Normal body temperature revised to 36.4°C, not 36.6°C

Stanford researcher prof. Julie Parsonnet found that average body temperature in healthy adults is now around 36.4°C — 0.2°C lower than the 19th-century standard set by Carl Wunderlich. Since the Industrial Revolution, body temperature has dropped by a fraction of a degree per decade, which scientists attribute to better hygiene, fewer inflammatory conditions, and access to medicine. Modern medicine considers 36.0 to 37.2°C the normal range.

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