What Does It Mean When Your Head Feels Hot?
When your head feels hot, your mind immediately goes to deciding whether or not you have a fever. This condition is usually a sign that something isn't right in your body, according to the Mayo Clinic, and the raise in body temperature is a direct result of your body fighting a sickness. But sometimes, your head can feel hot for a myriad of other reasons — and they're not directly related to a fever.
This is especially the case if you check your temperature and it's still below 100.4 F (via Medical News Today). If it's sitting comfortably at 98.6 F, then there's something else that's making your head feel hot without a temperature. And according to oral rehydration company DripDrop, it all comes down to your body's ability to regulate heat — a process called homeostasis. This maintains your body's core temperature throughout the day, and reacts to things outside of it like environmental factors as well as those inside it, including hormone fluctuations.
A hot head can be a result of dehydration
As Drip Drop notes, most of the time your hypothalamus — the gland in your brain that controls your hormone system and body temperature (via Web MD) — can regulate your body heat without any issue. But sometimes it can't keep up with the fluctuations, and "can't keep up with the rise of external temperature in your body." As this happens, one of the symptoms of your body trying to regulate its heat is a hot head.
Hot weather is usually a major culprit, as your body attempts to cool down in response to an increase in temperatures. But as DripDrop also notes, wearing a major amount of layers in winter, exercise, and even dehydration can result in a hot head as your body attempts to produce fluids rich in sodium and glucose to achieve a balance "to help absorption and relieve dehydration," as the oral rehydration company writes.
And in terms of hormone changes, hot flushes are often related to a hot head without a fever. Usually experienced by those experiencing the menopause or premenopause, its believed that as oestrogen levels decline (via the UK's national health service NHS) it also causes changes in circulation (via Web MD), which can also result in a hot head, face, and neck.