After pondering what I thought might be a useful blog post I decided that I would say a little bit about temperature and pulse, and take my temperature at different times throughout the day. Then I could share with you how my temperature goes up after meals, which means things are working as they should be!
“Metabolism is the sum of chemical processes that occur in an organism in order to maintain life. Life depends upon the continual conversion of fuel substrates into chemical energy, allowing cells to perform biological work. Heat is produced by these cellular metabolic processes so the resting metabolic rate can be predicted accurately by the rate of heat production.
A simple way to monitor the intensity of your resting metabolism (i.e. how well you are making energy/heat) is to track the resting oral temperature and pulse rate. Collect this data upon waking while lying in bed, ~40 minutes after breakfast, and between 1 and 3 pm in the afternoon.
Upon waking, an ideal temperature is between 97.8-98.6F [36.5-37C] and a pulse rate between 75-85 beats per minute (BPM). Other readings during the day should fall within these parameters as well with temperatures being closer to 98.6F than 97.8F. Data points below the optimal are a sign of a slowed metabolic rate.”
– FPS (Functional Performance Systems)
“Metabolism is the sum of chemical processes that occur in an organism in order to maintain life. Life depends upon the continual conversion of fuel substrates into chemical energy, allowing cells to perform biological work. Heat is produced by these cellular metabolic processes so the resting metabolic rate can be predicted accurately by the rate of heat production.
A simple way to monitor the intensity of your resting metabolism (i.e. how well you are making energy/heat) is to track the resting oral temperature and pulse rate. Collect this data upon waking while lying in bed, ~40 minutes after breakfast, and between 1 and 3 pm in the afternoon.
Upon waking, an ideal temperature is between 97.8-98.6F [36.5-37C] and a pulse rate between 75-85 beats per minute (BPM). Other readings during the day should fall within these parameters as well with temperatures being closer to 98.6F than 97.8F. Data points below the optimal are a sign of a slowed metabolic rate.”
– FPS (Functional Performance Systems)
So I got my thermometer out and then promptly forgot to take my temperatures that day! Lol! And the next day! Finally I had a day where I remembered to record some readings. The problem was my temperature was all over the place – not at all what I intended to show you! This was a great nudge for me though. I realised that I actually hadn’t been sleeping that great, that my appetite had become a bit blunted (I was still eating but it wasn’t the oh happy days I’m starving, let me enjoy my food kind of feeling!), my skin was becoming a bit drier (and my lips had been quite chapped for a little while), and my head felt quite woolly headed and unfocused! I suppose each thing by itself is only small but definitely not right and together they add up to something being a little off!
“If the night-time stress is very high, the adrenalin will still be high until breakfast, increasing both temperature and pulse rate. The cortisol stimulates the breakdown of muscle tissue and its conversion to energy, so it is thermogenic, for some of the same reasons that food is thermogenic.
After eating breakfast, the cortisol (and adrenalin, if it stayed high despite the increased cortisol) will start returning to a more normal, lower level, as the blood sugar is sustained by food, instead of by the stress hormones. In some hypothyroid people, this is a good time to measure the temperature and pulse rate. In a normal person, both temperature and pulse rate rise after breakfast, but in very hypothyroid people either, or both, might fall.”
-Ray Peat, PhD
After eating breakfast, the cortisol (and adrenalin, if it stayed high despite the increased cortisol) will start returning to a more normal, lower level, as the blood sugar is sustained by food, instead of by the stress hormones. In some hypothyroid people, this is a good time to measure the temperature and pulse rate. In a normal person, both temperature and pulse rate rise after breakfast, but in very hypothyroid people either, or both, might fall.”
-Ray Peat, PhD
So you can see that on Fri my temp was 36.7 when I woke up. It’s usually a bit lower than that and I didn’t feel like my health had suddenly improved to the point of having a better morning temp! Especially as I haven’t been sleeping that well lately. I also felt weirdly hot in the morning, so it definitely seems like stress hormones were at work. Even though having breakfast didn’t initially drop my temp, you can see that by 11am it had dropped to a more normal (for me) reading. Later on in the day my temp had risen before eating again and dropped afterwards. It wasn’t until the last meal of the day that my temp rose in response to food. That’s not exactly what I want to be happening!
So I pondered what might be going on. I know that if I sit in a hot bath for a while, or out in the sun, my skin goes drier and I seem to have a hard time sleeping. Billy (Craig) suggests about heat:
“It's like a thyroid surrogate (same as exercise), does increase metabolism and therefore the need for other things which leaves the potential for a stress response”
A couple of weekends ago (when we had glorious weather in the UK!) I spent all day in the garden and it was fabulous, but my sleep that night was terrible. I woke at 2am and was awake for about 3 hours! Nothing helped, not sugar, not salt, and not food! By 3.30am I had tried them all! Eventually I nodded off again but this is not the kind of thing I want to be experiencing! I think that I’m low in vitamin A (dry skin and dry lips) which can definitely interfere with sleep, and I remember Billy once suggesting that I try B3 (niacinamide) to help with my water retention. Then I remembered that I haven’t had any liver in quite some time, and liver ticks most nutritional boxes! So I bought liver and ate a small amount for the next few days. It certainly seems to have done the trick. My temps are back to being lower in the morning and rising after food. After another day of tracking temps, I remembered to track my pulse as well so you can see what happens to that. It’s lower before food and rises after food. I’m back on the right track after veering around a bit!
I had a good idea that after a few days of eating liver my body would tell me it had had enough for now. Sure enough, this morning I felt the tinges of not anxiety exactly, but the starting of a tingly feeling in my stomach. Also my appetite was a bit supressed and I felt a bit sick. So I haven’t had any today and I’ll probably go back to eating it once or twice a week (no need to get over excited hey!). My appetite is now back and once again it’s enjoyable to tuck into each and every meal I have.
I’ve been sleeping much better again and even though I still wake up once in the night to pee, I go straight back to sleep. I also haven’t been as hot when I wake up. I had been getting so hot it was ridiculous and I’d had to throw all covers off and stand by the window for a bit. Stress hormones will do that! My skin is also less dry again and my lips have almost completely healed up.
Dealing with your health is a bit like doing a puzzle and fitting all the pieces together! I’m not sure how well my pieces fit yet but I feel like I’m getting closer. My head has been less woolly today and I’ve been more productive, which can only be a good thing!
As always, I hope you have enjoyed my ramblings and that you find them useful. Measuring your temperature and pulse is such an easy thing to do and can tell you whether you are on the right track or not. A useful tool for establishing where your puzzle is up to! If you have any comments, questions or stories to share then please add them below. I always love to hear from you guys. Take care x
I’ve been sleeping much better again and even though I still wake up once in the night to pee, I go straight back to sleep. I also haven’t been as hot when I wake up. I had been getting so hot it was ridiculous and I’d had to throw all covers off and stand by the window for a bit. Stress hormones will do that! My skin is also less dry again and my lips have almost completely healed up.
Dealing with your health is a bit like doing a puzzle and fitting all the pieces together! I’m not sure how well my pieces fit yet but I feel like I’m getting closer. My head has been less woolly today and I’ve been more productive, which can only be a good thing!
As always, I hope you have enjoyed my ramblings and that you find them useful. Measuring your temperature and pulse is such an easy thing to do and can tell you whether you are on the right track or not. A useful tool for establishing where your puzzle is up to! If you have any comments, questions or stories to share then please add them below. I always love to hear from you guys. Take care x
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