Yawning…What Does it Do?

It’s a phenomenon that we still haven’t fully figured out. No it’s not string theory or quantum gravity. In fact it’s so mundane, so common that even animals do it. It is of course, pandiculation. Or if you don’t want me to sound condescending: yawning.

Yawning as a contagion is not a myth; far from it. Being in the presence of someone yawning, hearing someone yawn, and even just reading about the act can induce it. At first this may seem strange. There’s nothing chemically contagious about it, unlike a cold. But just think about laughter, crying and smiling. They’re all contagious in the same way. It’s a social mechanism, a way of bonding and conveying empathy.

Yawning in Other Animals

Our primate relatives use it to communicate too. Studies on mangabeys and macaques showed their patterns of yawning are nearly identical to ours. Interestingly, it also showed males were more prone to yawning than females. I wonder if this is true for humans, or if men just get bored more often.

It’s not limited to primates. Reptiles yawn. You’ve definitely seen your cat or dog yawn. In fact dogs will yawn in response to seeing or hearing a human yawn. In all cases though, it seems to be highly infectious. One of the few contagions to spread seamlessly between species.

What Yawning’s Purpose?

The role it serves on our body, however, is a bit elusive. Sure there are theories, but nothing concrete. There were older hypotheses suggesting yawning served as a way to increase oxygen levels. That idea is largely debunked. We know that we yawn when we’re tired, especially between rest and waking. We also do it when we’re bored. A humorous study conducted in the 1980s compared students who watched 30 minutes of a rock music video versus 30 minutes of changing colors. Obviously, the latter caused more yawns.

There is one very interesting theory: yawning as a temperature regulator. Seems weird right? The idea here is that yawning draws cool air into the sinuses, cooling the brain. It has been shown that yawning occurs more in the winter than the summer, which would support this. Also, I’ve noticed a restorative feeling in my head, like a reboot, whenever I yawn…so there might be something to this.

While its physiological purpose escapes us, yawning could serve a diagnostic role. Yawning is observed in children from their earliest years (actually earlier because fetuses yawn in the womb). The ability to “catch” yawns—get infected by another’s—is also seen in children and increases with age. By the time you’re an adult, the chances of catching a yawn is 40-60%. When a child doesn’t develop this, it could very well be a sign of autism, unfortunately. Autistic children are half as likely to catch yawns; if their condition is more severe, usually not at all. It’s symptomatic of autism’s inability to connect with others, but it’s one that is observable before many other signs.

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