<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> I seem to have hit on a hot topic. Thanks a million for all those informative replies. Well, it seemed like a million replies in my Inbox but actually there are about 60, so I'd like to ask for some time to assimilate them for a Summary. Three matters I'd like to mention right off, however: First, with regard to the rapid response I got from many cool cats out there: there's a sort of reverse Lake Wobegon effect when it comes to temp. Most people most of the time sticking the thermometer devices most of us use in the places most of us stick 'em will measure "below average." The best source I know of found for a bunch of healthy prime-of-life adults an average of 36.8 degrees C (98.2 degrees F) rather than 37.0 degrees C (98.6 degrees F), the usually accepted "normal" since 1868. That date was when results from the last truly huge data base on body temps was published. Unfortunately, the thermometers then in use "may have been calibrated by as much as 1.4 deg.C to 2.2 deg.C (2.6 deg.F-4.0 deg.F) higher than today's." (Mackowiak PA. Concepts of fever. Arch Intern Med. 1998; 158:1870-1881.) So not to worry because it's normal to be a bit "below normal." What is most to worry is that many (most?) physicians, care managers, triagers, etc. have wrong notions about what "normal" temperature ranges are. [Mackowiak PA; Wasserman SS. Physicians' perceptions regarding body temperature in health and disease. South Med J, 1995; 88(9):934-8.] That can be homicidal. Second, I shouldn't have stacked the deck by asking just about low body temp like mine. As one reply pointed out, it will be hard for me to know if Celiacs tend to be mostly on the cold side with my one-sided question. Not that I need more stuff in my Inbox, but I should have asked do you run hot or cold. . Many people, unlike most people, are normally hot. Also not to worry. Although the range of normal is greater than practitioners tend to believe, the whole human family huddles together more or less happily in a quite narrow temperature range. So stay warm and keep cool, people I will come back with a Summary of many intriguing replies. As for requests for references, I must say I was disappointed by most articles for us lay people in encyclopedias and such. They tend to be out-of-date and uncritical of dogmas. Here are a few additional refs for folks who asked for them (the Mackowiak paper, above, has a great bibliography for the technically inclined): Castle SC, et al. Fever response in elderly nursing home residents: Are the older truly colder? J Am Geriatr Soc. 1991;39:853-857. Lipton JM. Disorders of temperature control. In: Rieder P, Kopp N, Pearson J, eds. An Introduction to Neurotransmission in Health and Disease. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press; 1990:119-123. Mackowiak PA; Wasserman SS; Levine M. A critical appraisal of 98.6 degrees F, the upper limit of the normal body temperature, and other legacies of Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich. 1992; JAMA, 268(12):1578-80. Rabinowitz RP, et al. Effects of anatomic site, oral stimulation, and body position on estimates of body temperature. Arch Intern Med. 1996;156(7):777-80. Schmitt BD. Behavioral aspects of temperature-taking. Clin Pediatr. 1991; 30 (Suppl 4):8-10. Yoshikawa TT; Norman C. Fever in the Elderly. Infect Med. 1998; 15(10):704-706, 708.