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Why Do We Yawn?
A Bite-Size Read for Your Health and Your Waistline
How many times has this happened to you?
You’re hanging out with family and friends or sitting at your desk or riding the subway and you see someone yawn. Next thing you know, you’re yawning. It’s like you caught their yawn! As a health coach, I often notice such phenomena and end up in a rabbit hole to understand why.
The original theory was that yawning helps control the body’s oxygen levels and carbon dioxide in the blood. A yawn allows us to bring in more oxygen and expel more carbon dioxide. However, there was some research in the 1980s that seemed to disprove this theory, saying that breathing in more oxygen and expelling carbon dioxide doesn’t affect how often a person yawns. While this original theory may not be 100% true, I do think it’s a contributing factor and something to keep in mind when considering other theories.
Another theory suggests yawning is a way of regulating our body’s temperature, specifically our brain temperature. The idea being that yawning can help cool us down, relieve pressure and soothe feelings of breathlessness. The theory also suggests yawning can help alleviate boredom and tiredness by waking us up. The study claimed that when we’re bored, there’s a decrease in or less stimulation to the brain, which causes the temperature…
