With all of my patients, I recommend that they check their temperature twice per day. This information has been invaluable for determining — and then solving! — the root cause of a variety of symptoms, especially when problems have been going on for years, and even decades!
Why check your temperature?
When doctors take your temperature, they’re typically looking for if someone has a fever. However, it is very common for someone to have a low temperature. The optimal temperature is 98.6 F. If you routinely have a temperature of 97.5 F or below, then your body doesn’t have enough functional energy to sustain normal physiology. This can start contributing to or creating various symptoms in the body. In fact, leading endocrinologists are now making a hypothyroid diagnosis when the core temperature is routinely 97.5 or below.
The thyroid regulates multiple functions in the body and acts like the core metabolism. When your temperature is 97.5 F or below, the digestive fire of the entire metabolism is low. Digestive enzymes are not activated to break down food properly. You may start to gain weight more easily, feel fatigued, have pain that you have no explanation for, and notice other dysfunction and imbalances in the body. These symptoms are occurring because you are not getting proper nutrients from the food you eat - even if you’re eating all the right foods! If the core temperature is low, you will not extract nutrients from food, regardless of what you are eating.
Some Eastern Medicine specialists have noticed a correlation between the first and second morning temperatures. In a Western medical lens, this indicates that the day and night hormones are out of balance, leading to a major root cause for chronic disease and ongoing pain. Most importantly, by discovering and correcting this root cause, we can not only dramatically improve symptoms, but often resolve these symptoms forever!
The good news? We have found we can reliably increase the core temperature and then stabilize it so that it stays at the higher level, significantly reducing — or completely eliminating — chronic pain and disease!
How & when to check your temperature
I recommend checking your temperature orally over the next several days to see if your temperatures are in the right range, indicating the proper hormone balance. Your temperature needs to be checked at two different times:
The first time is right in the morning, before getting out of bed but just after waking. Have a thermometer on your nightstand by your bed. At this time, your temperature should be between 97.5 and 97.9 F.
The second temperature should be taken 30 to 60 minutes later after you have gotten out of bed as you participate in your normal morning routine. This temperature should increase by half a degree from the first recording. The increase in temperature results from a surge of warming and energizing hormones for the day. Often, people find that their temperature does not rise the full half a degree that is expected, and their temperatures may actually decrease. This indicates that your body wants to stay in bed, and does not have enough energy to get through the day.
Additionally, try taking your temperature a third time in between 1-3pm. This is your mid-day temperature. People often experience a “crash” in their energy level in the mid-afternoon. If their temperatures are low during the mid-afternoon, then this can explain their decrease in energy and spike in symptoms!
By taking your temperature in this fashion over a series of three days, you can calculate the average first temperature and second temperature to understand how your body generally functions.
I’m interested in your findings! Email me your results, along with any questions, comments, and concerns, to acupuncturebyariel@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you soon!