I’ve always wondered why we yawn - and this might be the answer - yawning is a mechanism designed to maintain attention!
The common wisdom is that people yawn because they need oxygen, but the researchers at the University of Albany in New York said their experiments showed that raising or lowering oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in the blood did not produce that reaction.
Their evidence suggested instead that drawing in air helps cool the brain and helps it work more effectively.
In a study of the 44 students, researchers found that those who breathed through the nose rather than the mouth were less likely to yawn when watching a video of other people yawning.
This was because vessels in the nasal cavity sent cool blood to the brain, they said.
The same effect was found among those who held a cool pack to their forehead, while those who held a warm or room-temperature pack yawned when watching the video.“Since yawning occurs when brain temperature rises, sending cool blood to the brain serves to maintain optimal levels of mental efficiency,” the authors wrote.
“So the next time you are telling a story and a listener yawns there is no need to be offended - yawning, a physiological mechanism designed to maintain attention, turns out to be a compliment.”
Posted by: Eleanor
30 responses so far ↓
1 Fiona Maree // Jul 5, 2007 at 3:44 am
That would be why I yawn in overly warm or stuffy rooms!
2 Jane // Jul 5, 2007 at 4:49 pm
That’s absolutely fascinating - I wonder if they also looked at why we are so open to any suggestion about yawning? Just reading that article made me yawn, but then again I was concentrating on it!
3 Jacci // Sep 13, 2007 at 6:55 pm
after a yoga class in a 102 degree room I was wondering WHY i was yawning SO much, IN the class. I was not bored but if this is true, that warm room, and my desire to stay focused may have been WHY i was yawning so much!
4 joejo // Sep 27, 2007 at 10:43 pm
hey this is a cool im xtremely happy about this website.
5 joejo // Sep 27, 2007 at 10:44 pm
you are in a warm and puffy room.
6 kelly // Oct 5, 2007 at 12:11 pm
non of you make sense, your making excuses because you all yawnd because this is boring. i know the real excuse, its beacuse when we were monkeys we flashed our teeth to the other monkeys. if you dont beleive me ask jeeves!!!!!
7 Eleanor // Oct 5, 2007 at 12:15 pm
I thought monkeys flashing their teeth to other monkeys was aggressive behaviour
8 Phyllis Manus // Nov 30, 2007 at 11:23 pm
Very fassinating!
9 blaine // Dec 6, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Kelly… that was the stupidest thing ive ever read. get a life
10 kRitzeLL... // Dec 12, 2007 at 1:44 pm
ahhh…see…thiz site is great,,,,bUt need more improvements…….
11 Mech // Dec 20, 2007 at 2:42 am
When yawning we show our teeth. Yawning has evolved just as speech and communication, dress, technology, hunting, socializing, and everything else. When we yawn we show our teeth. Our mouths open and our teeth show (Majority of humans). This is just the evolved version of yawning though, back before civilization, clay houses, kings and queens, and written language yawning was something different. It was an expression of strength and aggression. “I’m tired, but I will still attack and fight”
It is the same with smiling. Smiling is an evolved social skill. Before it evolved so many times, smiling was the same as growling or showing your teeth. Back before we could actually express joy and happiness in the way that we do today.
When I yawn, someone else yawns. This is triggered by the deeply rooted mechanism. You yawn in response to growl back. When I yawn in a class room, someone else yawns (most of the time) - not everyone in the class, but at least 1-4 people will yawn back in response. Usually the strongest, or usually the weakest. The weak yawn in response in defense. The strong yawn in response out of dominance.
And that is why we yawn.
It has evolved, that is all. We yawn when are tired.
Back then, if we were tired, a yawn was a “I’m tired, but I will fight” signal.
If you are tired or exhausted you yawn. You show your teeth. You instinctively show that you are tired but will still fight, defend, claim, and aggress.
Understand? Good.
12 Zoe // Jan 23, 2008 at 2:07 pm
How does that explain why we yawn when we are on our own?
13 Rosie // Feb 10, 2008 at 9:40 pm
I have just yawned while reading about yawning .
14 James // Mar 24, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Mech, you speak with such confidence. But after all of the “facts” that you talk about, I ask you: where is the scientific data (e.g., data which can be reproduced and substantiated) to which you base your claims? Just wondering…
15 Emily. // May 7, 2008 at 1:26 pm
I yawn all the time whether it’s day, night, hot or cold. ???
16 jess // Jul 3, 2008 at 2:29 pm
i yawned reading this…
i always yawn…. its cuz im bored
byeeeee love you alll
17 Bullham // Oct 9, 2008 at 1:08 pm
I think it’s because I am asthmatic and don’t intake enough Oxygen into my body. IOr simply because I’m a fat lazy g!t. But if the notion that my brain is too hot and works better when it’s cold is fascinating and hope to god is true so I can explain to my girlfriend when she yaps about nothing that I really am interested.
Mike
18 Julia // Jan 10, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Does anyone really care? We yawn coz we yawn. Why do so many people feel the need to over analyse everything. Why does everything need to have a purpose and be labled. And Mike - that excuse simply wont work with your gf!!
19 mel // Jan 19, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Interesting indeed….however, that doesn’t explain why babies yawn in the womb when they don’t breath oxygen into their lungs…….
20 ladida // Jan 27, 2009 at 12:18 am
julia, if nobody really cared would research into it be done? We ‘over analyse’ everything because we are interested. People in general are curious about things they dont understand. You are too, otherwise you wouldnt of read any of this, right?
21 Clarice // Jun 17, 2009 at 10:44 pm
fascinating… truly fascinating to think so many people from all walks of life ponder the same things… I now have a desire to know why monkeys are so mean?
22 JT UK // Jun 22, 2009 at 11:42 am
I’m sat here on my own, doing my home work. I yawn too much for my liking. Their is know body else here, so i’m not showing my teeth.
I exercise regular, sleep well, eat good, not bored. I feel tired all the time and usually want to go to sleep around 9pm. I’m 33yo. I think I may have a sleep disorder!
23 Dr Robert // Jun 29, 2009 at 7:22 am
What are we going to do with this very important research information, probably use it on the Mars mission to stop the astronauts getting board? Must be a better way in spending our money and time rather than wasting it on stupid reserch! man get a life!
24 cher // Jul 5, 2009 at 4:08 pm
I ywnd about 3 times whilst reading this article… so, it could be as a result of the temp in my room & my level of oxygen & concentration oorrrrrrrrrrrrr i was bein aggressive towards my computer… it didnt show me back any teeth tho… well here goes yet antr evolution vs creation argument - i guess it all boils dwn to which 1 u believe…
25 jess // Jul 13, 2009 at 10:05 am
you yawn when your bored and i yawned all the way through this page
i also fort you yawned when you was tired
hehehe
loveeyouxx
26 sainath // Jul 19, 2009 at 11:48 am
everytime i speak to my GF i yawn irrespective of the circumstances i am in.Is it because i am bored to speak to her or is there any other logical conclusion to that..The hot and cold in the brain reason does not hold trouth in my case coz i guess.
Sai Nath
27 Matthew // Aug 4, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Lol, according to Darwin we’re not descended directly from monkeys and apes… we go back in time a little further than that. Otherwise we’d be all hairy and live in trees, and have hands for feet.
Anyway, back on topic, informative article!
28 Ekemini Emmanual // Sep 14, 2009 at 8:29 pm
yawning to me simply means being in a state of tiredness. THANKS for putting this commemt out for universal knowledge. The NASAL CEVITY is what i don’t really understand. Thanks, EKEMINI
29 chris // Nov 8, 2009 at 9:24 pm
I don’t yawn when I see other people yawn because i am blind,,,,i only yawn when i am tired. To the person who asked ‘why does everything have to be anylised’ Because that is how we find things out!!! It is because of those people who spend thier time ‘anylising’ everything, that we have a greater understanding of ourselves as beings that ‘exist.’ There is no ‘point…..or ‘conclusion’ but if we don’t have any desire to find things out, then we mightjust as well all be vegetables.
30 jim // Apr 1, 2010 at 12:12 pm
RE:
Zoe // Jan 23, 2008 at 2:07 pm
How does that explain why we yawn when we are on our own?
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It because we’re asserting dominance over yourself. Thats why you cant stop yawning sometimes, because you are trying to outyawn yourself. Which is impossible of course.
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