Ben Reihanian Week 5 - Yawning, What the Hell is it?

 Yawning, What the Hell is it?

    *Yaaaawwwnnnn* “Huuauahhhhhahhmm” - these are yawns. But what the hell is a yawn anyway? If you’re like me, you probably thought that you pretty much only yawn when you’re either really tired, really bored, or both. Yawns tend to be involuntary and are also very peculiar. They’re immediately contagious. Why? Well, I’ll delve into that soon.

First! What the hell is a yawn?  First of all, we aren’t the only organisms that yawn. Penguins, dogs, cats, and many other animals yawn for different reasons. Particularly, penguins yawn as a mating ritual, snakes do it to realign their jaws after a meal, and guinea pigs do it to show and express their anger. But, why do humans yawn? Studies show that the average adult actually yawns 20 times per day. While the reason is still somewhat unknown, it was formally thought that we yawned in order to draw more oxygen to our lungs so that we would feel less tired. But this may not be so true, new research has discovered that yawning is a physiological way of cooling your brain. Our brains are a lot like computers which work best at a standard temperature and it could be potentially dangerous if our brain was to “overheat”.  Yawning actually increases your heart rate, blood flow, and the use of most muscles in your face which all work together to cool your brain. The increased circulation pumps the warm blood out of your brain and the deep inhale brings a great amount of fresh air into your system altering the temperature in your head. 

Our brains tend to be very hot when we are sleep-deprived and exhausted, which is the reason why people who don’t sleep sufficiently yawn more. But what about people who do sleep enough, why are they yawning? Well, it is said that your brain uses up the same amount of energy as leg muscles in a marathon and that it can burn up to ⅕ of the total calories used in a day (which is enough to power a 12-watt light bulb). Therefore even though you might be sleeping enough, your brain is working so hard and it needs that cool down in order to continue working normally. 

Did you yawn reading about yawning? Was it because you’re bored or for some other reason that I have yet to inform you about? Well, if you were yawning even though you’re deeply engrossed in the topic, it’s because of the mirror neurons in your brain. These mirror neurons spark in our brains when we perform specific actions, perceive someone doing a specific action, or even if we just hear someone talk about the action. These important brain cells are used for learning, self-awareness, and relating to others. Mirror neurons in this way are also linked to why we think that yawns are contagious, we see someone yawn, our mirror neurons are activated, and as a result, we copy the yawn. Mirror neurons may not be the only reason though, for humans, primates, and even dogs find yawning contagious and the link between it all is most likely that great big word you always hear, empathy. Studies have shown that along with empathetic behavior, the ability to identify emotions, and contagious yawning all develop at ages 4-5. You see someone yawn and in order to relate to them, you yawn as well. It’s as simple as that! This empathy/yawn connection is under the umbrella of a psychological matter called echopraxia. Essentially, if you see someone do something that you are sensitive to you’ll do the same thing. This behavior is seen in dozens of other actions such as someone scratching their nose, rubbing their chin, adjusting their tie, etc. 

To be honest, while watching videos about yawning I yawned around once every 45 seconds, so I can attest that all this research is definitely factual. If you want to test out your susceptibility to yawning watch this video and comment below when you yawned! I yawned at #7.