Fever: How Many Degrees Does it Take to be considered a Fever?
Fever is one of the signs of someone being ill or not well. This explains why when you go to the hospital, it’s one of the vital signs they take. For babies that cannot tell the parents how they are feeling, a fever will be one of the signs a mother notices. Usually, it will be followed by other signs like irritability, high pitched crying, lethargy, and lack of appetite.
Normally we tend to confuse high body temperature with fever, but is it the same? High temperature can lead to fever but not every increased temperature is fever. Any thermometer reading between 36.5 to 37 degrees Celsius is normal temperature. However, body temperature varies with the surroundings like weather, food/ drinks, exercises, and clothing.
When a baby is dressed in heavy linen, the temperature will rise that’s why they will sweat. It is a sign to reduce on the clothing. Similarly for adults, when you take very hot things, exercise, or be under a hot sun, you will sweat hence a sign that the body temperature is above normal. Notice this high temperature doesn’t indicate fever. If you want to find out more about fever, stay here.
What is Fever
Fever is any temperature reading above 37 degrees Celsius under normal conditions. The hypothalamus (a part of the brain found in the forehead) is the one responsible for regulating body temperature. It keeps your temperature at around 37 degrees Celsius, depending on the time of day and amount of work you are doing. That explains why when someone is feeling for your temperature traditionally, they’ll feel for your forehead. For babies, you can feel for their stomach and backs too.
Phases of fever
Fever is your body’s way of communicating to you that there is something not right. It occurs in 3 phases of your body heating, fever settling, and finally cooling phase.
Heating up of Your Body
When foreign bodies gain access into your body, the body’s immune system which includes blood and the lymphatic system responds by producing white blood cells. When there is bacteria or a virus in the body that cause infection, your body produces more white blood cells. An increased white blood cell count affects the normal functioning of the hypothalamus. Consequently, your body heats up leading to a fever.
When a fever is starting, you will feel cold and get chills or shivers. It’s the body’s way of trying to normalize its temperature. It comes about when your skin blood vessels tighten causing blood to move away from your skin to the inside parts of the body where it is easy to maintain the heat. The skin then cools down and the muscles contract. This leads to shivering. Shivering generates more heat and raises your body temperature even higher.
Fever Levels Off
In this phase, the amount of heat your body generates, and the one it loses is the same. At this point, shivering stops and the body adopts a new temperature. Notice that this new temperature is high and the body will maintain that.
Cooling Down
During this phase, the body tries to cool down in a bid to have your body temperature return to normal. Your skin blood vessels will open (dilate) and blood will move back from inside the body to the skin surface. As a result, you’ll start sweating to cool the skin and ultimately the body. Sometimes this phase is initiated by drugs and other times naturally.
Dangers of Fever
Fevers in children can lead to seizures. Therefore, every mother should have a temperature to keep track of their baby’s temperature. In adults whose hypothalamus might not be working well, fever can lead to confusion and heart problems.
Last Remark
Fever is one sure way to communicate to you there is something wrong within your body. In adults fever can be preceded by other signs like lack of appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, and others, depending on the causative organism. In babies, however, they can’t talk, therefore as a mother track their temperature with a thermometer. If you are a busy one, you might not notice it until its high. Therefore, learn to trust your mother’s instincts and learn your baby. If it tells you your baby is not well, perhaps it’s true.