell

13 Hawthorne Lane

Bedford MA

 <mailto:jjrudy1 at comcast.net> jjrudy1 at comcast.net



 

From: LCTG <lctg-bounces+jjrudy1=comcast.net at lists.toku.us> On Behalf Of arnold peterson via LCTG
Sent: Wednesday, January 7, 2026 5:43 PM
To: Robert Primak <bobprimak at yahoo.com>
Cc: Lex Computer Group <lctg at lists.toku.us>
Subject: Re: [Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] The Average Human Body Temperature ISN’T 98.6°F Anymore

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i got this from Stanford, lower and varies by sex, age, and time of day. 

 

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2023/09/body-temperature.html 

 

On Wed, Jan 7, 2026 at 4:04 PM Robert Primak via LCTG <lctg at lists.toku.us <mailto:lctg at lists.toku.us> > wrote:

The Average Human Body Temperature ISN’T 98.6°F Anymore

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Scf7ZJcPUY 

Seeker. Dec 11, 2020.

 

The average human body temperature is 37 degrees Celsius, or 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit... right? Well, new studies have uncovered that the average human body temperature is actually lower than that...and it’s dropping.

 

In 1851 a German doctor named Carl Wunderlich conducted a years-long study. He went room to room in his hospital with a thermometer, taking the temperatures of some 25,000 different patients to try and pin down the average human body temperature. And he did, seventeen years later, when he published a paper with that well-known metric of 37 degrees! He also gave us the first quantitative measurement for determining if someone has a fever. 38 degrees and above. And then for the next 140 years, we just accepted this number as correct.

 

Despite the fact that Dr. Wunderlich collected this data using a comically large, foot-long thermometer that had to be held in a patient’s armpit for 20 minutes. Because believe it or not, portable thermometers small enough fit under your tongue weren’t invented until 1866.

 

So it wasn’t until the 1990s that another doctor decided to revisit this question using more modern equipment. And he found that yeah, the average human body temperature is ACTUALLY around 36.8 degrees Celsius.

 

The conclusion is that over the past 150 years, resting metabolic rates seem to have been dropping. Reductions in chronic inflammation may be a factor. Less chronic infection is only one part of the picture, apparently. 

 

How the body temperatures have been measured was considered, but could be controlled by using the same clinical measuring instruments. 

 

(36.8 C = 98.2 F.)

 

-- Bob Primak 

 

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