What to know about body temperature
A “normal” body temperature can range anywhere from 95.5°F to 99.9°F, with the average being 98.0°F when measured under the tongue (orally). Did you know your body temperature changes throughout the day? If you check your temperature frequently, you'll likely find that your body temp is lowest at 6 am and at its highest between 4-6 pm, with a difference of up to 1°F.
Body temperature will also vary person to person. For example, studies have found that those with lower BMIs (body mass index) and those who are older in age have lower body temps; women tend to run higher than men; and underlying conditions affect our body temperature in many ways. Ovulation will also affect body temperature, so you may notice lower temperatures in the two weeks prior to ovulation.
We'd like to emphasize a piece from above: those who are older often have lower baseline body temps. Additionally, developing a fever is impaired in older adults. This means that a serious infection could be brewing, all while your thermometer reads “No Fever” or “Mild Fever.” Seeking care sooner rather than later is advised in adults over 65 years of age or anytime you’re concerned with an illness.
Find your baseline
Knowing your personal baseline temp can be key to spotting an illness early. To calculate your baseline temp:
- Check your temperature 2x/day, morning and evening, for 5 days.
- Add all 10 temperatures together.
- Divide your total by 10.
Voila! You now have your baseline temperature. (Note: This is not a perfect science but a solid estimate. 🙂)
Remember don’t check for your baseline temperature…
- Directly after eating/drinking something
- Immediately after a shower/bath, workout, or coming in from outside
- During an illness
Now that you have your baseline temperature, you can use it as a way to monitor for potential infections. An increase of more than 2°F in your healthy, baseline temperature is a good indicator of an infection.
How to translate this new info to your Kinsa app
At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that a number is simply a number. If you feel very sick, you’re very sick, even if the number on the thermometer doesn’t validate this fact for you. And vice versa: if you feel fine, but the temp on the thermometer is reading “High,” don’t panic. How you feel (or how your child feels and looks) will always be more important than the number you see on your thermometer.
As much as we wish we could adjust your temperature reading to account for your baseline temperature every single time, our thermometers aren’t quite there yet. But we’ll keep trying!
Let’s walk through a hypothetical scenario. Suppose someone has calculated their baseline temperature, and it is 97.1°F. A few weeks later, they start feeling under the weather — experiencing a headache — and their Kinsa thermometer gives a temperature reading of 99.5°F.
Since they have inside knowledge of the Kinsa app (😉), they know that 99.5°F will register as “No Fever.” However, they also understand that this reading is 2.4 degrees above their personal baseline and, importantly, they aren’t feeling well. At this point, they have two options:
- Do nothing and monitor how they feel over time.
- Tap the blue plus (+) sign in the bottom right-hand corner of the Kinsa app and add a temperature manually. After hitting the plus sign, they would select “temperature,” ensure they are using the correct temp-taking route (oral), and that they’re on the right profile (their own). Then they would tap “enter manual temperature” at the bottom of the screen and slide the bar until the status changes from “No Fever” to “Mild Fever.”
For legal reasons, it’s important to emphasize that this step involves estimating what the fever might be. This suggestion is offered only to help the Kinsa app’s guidance align more accurately with the user’s individual baseline temperature. In this scenario, the app would now display guidance for a Headache with a Mild Fever, rather than a Headache with No Fever. The guidance may vary based on the symptoms entered, though in some cases, it might remain the same.
Again, in general, the number is just a number. 99.5°F makes no clinical difference from 100.0°F. Knowing your baseline temp and knowing if you’re about 2+ degrees higher is most useful. With more knowledge you can focus on eating a healthy diet, increasing your water intake, and getting more sleep - maybe you can fight off a more serious bug if you see it creeping in early. Even if you can’t fight it off early, you can protect others by being more diligent with handwashing, mask-wearing, and avoiding vulnerable family members once you see this increase in your baseline temperature. Knowledge truly is power!