I was recently sick and my body temperature was 38.6°C. It felt like I was in a refrigerator.
So, why do we feel cold when we have a high body temperature? Shouldn’t we feel hot instead?
In: Biology
You have a part of the brain (anterior hypothalamic nucleus/preoptic area) that acts as a thermostat and maintains a temperature “set point”. If you are colder than the set point, you will shiver, feel cold, stop sweating, and your skin will get less blood flow. If you are hotter than the set point, you will feel hot, sweat, and your skin will get more blood flow.
When you are sick, immune chemicals (like TNF-alpha, IL-1B, IL-6) affect the thermostat to increase the set point. Now your body temperature of 36C or 98F is colder than the set point, so you will feel cold. If you have a fever and take a fever reducing drug, the set point drops down and now you feel hot and start sweating.
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