The average temperature of the human body has decreased over the past 150 years. In the 1860s, German doctor Carl Wunderlich established the average temperature of healthy adults at 37 degrees Celsius, or 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, whereas the average temperature of American adults is currently being recorded at around 36.39 degrees Celsius.

Data analysis and studies

A research team led by Julie Parsonnet at Stanford University analyzed temperature-related data from approximately 1.90 lakh people in the United States between 1862 and 2017. Additionally, the average temperature of the Tsimane community in the Amazon was also 37 degrees in the early 2000s, which dropped to 36.5 degrees Celsius by 2018.

Challenges in research

Methodological differences have posed a major challenge for researchers in making a direct comparison between old and new data. At the same time, the question remains whether there were errors in measuring temperature in the past or if human temperature has decreased due to changes in lifestyle.