We usually don’t think about our body temperature
unless we’re very hot or cold. We don’t necessarily need to—it’s regulated automatically, just like our heartbeat and breathing. Beginning now, though, I suggest you take an active interest. Body temperature has an immense impact on your health and happiness, for body temperature contains an important secret to recovering natural healing power.
What has been revealed through many clinical studies is that body temperature is deeply related to the immune system. Immunity increases when body temperature rises within the normal range and decreases when it falls. If pathogens such as bacteria or viruses invade the body, the immune system increases body temperature while it fights them. Temperature returns to normal when symptoms are alleviated.
Low Body Temperature Can Weaken Your Immune System
All organisms have their own vital temperature necessary for maintaining a healthy life. Their life force declines and they readily become sick unless they maintain this unique temperature. The normal temperature of the human body is 97.7–99.5 degrees F. Although body temperature changes constantly depending on the environment, the weather, and the time of day as well as the condition of the body and mind, being outside this range for long brings many health problems.
There’s a close connection between low body temperature and many diseases that modern people experience. Most people who are obese, have a chronic disease such as diabetes or hypertension, or suffer from depression have a lower-than-average body temperature.
Experts researching the correlation between health and body temperature say that maintaining a temperature close to 98.6°F—in other words, just a little high within the normal range—is an effective way to increase natural healing ability and maintain physical and mental health and vitality.
Falling body temperature weakens blood circulation, metabolism, and detoxification. Blood vessels contract when the body becomes colder, inhibiting circulation. And since blood transports the nutrients, oxygen, and moisture that the body requires, when it doesn’t flow smoothly the organs don’t receive what they need for their activity. As metabolism declines, unused energy accumulates, even leading to obesity and other diseases.
Blood also transports waste products generated in the body. If the body gets colder and blood circulation problems develop, these waste products accumulate. This can cause contamination and a decline in cell function, often leading to disease.
Yet another problem is that white blood cell activity decreases when body temperature drops. We depend on our white blood cells, or leukocytes, to dismantle invading bacteria and build our immune system, fighting viruses, parasites, mold, pollen, and other pathogens. White blood cells also protect the body by attacking tumors, preventing the creation of cancer cells, and eliminating virus-infected cells before they can damage other cells. But when low body temperature weakens the immune system, this defense system collapses.
Elevated body temperature, on the other hand, is known to increase the activity of immune-function cells, and to boost energy production by elevating the metabolic rate. According to Japanese immunologist Dr. Toru Abo of Niigata University, the immune system is strengthened fivefold when body temperature increases just 1.8 degrees F (1 degree C). Conversely, it’s weakened by 35 percent when body temperature drops this same amount.
Develop a Habit of Keeping Your Body Warm
Heat therapies, in fact, have been in use for a very long time. In the East, moxibustion has been an important treatment for several millennia. It involves thermal stimulation from medicinal herbs burned on specific parts of the body. There are records indicating that Hippocrates, born nearly 2,500 years ago and known as the “father of medicine,” used heat to treat patients.
Many things can cause body temperature to fall. Chronic stress can lead to a decline in the functioning of the autonomic nervous system and peripheral circulatory disorders, resulting in colder extremities and lower body temperature. Decrease in muscle mass can cause low body temperature. Muscles are our greatest organ for generating heat—the boilers of our bodies. About 25 percent of the heat generated in the body is created in the muscles. More than 70 percent of our muscles are in the lower body, and if we’re lazy about exercising them it’s easy for the body to get cold.
Overeating, cold food, excessive air conditioning, inadequate sleep, and frequent use of fever reducers and pain relievers—all of these things can make the body cold. If we overeat, blood gathers in the stomach to digest the food. Bodily movement decreases and temperature falls because less blood then goes to the brain, hands, feet, and muscles.
Develop a habit of keeping your body warm in your daily life, and try to increase your body temperature by just one or two degrees at least once or twice a day. Improving your blood and energy circulation by raising your temperature, of course not from being sick, will give you the gift of health and vitality. You’ll be amazed at how great the slight change of body temperature you create for yourself will make you feel, both in body and in mind.
4 Simple Things You Can Do to Raise Your Body Temperature
- 1. Exercise
The simplest way to raise your body temperature is to move it. Work your muscles vigorously, especially those in your lower body, while focusing on the feeling of heat in your body. Rather than moving your body once for a long time, for the purpose of keeping your body warm, I recommend exercising for about one minute every hour throughout the day.
- 2. Drink Warm Water
You may remember the wonderful feeling of warm fluid entering your belly when you’re cold and spreading to the rest of your body. Rather than keeping yourself hydrated with ice water, raise your body temperature by drinking warm water, especially when you first wake up in the morning and when you are settling down in the evening. Staying hydrated is especially important when you are warm, because then more of the body’s water evaporates and needs to be replenished. Almost all of the major systems in our body depend on water.
3. Laugh More Often
When the mind experiences an emotional roller coaster or depression, our body temperature moves out of the normal range. That’s why it’s important to be diligent about managing our minds if we are to maintain a healthy body temperature—to think positively and to have a passionate attitude toward life. One quick and easy way to practice positivity is to smile and laugh. Simply making a smile, or even better, wholeheartedly laughing out loud, signals to your mind and body that you are happy, and your physiology changes so that you really think and feel that way. Laughter also reduces temperature- and immunity-decreasing stress, and tenses and releases muscles, to help your body temperature rise. Making a habit to smile and laugh often can keep your attitude warm and your body as well.
4. Get More Sunlight
The ultimate source of heat for the entire planet is the sun. It serves as life energy, causing all life-forms to exist and grow. Just as water can warm our body from the inside out, sunlight can warm our body from the outside in. No special technique is needed to receive the gift of sunlight. All you have to do is adopt whatever posture is comfortable for you—lying, sitting, or standing—and enjoy your fill of warm sunlight. Or simply take a walk outside. Focusing on the feeling of heat in your body will help you feel warmer more quickly and help you catch when you are getting too warm. Avoid overheating by getting out of the sun once you feel that your whole body, including your hands and feet, is warm enough. If your core temperature rises too far, it could result in rapid heartbeat, headache, and dizziness. Also, replenish your body moisture by drinking plenty of warm or room temperature water before, during, and after sun exposure.