How does our body temperature stay the same (if we’re not sick) even if we are in an especially warm or cold place? And when we are sick why does the temperature rising a couple degrees up or down make such a difference?
In: Biology
Think of your brain as the thermostat, and your blood as the hot water running through the radiators.
When your body is cold, the brain will redirect the hot blood to the critical areas (head, chest, stomach). And reduce flow to the legs and arms. This keeps you alive, and it”s why your hands are cold long before your chest.
When you’re too warm, it’ll do the opposite. It will reduce heating in the critical areas, and increase blood flow to the limbs. This, combined with sweating, helps cool down your blood and maintain your temperature.
When you have a fever, that’s your body turning up the thermostat by a few degrees. Suddenly 39C becomes “normal” body temperature. This does affect your body significantly (people with a fever usually feel pretty horrible, and a high enough fever is life-threatening), but the goal is to help the immune system fight an infection. In the case of a fever, the body is essentially betting that the immune system can clear the infection before the fever becomes dangerous.
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