It is believed that normal temperature is 36.6 ° C. We decided to check if this really has a scientific justification and how this number was determined.
Information that 36.6 ° C - This is the norm, you can Meet on sites medical institutions. IN female And male magazines write, What is this ideal, Entertaining And Scientific and popular Portals too Support This is an opinion. This is written in Children's books and medical popular Encyclopedias. One of the largest Russian pharmacy networks is called "36.6" - With a hint at the supposedly normal temperature of a person.
In our analysis, we will use the Celsius scale, in some foreign studies, the numbers are given by Fahrenheit, for convenience, we will also translate them into Celsius.
First of all, it is worth noting that even in the scientific community there is no strict consensus about what exact temperature to be considered normal. For example, in some Western countries the norm counts Not 36.6 ° C, but 37 ° C. We could not find out where the number 36.6 came from in the mass consciousness, since in medical Encyclopedias Cited either 37 ° C.or the temperature range that are considered normal. We also could not find some literary or cinematic primary source of this error.
Where did the first “reference” numbers come from? In the middle of the XIX century, the German scientist Karl Vunderlich measured The axillary temperature has 25,000 people, summarized the data and displayed 37 ° C as a certain average value. That is, even then this figure was not a standard, but only "average in the hospital."
In 1992 at the Center for Development of Maryland Vaccines carried out Tests of the new vaccine, and 148 healthy volunteers, men and women from 18 to 40 years old, measured the temperature three to four times a day for three days. The average value was 36.8 ° C.
IN research 2017, held in the outpatient department of a large hospital in the United States, scientists collected temperatures of 35,000 people and received the same 36.6 ° C as an average. Nevertheless, the scatter of values was large enough - from 35.3 to 37.7 ° C. The participants in the study did not have infectious diseases, they did not take antibiotics, and in general it was expected that their temperature should be normal. Previously Swedish scientists Summarized Studies of the body temperature of healthy people conducted from 1935 to 1999 - there was even more there: from 33.2 to 38.1 ° C.
Why are the meanings so different? Firstly, it is important how to measure the temperature. So, for example, oral temperature May be below rectal, Assed - Even lower. This is due to the fact that the skin is somehow cooled in the air, so the temperature measured inside the body will always be higher than outside.
In addition, many factors can affect body temperature. So, women In general, several “hot” men. And if they are also Accept Cutting tablets containing progesterone, their temperature can be higher than 0.6 ° C. The temperature of women in menopause during Time It can also increase. Matters age: In older people, the temperature is lower than that of young people. Eat theoryThe weight also affects the body temperature: in people with diagnosed obesity, this indicator was reduced. It is important and time, when measurements were carried out, since our body itself heats up and cools during the day by 0.25-0.5 ° C. Oral measure The temperature is possible only half an hour after smoking, food and hot or cold drinking, after physical activity or hot bath you need to wait about an hour with any method of change - all this can also affect the results.
Recently, scientists of Stanford University were completely nominated Theorythat even the same “average temperature in the hospital” decreases over the years. They analyzed data on the temperature of the human body for three periods: 1860–1940 (from military records, medical records and pension lists of civil war veterans in the United States), 1971–1975 (the results of the national health and food state) and 2007-2017 (data from adult patients who visited the Stanford Health Hospital Care). It turned out that over 157 years, the average temperature, measured orally, has decreased by almost half a degree and now is approximately 36.4 ° C.
Scientists suggested: This change may be due to the fact that modern thermometry is simply more accurate than in the 19th century, but more likely, in their opinion, that body temperature decreases due to a more comfortable temperature in houses, the spread of hygiene and affordable health care. The unusualch founded his research on the indicators of allegedly healthy people, but at that time were much more common Tuberculosis, syphilis, dysentery and other diseases that may not be visible at first glance and still increase the temperature.
Thus, it cannot be assumed that 36.6 ° C is an absolute norm for each healthy person at any time, since it was about the search for some average indicator. Yes, and he, according to the initial calculations, was different. In addition, the time and method of measurement, age, weight, intake of some drugs, even the sex of a person affect the body temperature. Studies show that the difference in temperature values in different people can reach a few degrees.
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