Why are we uncomfortable in 98.6°F weather if our body temp is 98.6°F?

Question

Random thought.

Answer 1

Your body produces more heat than what it needs. If the air is 98.6 F, then there is no way for you to get rid of the excess heat fast enough, so your body temperature actually rises above the ambient temperature.

Answer 2

Really interesting question; I find some of the answers interesting as well.

I'm going with the "skin is cooler" and "we produce heat, which we need to dissipate into a cooler air" as making most sense.

I just wanted to point out that the 98.6 is an average; we don't all have exactly that temp normally, we vary by a couple degrees higher or lower.

Answer 3

Your body wants to maintain a 98.6 temperature, however you are constantly creating heat through your bodily processes. When you are in ambient temperatures that are lower then 98.6 you are able to release this heat into the surrounding air, but when the outside temperature is already at 98.6 you are not going to be able to release very much heat this way. Your body is much more easily able to bleed off this heat in lower temperatures.

Answer 4

That is your core body temperature, not your external temperature. That's why thermometers measure in body cavities instead of just holding against your arm, for example.

98.6°F is a lot warmer than your skin temperature so it will feel warm by comparison.

Also, different materials have different heat capacitance and some will draw away the heat differently not to mention your body's natural cooling technique through perspiration. For example, 70° water feels very different from 70° air.

Answer 5

because people are generally more comfortable with a 15 to 20 degree difference between their body temperature and the ambient temperature of the room. And your body works better in cooler temperatures. And finally its because your body is always giving off heat as excess energy, unused energy that is being expelled from the body for a reason and if its the same temp as your body outside then your body can't give off more than its gaining back from the outside air.

Answer 6

Yes, our internal temp is 98.6 but additional sunrays beaming down on our skin - another 98.6 degrees on top of our already warm bodies, is quite hot!

Answer 7

Good question. Our body's internal temperature is quite warm, and like a car engine, it needs a coolant system. We are programmed to feel warm when the outside temperature matches our inside temperature, so we sweat. Sweat cools in the outside air and provides the cooling we need. If there was no cooling mechanism in place, our inner temperature would go up, much like a car with a broken radiator. That's the best I can figure it.

Answer 8

well our bodies are kept at 98.6 or 37.5 celcius because mammals produce their own body heat, if the outside temperature is exactly the same that means if our body overheats it is more difficult for this heat to be lost than if say the temperature was 20 celcius.

Answer 9

the better the relative humidity is, the extra problematical that's for sweat to evaporate off of your epidermis, no be counted what the temperature is. air con (and heating) lowers the relative humidity of the air besides as reducing the air temperature interior. i'm a clean Orleans community, lived virtually one million/2 of my fifty six year existence in the better New Orleans section. even nonetheless i choose for to stay in important ok many of the time now, whilst I nonetheless very own components (that did no longer flood) in east economic corporation Jefferson parish. if the relative humidity is 70% or extra, i will nonetheless take a walk the two in better New Orleans or Norman, ok and decide interior of five% what the relative humidity is in accordance with how long it takes the section under my eyes and my brow to start sweating and not evaporating, whilst my nostril sweats interior of five minutes or much less, the relative humidity is over ninety%.

Answer 10

98.6 is our internal body temperature. The temperature of our skin is much lower.