Discoveries

June 23, 2022

Overheated

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A new study discovered that being “hot-headed” is a sign of a healthy brain, according to Cosmos magazine.

A research team found that normal human brain temperatures can change based on age, gender, menstrual and sleep cycles.

For their paper, they analyzed the brains of 40 healthy adult volunteers between the ages of 20 to 40 and used magnetic resonance spectroscopy to produce the first 4D maps of healthy human brain temperatures – known as HEATWAVE.

The team explained that most participants had an oral temperature below 98 Fahrenheit degrees but their average brain temperature would reach between 101 to 104 degrees.

Temperatures also varied among participants: For example, female brains were 0.72 degrees warmer than male ones. The participants’ noggins also got warmer during the day but started to cool down by night.

Researchers also observed that temperatures increased with age, particularly in the deep brain regions, which suggests that the capacity to cool down may deteriorate with age and could be linked to the development of age-related brain disorders.

The study challenges the previous belief that human brain and body temperatures remain constant, the authors noted.

They also found that daily brain temperature cycles are highly related to the survival of individuals with traumatic brain injury.

“Our work also opens a door for future research into whether disruption of daily brain temperature rhythms can be used as an early biomarker for several chronic brain disorders, including dementia,” said co-author Nina Rzechorzek.

This story originally appeared in the June 23, 2022 newsletter, Loathed, Loved.