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Most people think the average body temperature for humans is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. However, as the HealthDay website points out, that’s not quite the case. In fact, it seems to be going down.
The 98.6 degrees standard was established in 1851. A recent study of 25,000 British citizens, though, marked the average as 97.9.
Another study of more than 677,000 temperature measurements recorded in the United States between 1862 and 2017 found that the average body temperature of men born since 2000 is 1.1 degree lower than in men born in the early 19th century.
Similarly, body temperatures for women born in the 2000s were, on average, about 0.6 degrees below that of women born in the 1890s. That adds up to a decrease of 0.05 degrees every decade since the 1800s.
Scientists speculate that improved healthcare and hygiene over time may have produced a reduction in the average metabolic rate, leading to an overall decline in inflammation, which tends to increase one’s body temperature.