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Could this also possibly do to an increasing rate of global temperatures? One would think we would simply evolve towards a lower body temp in order to survive i

Could this also possibly do to an increasing rate of global temperatures? One would think we would simply evolve towards a lower body temp in order to survive in a warm world.

ryanmercer 7y ago
You're being downvoted but I can certainly see why someone might make this mental leap. Instead of downvoting you and driving along without comment let's think about this. CO2 levels for example can negatively impact cognitive function [1], perhaps this could have some impact on energy expenditure in the brain which might reduce body temperature some. Bodies will absolutely adjust to temperature changes as well (to some extent). Plausible but probably not a large percentage of a body temperature. I could see people being exposed to higher CO2 levels though due to the fact there are more and more indoor jobs, and less due to climate change. Even with HVAC systems, a quick Google query makes it seem that CO2 levels are generally higher in offices than outside [2] [3] [4] [5]. And while we're on that brain line of thinking... perhaps the increased consumption of television and mindless scrolling of social media feeds also results in far lower cognitive engagement which also decreases energy expenditure shrugs. Also worth looking at I suspect. For me I immediately thought of the thermic effect of food. Legumes, many spices, nuts, seeds etc all tend to have higher thermic effects. Perhaps eating a highly refined carbohydrate diet has caused a lowering in body temerapture by having lower thermic effects (I don't know, this was just my first mental leap). I suspect there is something here but probably not a major percentage of the difference. [1] = https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/ehp.1510037 https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/ehp.1510037 [2] - https://www.businessinsider.com/office-air-co2-levels-making-workers-tired-2017-11 https://www.businessinsider.com/office-air-co2-levels-making... [3] - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26273786 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26273786 [4] - https://www.planteriagroup.com/blog/co2-levels-in-offices-are-damaging-uk-productivity/63 https://www.planteriagroup.com/blog/co2-levels-in-offices-ar... [5] - https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/10/27/why-your-office-air-could-be-crimping-your-productivity/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/20...
- hwillis 7y ago
  Since 1900 CO2 has gone from 300 ppm to 420 ppm. That study looks at 900+ ppm CO2. They also controlled that by doubling the ventilation speed of the room, which would definitely have had secondary effects. More importantly, you can't infer anything about the CO2 levels when they were being measured from the global CO2. Big buildings would have had very high CO2 levels since there's no central air. Small buildings would have much lower CO2 than any current buildings when the windows were open, and much higher otherwise. Oil or gas lamps would raise the CO2 levels a ton. Proximity to coal furnaces would have had a huge impact. Fireplaces too. Bottom line: global CO2 levels have virtually nothing to do with how much CO2 people are exposed to.

Could this also possibly do to an increasing rate of global temperatures? One would think we would simply evolve towards a lower body temp in order to survive in a warm world.

ryanmercer 7y ago

You're being downvoted but I can certainly see why someone might make this mental leap. Instead of downvoting you and driving along without comment let's think about this. CO2 levels for example can negatively impact cognitive function [1], perhaps this could have some impact on energy expenditure in the brain which might reduce body temperature some. Bodies will absolutely adjust to temperature changes as well (to some extent). Plausible but probably not a large percentage of a body temperature. I could see people being exposed to higher CO2 levels though due to the fact there are more and more indoor jobs, and less due to climate change. Even with HVAC systems, a quick Google query makes it seem that CO2 levels are generally higher in offices than outside [2] [3] [4] [5]. And while we're on that brain line of thinking... perhaps the increased consumption of television and mindless scrolling of social media feeds also results in far lower cognitive engagement which also decreases energy expenditure shrugs. Also worth looking at I suspect. For me I immediately thought of the thermic effect of food. Legumes, many spices, nuts, seeds etc all tend to have higher thermic effects. Perhaps eating a highly refined carbohydrate diet has caused a lowering in body temerapture by having lower thermic effects (I don't know, this was just my first mental leap). I suspect there is something here but probably not a major percentage of the difference. [1] = https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/ehp.1510037 https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/ehp.1510037 [2] - https://www.businessinsider.com/office-air-co2-levels-making-workers-tired-2017-11 https://www.businessinsider.com/office-air-co2-levels-making... [3] - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26273786 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26273786 [4] - https://www.planteriagroup.com/blog/co2-levels-in-offices-are-damaging-uk-productivity/63 https://www.planteriagroup.com/blog/co2-levels-in-offices-ar... [5] - https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/10/27/why-your-office-air-could-be-crimping-your-productivity/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/20...

hwillis 7y ago
Since 1900 CO2 has gone from 300 ppm to 420 ppm. That study looks at 900+ ppm CO2. They also controlled that by doubling the ventilation speed of the room, which would definitely have had secondary effects. More importantly, you can't infer anything about the CO2 levels when they were being measured from the global CO2. Big buildings would have had very high CO2 levels since there's no central air. Small buildings would have much lower CO2 than any current buildings when the windows were open, and much higher otherwise. Oil or gas lamps would raise the CO2 levels a ton. Proximity to coal furnaces would have had a huge impact. Fireplaces too. Bottom line: global CO2 levels have virtually nothing to do with how much CO2 people are exposed to.