yawning.

Why do we yawn and why is yawning contagious?

How come when I see someone yawn or even think about it it makes me

kinda of want to yawn? First things first, definitions.

When you yawn, you inhale air and

stretch your ear drums. That's why your ears pop when you yawn.

Now, if you yawn and at the same time stretch your whole body,

that is called pandiculation. A common misconception about

yawning is that people yawn when they need more air,

more oxygen. But studies have shown that no matter how much

oxygen is in the air around a person, they won't yawn more or less frequently.

And when people exercise and their bodies do, in fact,

need more oxygen, they don't yawn more often.

Instead, research has shown that our first answer most likely lies

in being cool. When you are

exhausted, tired, deep brain

temperatures increase, but your brain is like a computer - it operates best

at a very specific temperature. And so yawning,

bringing all this outside air in through your ears and your mouth,

cools your facial blood and actually helps cool down

your brain. This phenomenon is particularly easy to observe

when parakeets yawn. Researchers have found that parakeets only yawn within a

very specific range of temperatures.

Too cold outside and yawning will cool the brain too much.

Too hot and yawning will actually warm it up. Parakeets are perfect test

subjects for this effect,

because they yawn just like you and me, except they don't exhibit

contagious yawn. If you show a person a video of other people

yawning, it's likely that the person watching will yawn

his or herself, unless you put an

ice pack on their forehead, keeping their brain cooler.

Seriously. The University of Albany has found that people contagiously yawn

less frequently when they have ice packs on their head,

which means that yawning to cool your brain

isn't just for the birds. Studies have shown that

yawning also increases blood pressure, stretches

facial muscles and increases focus.

When you panticulate, you stretch

all of your muscles, making them better ready to be used

at any moment. So when it comes to a herd of prey animals,

contagious yawning make sense, because a herd that

yawns together stays alert together.

Under this theory, yawning is advantageously

contagious, because that first animal to yawn

acts as a sort of reminder to the rest of the herd to keep themselves

ready and alert. But, of course, when we say that yawning is contagious, we don't mean

like

a disease. Instead, it's a bit more closely related

to empathy.

Sympathy is when you are concerned for others, where you wish

someone was better off. Empathy is the ability to

recognize and share the emotions that other people

feel. Emotional contagion is when

the emotions of people around you influence the way you feel

without you even having to separate yourselves from them, like when

being around happy people lifts your spirits or how

anger and fear can lead to mob mentality. Now,

children with autism, who exhibit impaired social interaction and

communication,

yawn less frequently than other children

when viewing videos of people yawning. So,

is yawning an emotional contagion or is it about

empathy? Well last year, the University of Pisa

found that yawn contagiousness is greatest with

family and then friends and then

acquaintances and lastly strangers.

And a study at Leeds University brought in participants to take a test that

measured how

empathetic they were. But before the test began,

amongst them was one person who worked for the researchers

and this person yawned every minute for 10 minutes.

Interestingly, the people who wound up scoring the highest

on the empathy test were also the ones who contagiously yawned along

the most. Let's talk more about animal

yawning. What fascinates me so much is that animals across many species

all yawn, but they do so for different reasons.

Animals like guinea pigs and some monkeys yawn

to intimidate and show their sharp scary teeth.

Some penguins yawn to attract mates and when snakes yawn,

it seems to be about realigning their jaws and opening their tracheas

to breathe better after a big body disfiguring

meal. Fish yawn more frequently when water

oxygen levels are low or water heat levels

are high. So, when you yawn you're participating in the behavior shared

across all kinds of animals,

but most likely you're yawning for purposes unique to your species -

us humans.

What's really cool is that

yawning is most likely an ancient signal telling the rest of us humans

"let's do this, let's survive."

And as always,

thanks for watching.