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

[Mitchell I. Wolfe]

My metabolism is usually on the low side with a body temperature more 
like 96.8 instead of 98.6.

During the Covid era, my dentist used to check everyone incoming using 
an infrared thermometer pointed at the head. I would walk over to my 
dentist appointment during the cold winter season and my readings were 
off the scale, i.e. below what the thermometer would register.

-- Mitch

On 2026-01-08 01:11, Robert Primak via LCTG wrote:

> Body temperature tends to be lower in older people than in younger 
> people. This is partly hormonal and is also a result of basal 
> metabolism, which slows considerably as we age. (Hence the usual 
> pattern of older people not needing as many calories per day as younger 
> people.) I remember that as he aged, my Dad's body temperature was 
> dropping with time. This is entirely normal.
> 
> -- Bob Primak
> 
> On Wednesday, January 7, 2026 at 08:56:55 PM EST, jjrudy1 at comcast.net 
> <jjrudy1 at comcast.net> wrote:
> 
> 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
> 
> 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> 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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