For over a century, the relationship between basal body temperature and thyroid disease has been known and well-documented.

Considering the fact that the thyroid hormone, T3, helps keep our bodies warm, an effective form of thyroid testing can therefore be achieved by tracking basal body temperature with the use of a basal body thermometer.

Using your body basal temperature provides us with a comprehensive understanding of how efficiently your thyroid gland is actually functioning, as opposed to medical thyroid testing, done on a blood sample, which only measures how much hormone is present in that specific amount of blood and not how active it is.

The medical thyroid test measures TSH levels or the amount of T3 and T4 hormone in the blood. Consider however, that T3 is the primary hormone which helps regulate body temperature and not T4. Therefore if there is adequate secretion of T4 by the thyroid gland but we are not getting sufficient conversion of T4 to T3, or T3 is unable to activate cellular receptor sites, then the basal body temperature will be found to be low, as will thyroid function.

For this reason TSH testing is not an adequate identifier for optimal thyroid functioning. A much more effective test for determining healthy thyroid function is the Basal Temperature Test.Dr. Broda Barnes was one of the pioneers who explored this major health issue of subclinical hypothyroidism, and who used what was called the 'Basal Metabolic Temperature Test' for diagnosing such cases.

Despite its seeming simplicity, this genuinely relevant diagnostic technique is capable of identifying under functioning thyroid in many people who do not show up as being hypothyroid with regular blood tests.

Considering the fact that the thyroid hormone, T3, helps keep our bodies warm, an effective form of thyroid testing can therefore be achieved by tracking basal body temperature with the use of a basal body thermometer.

Using your body basal temperature provides us with a comprehensive understanding of how efficiently your thyroid gland is actually functioning, as opposed to medical thyroid testing, done on a blood sample, which only measures how much hormone is present in that specific amount of blood and not how active it is.

As your thyroid starts to fail in function of maintaining body temperature, it is no longer able to keep your body warm at a constant level. A healthy human's normal body temperature is 37 degrees Celsius or 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

If your body is consistently below normal temperature your enzyme production is compromised inhibiting the metabolic process resulting in depression of your entire cellular function.

Understand that every metabolic function in your entire body is completely dependent on enzyme function. In turn, enzyme function is highly dependent on temperature. Therefore, if your basal body temperature is below normal, then all enzymes in every cell of your body will be under functioning.

The Basal Body Temperature thyroid test is simple and only requires a mercury thermometer.

Please note: a digital or infrared thermometer are calibrated differently from the mercury type and not as useful for this testing because they tend to under-register a person's body temperature providing false diagnosing of subclinical hypothyroidism.

1. Shake down the thermometer until the mercury falls below 35 degrees Celsius. Place it by your bed at night when you retire.
2. First thing upon awakening; before you become physically active, gently push back most of your blankets and place the mercury thermometer in your arm pit (not under the tongue) for a full 10 minutes. It is also crucial for you to not move or get out of bed for any reason before taking the temperature because any activity will raise your basal body temperature, and make the test useless.
3. Record the temperature, time, and date.
4. Conduct the same test for at least three consecutive mornings at the same time each day to provide a good average to work from.