It doesn’t seem like a huge difference to me but even a 1 degree increase of body temp can make you so tired and have fever. Why is that?
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Everyone is answering your question very well in terms of the immune system. Another reason people aren’t adding is that your body is made of cells that have a bunch of proteins. These proteins are basically the machinery of your body. They try to keep your body the same temperature , the same salt levels, the same sugar levels etc. Just like a car, they function best when they’re not too hot or too cold. Since proteins are way smaller than a car, a tiny change in temperature is huge. So your proteins start to not work very well during a fever and they don’t do their job very well. Since they’re not working as well, your body will slowly not have normal levels of nutrients which can make you feel tired, sluggish, and painful. If the fever is high enough, these proteins will break or denature. Once they’ve denatured they’re basically broken and cannot be returned to normal. This is why fevers are dangerous. If your body has broken proteins everywhere, then your body will not be able to work properly. If this goes on long enough you can die because your body is losing the function of these proteins faster than your body can reproduce and replace them.
Edit: the change in temperature also affects microorganisms the same way. Your body is trying to denature the proteins of the invaders so they die.
Your body actually has a huge amount of surface area, one or two degrees over any large area will make anything quite hot.
Part of it is mayve decreased nerve conductivity at higher temperatures, but that could only apply to us MS people, or other people with severe nerve damage.
To ELI5 it: the same chemicals that lead to a fever also cause your body to be more sensitive to pain, cause inflammation at the site of infection, and cause you to be fatigued.
It’s the interleukins that make you feel like shit. Which is why when you are outside in the heat your temp may be 100.4F but you don’t feel like shit
Ok the scope of temperature from zero to max temperature. A degree is very small. But is a highly precise system that is made up or systems that all interconnect. It is a large difference.
Ice is liquid at 1 degree and solid just one or two degrees lower. That is a “small” difference but a massive impact on the system.
I think you got some things confused. Your body temperature goes up and down a little normally and usually does not have an affect on your tiredness.
“Fever” happens when your immune system is geared up to fight of an infection (or other). You don’t feel tired because of temperature change or even the fever itself but due to the number of effects that take place as a result of whatever is causing the fever. Otherwise, an ice bath would immediately resolve all the feeling of fatigue. It doesn’t
You ever boil water and notice how much energy it takes to heat when just a pot of water?
Your body has an amount of water equal to several of those pots inside it. It takes an insane amount of energy to heat your body by even one additional degree. Thus, you feel like crap.
Enzymatic reactions in your body are very sensitive to temperature. 2 degrees of difference can set off a cascade of negative effects that fuel each other.
Wow. This is amazing. An actual intelligent conversation on Reddit. Thanks guys, I’ve learned a thing or two.
Same reason Earth Temp rising 2 degrees is going to be catastrophic. Except that is a permanent change.
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