10 Fun Facts About Yawning

1. Yawning cools the brain

In general, scientists still mysteryS. Gupta. Yawning and its physiological significance / International Journal of Applied and Basic Medical Researchwhy living beings yawn. The most common explanation is to increase the flow of oxygen into the body. But this mythWhy Do We Yawn and Why Is It Contagious? / Smithsonian Magazine.

In fact, this is necessary to cool the contents of the cranium. Doctors from the State University of New York failedYawns Help the Brain Keep Its Cool / Scientific American to establish links between yawning and blood oxygen levels, but noticed that it affects the temperature of the brain.

People are more willing to swallow air with their mouths when they are hot. It helps cool the brain.

That is why the human body not only inhales large volumes of air when yawning, but also simultaneouslyHere's What Happens In Your Body When You Yawn (At Least In Theory) / HuffPost.com

with this reflexively stretches the muscles around the skull. And this leads to an influx of colder blood to the head. The effect will intensify if you throw it back.

2. People yawn and cry at the same time

Wet eyes when we yawn is a side effect of facial muscle movement. The body stretches the jaw, it strengthens pressureWhy Do My Eyes Water When I Yawn? /SELF on the lacrimal glands, and moisture is released by itself. Here.

So if you suddenly need to cry, force yourself to quietly yawn. This is such a hack. Enjoy.

3. Yawning, you can tear your lung

It seemed to be the most harmless thing in the world. Sit down and yawn as much as you like. But even such a simple action can lead to sad consequences.

For example, once in Wuhan, an unlucky Chinese named Ou was going to work. He stretched and yawnedThin man busts lung during morning yawn / ECNS.cn so hard that he made a hole in his lung - it's called a pneumothorax. At first he did not pay attention to the pain, but then it intensified so much that the poor man could not breathe, and he was hospitalized. Fortunately, he recovered.

Dr. Chen Baojun, who treated Ou, noticedThin man busts lung during morning yawn / ECNS.cnthat pneumothorax most threatens tall and thin people aged 18 to 30 years. Oh just weighed about 60 kilograms with a height of 180 centimeters.

Moral: when you draw air into your lungs, don't be greedy.

4. Or dislocate your jaw

In 2007, 34-year-old Englishman Ben Shire struggled with drowsiness. Went to the kitchen, poured some tea and yawned so hard that sprainedHow huge yawn nearly killed a man / Telegraph.co.uk own jaw. Shire collapsed to the floor, choking on saliva, unable to breathe or swallow. He was saved by his wife Sam, who called an ambulance.

Surgeons set the victim's jaw for no less than four hours in a row, but in the end, Ben went on the mend.

Moral: Don't open your mouth too much when you yawn. And if you dislocate your jaw... Doctors from East Surrey Hospital in Redhill recommendHow huge yawn nearly killed a man / Telegraph.co.uk leaning forward or lying on the floor on your side to reduce the effect of gravity on the damaged part - this will reduce pain. Then you need to call an ambulance.

5. When you yawn, your brain releases dopamine.

Despite the aforementioned incidents, yawning is generally safe and may even be good for mental health. The fact is that during this act the brain receivesA. Argiolas. The neuropharmacology of yawning / European Journal of Pharmacology large dose dopamine, nitric oxide, serotonin and oxytocin. These substances help to cope with stress and relax.

According toFind stress relief with these 7 science-based strategies / The Washington Post Andrew Gallup, a psychologist at the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute, if you are nervous or worried, you need to force yourself to yawn, and the body will quickly calm down.

6. Yawning is contagious to humans

About 70% of people immediately yawn, noticing how someone else is doing it. Reflex worksWhy Do We Yawn and Why Is It Contagious? / Smithsonian Magazine, even if you see this act in a photo or hear it in a recording.

Scientists believe that this is somehow related to the level of empathy, that is, the ability to understand the state of other people.

But those who have problems processing the feelings and emotions of others, for example, people with disordersChildren under four and children with autism don't yawn contagiously / ScienceDaily autism spectrum, do not give in to provocations and do not repeat after others.

So if you yawn after others, you have a developed sense of compassion. Or just the brain is overheated and needs to be cooled - it also happens.

7. And for animals

Yawning is contagious not only for humans, but also for dogs. They open their mouths and swallow air, imitating their owners, and just random people. Psychologists from the University of Auckland in New Zealand considerP. Neilands. Contagious yawning is not a signal of empathy: no evidence of familiarity, gender or prosociality biases in dogs / Proceedings of the Royal Societythat in this way dogs show empathy to people, show their affection for them.

other animals, for exampleSocial contagion: Women more likely to yawn in response to others, study says / Los Angeles Times chimpanzees, bonobo monkeys and wolves also “yawn in chorus”, repeating this for others - both for members of their communities and for people.

8. Women are more likely to yawn after others than men

Sociobiologists from the University of Pisa in Italy found that women who watch other people yawn repeat this action at least 34.5% more often than men. Researchers supposeI. Norsia. She more than he: gender bias supports the empathic nature of yawn contagion in Homo sapiens / Royal Society Open Sciencethat this is because women are a little more social and empathetic.

9. Little kids and psychopaths don't

People with a low level of empathy, on the contrary, are not at all inclined to yawn after others. For example, children under five years of age have not yet developed this feeling, so for them this action not contagiousOpen wide: why yawning reveals much about your level of empathy / The Guardian. The same goes for psychopaths, who lack empathy altogether.

10. Even reading about yawning makes people yawn

Scientists at Temple University in Pennsylvania establishedR. Baenninger, M. Greco. Some Antecedents And Consequences Of Yawning / Psychological Recordthat more than half of the subjects reading texts with the word "yawn", begin to yawn involuntarily. This reflex is so contagious that simply imagining the action in your mind is enough to trigger it.

Have you yawned at least once while reading this post? Tell in the comments!