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| Reasons you might yawn aside from being tired |
| Up until I started research for this story, I believed the biological reason for yawning was to get more oxygen to the brain. But apparently, this claim has since been debunked by a bunch of research.️ |
| So then why do we yawn? We actually don’t know the exact cause or reason, but researchers have some ideas. One theory is that it helps wake your body up. The act of opening your mouth and taking a deep breath stretches your lungs, tissues, muscles, and joints. This behavior rushes blood toward your face and brain, which can help to boost how alert you feel. So when you’re tired or bored (unstimulated), the brain slows down. Once this happens: 🥱️ |
| It’s also thought to help regulate brain temperature. Fun fact: This is one reason why yawns are contagious! Because you’re exposed to the same room temperature as someone near you who’s yawning, seeing them can send a signal to your brain that you should do the same thing (to cool down your brain).
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| According to a 2015 study, the more empathetic you are, the more likely you are to yawn after seeing someone do it, too. (No, there’s no link to sociopathic traits among people who don’t catch yawns.)️️ |
| If you catch yourself yawning a lot during boring social events like me, you may want to know how to snap out of it to avoid insulting the people you’re with. You can try deep breathing exercises, getting up and moving around, stimulating your brain somehow, or cooling your body down by drinking ice water, eating a cold snack, or finding a cooler environment to hang out in.️️ |
| On the other hand, excessive yawning could be a sign of an underlying condition like a heart attack, multiple sclerosis, or liver failure. This is usually accompanied by other symptoms though. If you can’t stop yawning but you’re getting enough sleep and not bored, you might want to talk with a doctor about how to stop.️️ |
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