Yawning 'cools the brain'
The report says that yawning is not a sign you want to sleep
Wednesday, 04, Jul 2007 04:45
People yawn to cool their brains and stay awake, according to new research from the University of Albany in New York.
In addition, when yawning seems to spread through a group of people, this is an ancient ritual with the purpose of maintaining alertness among a team.
These are the findings of a study published in the journal Evolutionary Psychology, rebuking previously long-held yawning myths.
Andrew and Gordon Gallup, the researchers on the project, have suggested that, like a computer, human brains operate best when they are cool.
Yawning is therefore an instinctive action to draw cool air into the brain and improve its operating function, as the brain generates a lot of heat by burning up to a third of the calories we consume.
The study showed that people watching a tape of someone yawning, while breathing normally through their mouths, yawned with them 50 per cent of the time.
But when instructed to breath through their nose, which takes more cool air to the brain, they did not yawn at all. The same happened when people held a cold pack to their foreheads.
The researchers also suggested that contrary to people thinking yawning promoted sleep, it actually helped mitigate the need for sleep.
According to the study, when someone yawns in a conversation it is not due to them wanting to keel over, but because they are trying to improve their concentration.