Did You Know: Seeing, talking and even reading about yawning can cause you to yawn!
We Yawn when we wake up, we Yawn when we are ready to sleep. Does yawning mean that your body is telling you that you need more sleep? Or do you yawn when you are simply tired? We yawn a lot every day, it is one of the most common and often embarrassing behavior patterns. But a lack of sleep may not be the actual problem. Yawning is believed to be a means to keep our brains alert in times of stress.
Generally, yawning is the process of reflex consisting of the simultaneous inhalation of air and the stretching of the eardrums, followed by an exhalation of breath. It is commonly associated with tiredness, stress, sleepiness, or even boredom and hunger, though studies show that it may be linked to the fluctuations in the brain's core temperature.
Yawning is truly contagious. This activity starts to become ‘transmissible’ in the first 1-2 years of a person’s life. Several studies show that when a single person in a group begins to yawn, more than half of the assembly will follow right after – in as short as 5 minutes. The other half too ends up yawning. Yawning helps cool down the brain. Studies show that yawning episodes increase during wintertime, in order to usher cool exterior air to the individuals’ brains. The average yawn lasts 6 seconds. Your heart rate rises significantly during a yawning episode.
When do we start yawning?
Younger than you might think! Research has shown that 11-week-old fetuses yawn as part of brain development. However, contagious yawning — as in yawning at the sight, sound or even suggestion of a yawn — doesn't happen until we are around 1 or 2 years old
Causes of Yawning
Nobody has been able to get to the roots cause of why we yawn. However, several interesting theories are under consideration currently.
1) One study states that yawning occurs when one's blood contains increased amounts of carbon dioxide and therefore becomes in need of the influx of oxygen (or expulsion of carbon dioxide) that a yawn can provide. Yawning may in fact reduce oxygen intake compared to normal respiration. However, neither providing more oxygen nor reducing carbon dioxide in air decreased yawning.
2) Nervousness has also been suggested as a possible reason. Nervousness often indicates the perception of an impending need for action. Anecdotal evidence suggests that yawning helps increase the state of alertness of a person.
3) Another notion is that yawning is the body's way of controlling brain temperature.
4) Another hypothesis is that yawns are caused by the same chemicals (neurotransmitters) in the brain that affect emotions, mood, appetite. These chemicals include serotonin, dopamine, glutamic acid, and nitric oxide. As more (or less) of these compounds are activated in the brain, the frequency of yawning increases.
How many times did you yawn while reading this?
Here's Everything You Need To Know About Why People Yawn!
