A possible explanation for these results is identified in a review of the different responses of skin temperature to physical exercise: during the first few minutes of high intensity exercises such as jumping jacks there is an initial reduction in the temperature of the skin as blood flow is redirected to the active muscles (Neves et al. 2015). Because we were measuring body temperature by taking the temperature at the temple we may have been just measuring skin temperature, and the slight decrease could therefore be explained by the skin’s initial cooling period at the onset of exercise. The fact that we were recording body temperature at the forehead is one of the variables that may have affected our results, as we were not directly measuring core temperature. Additionally we could not control for the natural differences in body temperature between females and males, nor for the weight and fitness levels of each person. In terms of the exercise, 1 minute may not have been enough time to truly test its effects on body temperature, and we could not control for the amount of effort put in by each member of the group during the exercise. To create a clearer picture of thermoregulation, this experiment could be repeated with longer periods of exercise, and using more accurate methods of recording core body temperature than forehead thermometers. Additionally the measurements should all be taken at the same time of day to control for natural temperature fluctuations with circadian rhythms, and the gender, weight, and height of the subjects should be kept as constant as possible.
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