We never really gave it much thought.
When you do think about it, yawning seems a bit strange, you open your mouth wide, breathe in deeply and exhale.
It’s a bit of a strange act considering we’re still not really sure why it happens. It’s also ridiculously contagious, even as I write this, I can’t stop yawning every time I type the word ‘yawn’.
Scientists still aren’t completely sure about the contagiousness of it all but they do have a few guesses about why we do it in the first place.
Apparently, yawning lowers the temperature of your brain slightly. The motion of the act sends extra blood up to your brain and the breath in off cool air means that your blood flow is cooled down.
“When you’re tired, the brain is a bit warmer,”
“So the theory here is that your body is trying to reverse that.” sleep expert Daniel Barone explained according to the Washington Post.
Not all scientists believe this theory, but because it’s not a life or death matter, there hasn’t been a huge amount of research into it. Most researchers do agree that yawning actually make you less tired, as your brain is telling you that it is not time to sleep.
So next time you and your co-workers all unconsciously start yawning together, remember you’re actually all keeping each other awake.
