Vsauce why is yawning contagious

And think about it: do you find yourself yawning much as you exercise? Snakes realign their jaws after a feast with a yawn, guinea pigs do it to communicate anger, and penguins incorporate it into their mating routines. Even fish do it! Believe it or not, yawning could simply be a method of keeping your brain cool, acting as Smithsonian Magazine puts it almost as a radiator.

It might not be surprising to learn with all our brains are responsible for that things can get heated, which they naturally try to avoid.

A yawn increases our heartrate, blood flow and use of facial muscles, all vital to regulating brain temperature. This would also explain why we yawn the most when worn down, as exhaustion and sleep deprivation can heat up the brain.

While watching others yawn, 41 percent yawned with the warm pack, while only nine percent did with a cold pack. The correlation was clear. It is contagious. Many scholars have linked this to empathy, or the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. Likewise, studies have found those diagnosed with autism yawned significantly less than their peers, picking up on less empathetic social cues. This is all understood to relate to mirror neurons, brain cells that are used for learning, self-awareness, and relating to others.

They fire when we perform an action, see someone else perform that action, or even think about the action. Many have speculated yawning is a mechanism for signaling to others a changing state, whether it be from calm to anxious, from tired to alert, or from activity to rest, and encouraging others to share the experience, potentially for survival. And if that yawn leads to rest, well, Sleep Outfitters has just the solution for you.

Yawning — American Scientist. Why is Yawning So Contagious? Why Do We Yawn? Why Are Yawns Contagious? Dear Science: Is yawning really contagious? Just as we are happy in the presence of other happy people, we yawn when others yawn. Studies have even shown that children who are socially dysfunctional, such as Autistic children, yawn less than people who do not have Autism.

Yawning is one of those things I was never quite sure about. Thank you for presenting us with the answer. You must be logged in to post a comment. Sites at Penn State. Here is the link to the video. I hope you enjoy!