Discovering YOU Magazine January 2018 New Year Issue Special Edition | Page 7

DID YOU KNOW?

10 Fascinating Facts About

Body Temperature

(from December 2017 Issue)

Article from October 2016 blog on Everyday Health Website.

Is your body temperature 98.6 degrees and falling? If so, it can reveal a lot about your health. (In fact, it's one of four vital signs doctors watch for, the other three being blood pressure, pulse rate, and respiration rate.) As you probably know, 98.6 F is considered a normal body temperature, though healthy adults can range between 97.8 degrees F and 99 degrees F. Here are ten facts that can raise your temperature.

What you might not know is that your core temperature changes as you age, when you smoke, and even when you tell a lie.

3. A Cold Heart May Protect Your Brain.

Being "cold-hearted" may not be so terrible, especially if you've just suffered a heart attack. Doctors at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore developed a technique that purposefully lowers a person' body temperature to prevent long-term disabling effects.

4. Cayenne Can Heat Up Your Body Temperature. Red pepper may not only add some spice to your meals, but it also can increase your body temperature as part of the digestive process.

5. Keep Your Cool to Sleep Better.

Your body temperature can affect how well you sleep. Scientists at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam found that people slept better when their skin was slightly cooled.

1. Body temperature goes up when you smoke cigarettes. Your body temperature goes up when you smoke. The temperature at the tip of a cigarette is 95 degrees C, or 203 degrees F. Inhale hot smoke, and it raises your lung temperature.

2. Tell a Lie and Your Nose Heats Up.

Fibbing may not cause your nose to grow, but lying will heat it up. Using thermal imaging, they were able to demonstrate that the anxiety brought on by a lie causes the nose and the areas around the eyes to get warm.

As you probably know, 98.6 F is considered a normal body temperature, though healthy adults can range between 97.8 degrees F and 99 degrees F.