What is the brain temperature? (Research)

The average brain temperature was 38.5C, higher than previously thought. [사진=게티이미지뱅크]

What is the brain temperature?

The average temperature is 38.5℃, and a study found that women’s brain temperature was higher than men’s.

Researchers at MRC’s Laboratory for Molecular Biology in the UK recently published a study in the neurology journal Brain, which found that women’s brains are regarding 0.4°C hotter than men’s.

When the researchers recruited 40 volunteers aged 20 to 40 and conducted brain scans in the morning, followingnoon and late evening throughout the day, they found that the average human brain temperature was 38.5°C, higher than previously thought.

The researchers speculated that the menstrual cycle was the biggest cause of the difference in brain temperature between men and women. This is because most women had their scans following ovulation, and their brain temperatures were regarding 0.4°C higher than those of women who had scans before ovulation.

Deeper brains were mostly above 40°C, with the highest observed temperature being 40.9°C. Brain temperatures are usually cooler at night and warmer during the day.

Brain temperature tended to be higher with age. The average increase rate was most pronounced in the deep brain at 0.6°C. The researchers speculate that the brain’s ability to cool may decline with age.

“The brain temperature was measured to be high in people who suffered brain damage in the past, and it has been assumed that this is simply a result of the injury,” the researchers said.

Reporter Jeong Hee-eun [e-mail]

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