This is a picture of a baby yawning while still in the womb. Photo by Flickr user Björn Rixman
One of the main issues we face as college students is a constant lack of sleep. Despite how hard we may try it just never seems like there are enough hours in the night. Today in class, (I won’t specify which one because then the teacher might get offended) I looked over to my left and find my fellow peer yawning. Now the cause of their yawning is unknown. It could be due to the fact that they were up until 3am last night trying to finish all of their blog posts, or maybe it was because the class was just that boring. But, before I knew it, I was yawning too! These predicament got me wondering…why is it that when we see others yawning we begin to find ourselves doing the same thing?
The Smithsonian states that “scientists still can’t explain why yawning happens, or why for social mammals, like humans and their closest relatives, it’s contagious”. Babies are even capable of yawning inside the womb (reference to first picture). A main reason why researchers have not found a definitive answer to yawning is mostly due to the fact that this is not the most important question that scientists feel the need to answer. Never the less, some research has still been done relating to this topic.
A common explanation for yawning is that “when we open wide, we suck in oxygen-rich air. The oxygen enters our bloodstream and helps to wake us up when we’re falling asleep”. But this theory is actually false. According to Steven Platek, “there’s no evidence that yawning affects levels of oxygen in the bloodstream, blood pressure or heart rate”. The main assumption as to what truly causes yawning lies in the brain. Andrew Gallup, a psychology professor at SUNY College at Oneonta, conducted a study in 2007 and found that holding hot or cold packs to the forehead influenced how often people yawned when they saw videos of others doing it. “When participants held a warm pack to their forehead, they yawned 41 percent of the time. When they held a cold pack, the incidence of yawning dropped to 9 percent.” Gallup’s research concluded that when we yawn the air flows through our nose and oral cavities. Since our mucus membranes are covered with tons of blood vessels, we increase the rate of blood flow to the skull.
Additional research by Platek states that “yawning is contagious in about 60 to 70 percent of people—that is, if people see photos or footage of or read about yawning, the majority will spontaneously do the same”. He found that “this phenomenon occurs most often in individuals who score high on measures of empathic understanding”. Platek used complex methods to try and prove his hypothesis which includes fMRI scans and focusing on specific parts of the brain. Through his experiment he believes that the results are successful in determining the cause of contagious yawning.
Due to the research I conducted I came to the conclusion that there has not been a enough successful research done to fully prove the reason behind why yawning is so contagious. Scientists believe they have the proper explanation for why we yawn in the first place, but everything after that is still very blurry and unclear. It is understandable that this topic is not one of extreme importance but since it is something that effects all humans it should eventually be more closely looked at. Maybe yawning even helps our bodies in some way that we are currently completely unaware of…
…hopefully you didn’t find yourself yawning while reading this blog…
While i was reading the comments i actually yawned myself so i felt obligated to comment too. I would really like to see an experiment done on this topic. Although it would be very hard, because its not like you can force some people to yawn and not force others. I really did like your post!
While i was reading the comments i actually yawned myself so i felt obligated to comment too. I would really like to see an experiment done on this topic. Although it would be very hard, because its not like you can force some people to yawn and not force others. I really did like your post!
While i was reading the comments i actually yawned myself so i felt obligated to comment too. I would really like to see an experiment done on this topic. Although it would be very hard, because its not like you can force some people to yawn and not force others. I really did like your post!
While i was reading the comments i actually yawned myself so i felt obligated to comment too. I would really like to see an experiment done on this topic. Although it would be very hard, because its not like you can force some people to yawn and not force others. I really did like your post!
While i was reading the comments i actually yawned myself so i felt obligated to comment too. I would really like to see an experiment done on this topic. Although it would be very hard, because its not like you can force some people to yawn and not force others. I really did like your post!
While i was reading the comments i actually yawned myself so i felt obligated to comment too. I would really like to see an experiment done on this topic. Although it would be very hard, because its not like you can force some people to yawn and not force others. I really did like your post!
While i was reading the comments i actually yawned myself so i felt obligated to comment too. I would really like to see an experiment done on this topic. Although it would be very hard, because its not like you can force some people to yawn and not force others. I really did like your post!
This was a very interesting post and I like how you were very unbiased and were not quick to conclude anything without enough information. On the other hand, I’ve always had this weird theory about yawning. Me and my friends have always noticed that we find ourselves yawning in awkward situations, and to us it really served no purpose other than to alleviate an unwanted awkward situation. In this theory, I would say yawning is really a social cue and that other people would imitate it to further alleviate the awkward situation. If this theory proves to be true one day just know you heard it here first.
I actually have conducted my own research on this idea that yawns are contagious because I truly believe they are. If I ever feel a yawn coming on I will try to make eye contact with a person around me and then after I watch to see if they yawn as well. While this research is very informal, I have noticed that more often than not the person will react by yawning. I think it is because seeing someone yawn causes a person to remember his or her own exhaustion.
I actually have conducted my own research on this idea that yawns are contagious because I truly believe they are. If I ever feel a yawn coming on I will try to make eye contact with a person around me and then after I watch to see if they yawn as well. While this research is very informal, I have noticed that more often than not the person will react by yawning. I think it is because seeing someone yawn causes a person to remember his or her own exhaustion.
Ironically, I actually yawned while reading this blog post. I found it really interesting how babies can yawn in the womb. I also would’ve thought that the yawning and oxygen theory would be true. It makes perfect sense in my mind. I guess the world will never know why yawning is so contagious.
Ironically, I actually yawned while reading this blog post. I found it really interesting how babies can yawn in the womb. I also would’ve thought that the yawning and oxygen theory would be true. It makes perfect sense in my mind. I guess the world will never know why yawning is so contagious.
Ironically, I actually yawned while reading this blog post. I found it really interesting how babies can yawn in the womb. I also would’ve thought that the yawning and oxygen theory would be true. It makes perfect sense in my mind. I guess the world will never know why yawning is so contagious.
Ironically, I actually yawned while reading this blog post. I found it really interesting how babies can yawn in the womb. I also would’ve thought that the yawning and oxygen theory would be true. It makes perfect sense in my mind. I guess the world will never know why yawning is so contagious.
Ironically, I actually yawned while reading this blog post. I found it really interesting how babies can yawn in the womb. I also would’ve thought that the yawning and oxygen theory would be true. It makes perfect sense in my mind. I guess the world will never know why yawning is so contagious.
Ironically, I actually yawned while reading this blog post. I found it really interesting how babies can yawn in the womb. I also would’ve thought that the yawning and oxygen theory would be true. It makes perfect sense in my mind. I guess the world will never know why yawning is so contagious.
Ironically, I actually yawned while reading this blog post. I found it really interesting how babies can yawn in the womb. I also would’ve thought that the yawning and oxygen theory would be true. It makes perfect sense in my mind. I guess the world will never know why yawning is so contagious.