Peter Nelin, physician, professor of clinical family medicine and director of the family medicine residency program at Indiana University, explains:
Scientific American
Peter Nelin, physician, professor of clinical family medicine and director of the family medicine residency program at Indiana University, explains:
"Fever", or an increase in body temperature, is often associated with the awakening of the body's immune system. The normal temperature is 37 degrees Celsius plus or minus half a degree. The heat may help the immune system in its attempt to overcome infectious disease agents, and makes the body a less comfortable place for the reproduction of temperature-sensitive viruses and bacteria.
However, pollution is not the only cause. Amphetamine drug use and alcohol withdrawal, for example, can cause body temperature to rise. Environmental pressures can also play a role in heat stroke and similar illnesses. The body's temperature regulator is the hypothalamus, located at the base of the brain. It is triggered by biochemical substances called pyrogens that the immune system releases into the bloodstream when it detects a possible problem in one of the organs. Some pyrogens are produced by body tissues, but others are also produced by many disease agents, pathogens. When the hypothalamus detects these chemicals, it instructs the body to increase metabolism and maintain this temperature by reducing peripheral blood flow - this is how the sensation known as "heat" is caused. Children often have higher and more frequent fevers, because their immune systems are not experienced with the effects of pyrogens.
Is the popular opinion true that a person who has a fever should eat little or not at all? The answer is yes. When the temperature is high, the body's functions are carried out under physiological stress. Activating the digestive system in such a situation overstimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, while the sympathetic nervous system is already active. As a result, the feverish body may recognize certain substances absorbed in the intestines as allergy causes. Furthermore, too high a fever may in rare cases cause convulsions, collapse and hallucinations, which may become even more complicated immediately after eating.
The temperature may sometimes rise higher than is good for the body. Temperatures above 40.5 degrees Celsius, for example, threaten the integrity of essential proteins and their function. Intracellular pressure, myocardial infarction (heart attack), tissue necrosis, convulsions and hallucinations are some of the possible results. If the heat disrupts the body's own cooling mechanism, you can use "cooling blankets" or other methods.
