Do you always wonder why you are also yawning when you saw others yawn? This article will provide you the reasons.
Some people may don’t have a clear picture in mind why do they yawn in certain times and the exact number of yawning in one instance.
You yawn when you see your kid or a member of the family yawn at the other side of the table, or you saw a passenger in the jeepney yawn and you also do it.
There are those who say that yawning is indeed contagious.
There is a long rumored side that yawning is a sign of too little oxygen, but scientists said that yawning is actually seen as something totally separate from breathing.
So what do those yawns really mean? Here are a few things they’re trying to tell you.
- You really like the person you saw yawning.
Researchers said that yawns truly are contagious. According to the experts, people may have evolved to catch other people’s yawns as a way of displaying empathy for one another. There are further researches which have discovered that yawns are more contagious if you are closer to someone who yawn. In a study conducted in 2011, researchers found yawns were most contagious between family members, followed by friends, and least contagious between strangers. When yawns are done by strangers, it even took longer for that second yawn to start than when yawns spread between family and friends.
- Your brain this time needs cooling.
There is a latest theory that arises that yawning basically gives your brain some fresh air, and cools it down. This theory was supported by a study conducted in 2011 which discovered that people yawn more during cooler months and less when the outside temperature is warmer. In turn, according to this study, the cooling process of the brain would lead to the extra energy we need in moments when we let out a big yawn. It added that because sleep deprivation increases brain temp, we may need extra yawns when we’re sleepy for additional cooling power.
- You have a big brain.
According to a recent report in the journal Biology Letters, the bigger yawn of a person, the bigger is the brain. The report says that researchers discovered that mammals that let out big, long yawns, like humans, had heavier brains with a higher number of brain cells than others. Considering yawns do indeed cool the brain this time in order to energize it, bigger brains with more neurons would require more oxygen to wake things up, it therefore result in bigger yawns.
- You could possibly have a heart attack or a stroke or a tumor.
However, experts said that only excessive yawning, way more yawning than you’d ever expect to produce, is linked to these certain health conditions. Heart attacks can stimulate the vagus nerve, which runs from the brain to the abdomen, leading to a reaction that could trigger excessive yawning. In their study, the researchers used MRIs to examine the location of tumors or blockages in the person’s brain. However, questions still remain as to how those might disrupt pathways that lead to yawning. Excessive yawning are often happening in people with epilepsy and multiple sclerosis. According to the health experts, these conditions, plus migraine headaches and even anxiety, have been linked to problems regulating brain temperature. That is why excessive yawning may be the body’s way at helping the brain.