yawning

The yawning is a reflex behavior in humans and animals and is mostly related to fatigue, to the need to go to sleep or to wake up. However, people yawn in other situations as well, so the process has also become a symbol of boredom, even laziness. Yawning is even related to cultural conditions; in Western cultures it is considered improper if you do not hold your hand over your mouth while yawning. Researchers have also been able to show that the fetus in the mother's belly is already yawning and stretching, which leads to the assumption that boredom is hardly the reason for yawning, but rather that the airways are expanded in this way. What actually causes yawning biologically has not really been clarified to this day.

What is the yawn?

Among the Greek mythological figures there was Nyx, the goddess of the night, who yawned out of the chaos and of whom even Zeus was afraid. The belief arose that when the soul yawned, it would leave the body in order to ascend to the gods of Olympus. Similar ideas can be found in the Mayan scriptures or in Celtic sagas.

In the Middle Ages, demons were even believed to penetrate through the open jaws to steal the soul. This led to people covering their mouths while yawning, which has finally become a form of etiquette.

Although yawning and laughter are reflexive, there can be no question of a reflex, since there is basically no stimulus. People yawn in a wide variety of situations. Why exactly the opening of the mouth takes place, as if one had to breathe in and out deeply, is still a mystery to scientists, even if there are a number of theories. The science of yawning is called chasmology because yawning actually seems to be an extremely complex thing.

Function & task

That yawning comes about because the human brain is not supplied with enough oxygen is one of the theories that has turned out to be false. Whether a lot or a little oxygen is inhaled, the person yawns no less or more. Experiments showed that the supply of oxygen or the withdrawal have no influence on the process.

Another thesis of chasmology is that yawning should increase attention again. If people are in a state of boredom, in dark rooms or if they are simply tired, they yawn to wake up again, according to the thesis. In an experiment, the brain activity of different test persons was measured who were not allowed to do anything in a dark room. There was a lot of yawning, but the brain activity remained unchanged. Nevertheless, it can be said that trying to do something in such a situation serves to somehow break free from the sluggish situation of doing something that breaks the cycle of cheering yourself up in this way.

As a result, you often yawn in constant activities or while waiting. The process is usually accompanied by stretching the body, which stimulates it again. So the theory came up that stretching and yawning occur in the same behavioral situations, but not always together. Man stretches when yawning, but does not necessarily yawn when stretching.

What yawning actually does is relieve tension. A tense body is released when the person yawns and frees himself from internal pressure in this way. So yawning is good against stress, excitement or anxiety. Such emotions are better regulated through this process.

Yawning is also contagious. When one person yawns, others begin to yawn too, especially when they are close to one another. This led to the theory that yawning is also related to empathy. Compassionate people yawn faster than people who are self-fixated or who cannot empathize with others. Emotional closeness is also a prerequisite for the contagious yawn.

This doesn't just have to be with family members or friends, it can even happen between humans and animals. For example, if an animal trusts a person, it actually yawns, which in turn leads to the assumption that cats and dogs also have a certain empathy. The phenomenon of common yawning also occurs in groups. This could mean that yawning is for social cohesion and the transmission of mood.

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Illnesses & ailments

An important recent thesis is the explanation that yawning would cool the brain, so it serves for thermoregulation. Tests on animals, including rats, showed that the temperature in the brain rose and then fell again through the process of yawning. In humans, on the other hand, it was found that the outside temperature has a major influence on yawning. If this was higher than body temperature, the person yawned more. The frequency of yawning also differs in summer and winter times.

Something similar was found in the body's own processes, for example, the yawning frequency increases when the body emits a lot of serotonin, dopamine or glutamic acid, and decreases when the release of endorphins is increased.

Even in psychotherapy, yawning is now included in the treatment to interpret the patient, so that the view is that yawning, like laughing and crying, is a sign of the way to recovery and serves to process painful feelings. It was also found that schizophrenic patients yawn less often due to their impaired self-perception, and autistic patients in turn do not yawn when others yawn, which supports the theory that yawning is related to human empathy.