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Yawning

Imagine a yawn. You stretch your jaws open in a wide gape, take a deep inward breath, followed by a shorter exhalation, and end by closing your jaws. Ahhh. You have just joined vertebrates everywhere in one of the animal kingdom's most ancient rites... Nature conspires to spread yawns. Even thinking about yawning, the yawn-induction procedure used in several of my studies, evoked yawns in 88 percent of subjects within 30 minutes. And as many readers have noticed by now, reading about yawning triggers yawns.

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 Why do we yawn? It’s almost certainly not for the reason you think

All vertebrates yawn, or indulge in a behaviour that’s at least recognisable as yawn-adjacent. Sociable baboons yawn, but so do semi-solitary orangutans. Parakeets, penguins and crocodiles yawn – and so, probably, did the first ever jawed fish. Until relatively recently, the purpose of yawning wasn’t clear, and it’s still contested by researchers and scientists. But this commonality provides a clue to what it’s really all about – and it’s probably not what you’re expecting.

Articles of Interest

Your Yawn Might Not Mean What You Think

When you’re alone in your bedroom and you yawn just before bed, a new video from PopSugar suggests that’s something totally different than when you yawn because you saw someone else do it.

"Contagious" Yawning Occurs More Among Loved Ones

Yawning in response to another's yawn may be form of empathy, study hints.

Are you yawning yet? Thought so

Infectious yawns are as frustrating as they are intriguing. Sometimes it's enough to need to see someone yawn, hear them talk about it or even read about it for you to suddenly get the uncontrollable urge to yawn yourself.

Dogs catch yawns from humans

Dogs may be known for their skills at catching sticks, but new research shows that are just as adept at catching our yawns. The result probably comes as no surprise to dog-owners but it’s the first time that it’s ever been demonstrated under experimental conditions.

Gwyneth Paltrow's guide to yawning

What would we do without Gwynnie? Not only has she taught the world to cook an egg but she has now explained how to yawn properly.

Health Check: why do we yawn and why is it contagious?

The question of why we yawn evokes a surprising amount of controversy for what is a relatively minor field of study. We don’t have evidence that can point us to the exact purpose of yawning. But there are several theories about the purpose of yawning. These include increasing alertness, cooling the brain, and the evolutionary theory of alerting others in your group that you’re too tired to keep watch, and someone else should take over.

I yawn when I work out, but I'm not tired. What gives?

When you feel the urge, inhale through your nose and exhale out your mouth in slow, deep breaths, or increase your pace: The demands of breathing will chase away the yawns.

Many mammals are contagious yawners—this might be why

A new study in wild African lions suggests catching one another’s yawns has a benefit for animals living in cooperative societies.

Reading this headline might make you yawn. Here’s why

The answer might actually help us treat some neurological diseases.

Resisting The Urge to Yawn Will Only Make It Worse

You’ve probably experienced the phenomenon yourself — you see someone yawn, and all of a sudden you’re yawning too. It turns out scientists even have a name for that — contagious yawning, and it happens for around for 60% to 70% of people. But a new study takes the yawn research one step further, suggesting that trying to stifle those involuntary stretches only makes the urge to yawn even stronger.

The Real Reason We Yawn

Yawns are contagious, but they keep the brain working in peak form. There are many misconceptions about yawning, which was long believed to be the body's way of correcting for a dearth of oxygen. Our tendency to yawn when other people yawn has long been incorrectly explained as primarily an expression of a person's empathy.

The Wonderful, Mysterious Yawn

The science behind a persistently mystifying animal behavior, the yawn.

What is it about yawning?

In the past, people have had many hypotheses. As far back as 400 B.C., Hippocrates thought yawning removed bad air from the lungs before a fever. In the 17th and 18th century, doctors believed yawning increased oxygen in the blood, blood pressure, heart rate and blood flow itself. More recently, consensus moved toward the idea that yawning cools down the brain, so when ambient conditions and temperature of the brain itself increase, yawning episodes increase. Despite all these theories, the truth is that scientists do not know the true biological function of a yawn.

Why are yawns contagious? We asked a scientist

There is no scientific consensus on why we yawn. One theory argues that when humans are tired, we stop taking deep breaths, which causes a build-up of carbon dioxide in the body, said Douglas Parham, a speech scientist at Wichita State University. A yawn might be a special kind of respiration, Parham said. It builds up oxygen quickly, while expelling carbon dioxide, even more than a deep breath.

Why Did You Just Yawn? Perhaps Your Brain’s Too Hot

Chances are you read this sentence about yawning and you yawned. Right? Well, a new study suggests that you may not really be yawning because it’s contagious, or you’re bored or tired. You’re actually yawning because your brain is too hot.

Why Do My Eyes Water When I Yawn?

As you know, when you yawn, your face scrunches up and you usually either close your eyes or squeeze them until they’re practically shut. This puts pressure on the lacrimal glands under your eyebrows, which can cause them to produce more of that watery layer of your tears, Vivian Shibayama, O.D., an optometrist and contact lens specialist with UCLA Health, tells SELF. Bam—now your eyes runneth over.

Why Do We Yawn and Why Is It Contagious?

Pinpointing exactly why we yawn is a tough task, but the latest research suggests that our sleepy sighs help to regulate the temperature of our brains.

Why do we yawn when we are tired? And why does it seem to be contagious?

Although not fully understood, yawning appears to be not only a sign of tiredness but also a much more general sign of changing conditions within the body. Studies have shown that we yawn when we are fatigued, as well as when we are awakening, and during other times when the state of alertness is changing.

Why do we yawn when we see someone else yawn?

The widespread idea that yawning increases oxygenation of the brain has not been confirmed. Another explanation suggests that yawning helps maintain attention. Again, there is no consensus on this either. What seems more certain is the link between yawning and circadian rhythm, our biological clock. The majority of yawns occur at rest, generally concentrated around the phases of waking and falling asleep. More precisely, they occur when the body is less alert, as when it’s working to digest a meal.

Why Do We Yawn?

Reading about yawning makes people yawn. You are probably yawning right now.

Why Do We Yawn? It May Keep Us From Getting Hot-Headed

Yawning may help you keep a cool head—literally, a new study suggests. The findings might hold some hope for sufferers of insomnia, migraines, and even epilepsy. Though scientists have put forth various theories for yawning—from fatigue to lack of oxygen—none have held up to scrutiny.

Why Is Yawning Contagious?

If seeing someone mid-yawn makes you involuntarily stretch out your mouth, you’re not alone. In fact, you’re among the 60-70% of people who find that seeing a person yawn in real life or a photo—or even reading about it—compels them to do the same thing. While a whole assortment of creatures, including hippos, pigs, snakes, chimpanzees and sharks, have been known to yawn, fewer species have been proven to “catch” yawns off one another in the way that humans (and even dogs) are prone to do.

Yawning May Promote Social Bonding Even Between Dogs And Humans

Bears do it; bats do it. So do guinea pigs, dogs and humans. They all yawn. It's a common animal behavior, but one that is something of a mystery. There's still no consensus on the purpose of a yawn, says Robert Provine, professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Provine has studied what he calls "yawn science" since the early 1980s, and he's published dozens of research articles on it. He says the simple yawn is not so simple.

Yawning warning: why do we yawn?

Like sneezing, about which I recently wrote, yawning is a physiological phenomenon that is far from fully figured out. Its scientific study has recently acquired a name, chasmology, which has yet to find its way into dictionaries. A yawn consists of the simultaneous inhalation of air and the stretching of the eardrums, followed by an exhalation of breath. It often occurs before and after sleep, but is also associated with stress, boredom and even hunger. It may be accompanied by a general stretching of the muscles, in an act known as the stretch-yawn syndrome or pandiculation.