Can laying under a blanket raise your temp?
How to Treat a Fever and Chills. If you have a fever and chills, you might want to put on more clothes or cover up with blankets to get warm. However, this will increase your body temperature, cause more discomfort and even lead to dehydration.
A long held myth is that a high fever will somehow damage the brain. Fevers need to really get up to around 106 degrees Fahrenheit to cause brain damage. Fevers due to infections very rarely get this high. The exception is in children who have too many clothes/blankets on, which can stop heat from leaving the child.
Even if you have a high temperature, you might actually feel cold and begin to shiver. This is part of the first phase of having a fever. Your immediate reaction may be to huddle up under lots of blankets to feel warm.
At night, there is less cortisol in your blood. As a result, your white blood cells readily detect and fight infections in your body at this time, provoking the symptoms of the infection to surface, such as fever, congestion, chills, or sweating.
- A viral infection.
- A bacterial infection.
- Heat exhaustion.
- Certain inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis — inflammation of the lining of your joints (synovium)
- A cancerous (malignant) tumor.
As you make progress against the infection, your set point drops back to normal. But your body temperature is still higher, so you feel hot. That's when your sweat glands kick in and start producing more sweat to cool you off. This could mean your fever is breaking and you're on the road to recovery.
An adult probably has a fever when the temperature is above 99°F to 99.5°F (37.2°C to 37.5°C), depending on the time of day.
Spending time outside in very hot weather can increase a person's body temperature, as can being in a hot indoor environment for extended periods.
Stay Comfortably Cool
There's no evidence that layering on blankets "and trying to sweat out the fever" has any benefit, Dr. Ferrer said. Instead, you'll probably feel better if you stay cool. Take a lukewarm shower or bath, or apply cool compresses to the neck, armpits, or forehead, according to MedlinePlus.
Normal body temperature ranges from 97.5°F to 99.5°F (36.4°C to 37.4°C). It tends to be lower in the morning and higher in the evening. Most healthcare providers consider a fever to be 100.4°F (38°C) or higher. A person with a temperature of 99.6°F to 100.3°F has a low-grade fever.
How do you bring a fever down?
Rest and drink plenty of fluids. Medication isn't needed. Call the doctor if the fever is accompanied by a severe headache, stiff neck, shortness of breath, or other unusual signs or symptoms. If you're uncomfortable, take acetaminophen (Tylenol, others), ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) or aspirin.