Why do we need to yawn? There are several versions: for example, to remain vigilant during stress, to compensate for the lack of oxygen in the body, or to “ventilate” the brain. Yawning is also pleasurable, and for good reason.
“Oh, sorry, I went to bed late, I didn’t get enough sleep,” explains Ludmila, 27, a sales manager, yawning at the morning meeting. But maybe it’s not all about sleep deprivation.
Not only is yawning embarrassing to those affected, it is also extremely intriguing to researchers. They have long puzzled over her secrets. And there are indeed secrets. Although we all yawn in much the same way, the reasons that drive us to do so are quite different. And why we yawn can also be different.
For example, one suggestion is that yawning keeps our brains on alert during times of stress. In many animals, one can observe such a phenomenon as contagious yawning – one yawns, then another yawns.
This behavior helps keep the group or family in a state of alertness.
Biochemical changes in the brain trigger yawning, which typically lasts about 6 seconds and consists of a series of yawns. “We have a complex system here, and probably the process of yawning has many different functions,” says pharmacologist Gregory Collins, who conducted research on brain chemistry at the San Antonio Health Science Center.
For a long time it was believed that we yawn in order to make up for the lack of oxygen in the body. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.
The unifying factor
Most people yawn when they see someone else yawn. However, someone else’s yawning does not have a contagious effect on children, autists and schizophrenics. Some yawn in unexpected situations: for example, skydivers before a jump or Olympic athletes before a competition.
“Probably, among the Brazilian football players there were those who yawned before the World Cup,” suggests Robert Provine, a neuroscientist from the University of Maryland. His idea is that yawning marks a kind of transition from one state to another: from wakefulness to sleep, from sleep to wakefulness, from boredom to readiness for action.
To get to the bottom of yawning, researchers conducted dozens of experiments with groups of people and animals, including baboons and parrots.
Yawning is a common denominator for all animals. Almost anyone with a spine seems to yawn
The leading hypothesis to date is this: yawning is something like that small fan that is in the system unit: it helps maintain the optimal temperature of the brain.
The brain is especially sensitive to overheating, according to State University of New York psychologist Andrew Gallup. If the temperature deviates from his ideal 37 degrees Celsius, reaction time slows down and memory weakens.
The need for a climax
Comparing different behaviors that include the same components, we might ask: if the facial expression during orgasm and during yawning are similar, does it follow that the same neurobehavioral circuitry is behind these two actions?
This assumption is not as strange as it might seem at first glance, argues Robert Provine, since yawning is triggered by androgens and oxytocin and correlates with other sex-related activities as well.
So, in most species of mammals, males yawn most often. And our species differs from all the rest in that both sexes yawn equally often, and also remain sexually active at any time of the year. And in rats, the same chemicals that stimulate yawning and stretching cause erections.
And while some antidepressants tend to suppress sexual desire and performance, they have an interesting side effect in some people, causing yawning that leads to orgasm.
Alas, most of those who yawn are not rewarded in the form of an orgasm.
Still, yawning is pleasant most of the time. She is rated 8,5 on a 10-point hedonic scale (1=poor, 10=good).
Given the similarities between sexual orgasm, yawning, and sneezing (including some similarities in typical facial expressions), it’s entirely possible to describe the completion of all three acts as a “climax.” Maybe the inability to defuse sexual tension resembles that feeling of dissatisfaction when you can’t yawn or sneeze in any way?
The chronic desire to yawn, combined with the inability to yawn, is extremely distressing for those who experience it. Several people, according to Robert Provine, turned to him about this in search of relief. With all this in mind, we can look at yawning and sneezing in a whole new light.