#54 Is yawning contagious? (English)

Is yawning contagious?

We have all yawned in our lifetime, maybe it was during a chemistry lesson or when you’re about to fall asleep. The Google definition of yawning is “A yawn is a reflex consisting of the simultaneous inhalation of air and the stretching of the eardrums, followed by an exhalation of breath” But when a person yawns another person tend to yawn straight after, why does that happen? Is yawning contagious? 

 

 

Cats, dogs, fish (and many more animals), also even babies in the womb all yawn. But what is yawning? Well nothing is for certain yet due to the lack of testing scientists have done, but some scientists believe that we yawn because our brains have a lack of oxygen. Although there are recent studies that have proved that yawning helps thermoregulation. (It helps us cool down our brains.)  

  

What makes our brains warmer? Our brains tend to get warmer when we are deprived from sleep and are exhausted, which would explain why we yawn when we are tired and about to go to sleep. Yawning cools down our blood through the nasal cavity when we inhale air, which then goes into the blood, then into our brain and cools our brain down. Scientists proved this theory by giving some testers warm packs (to put on their head) and others cold packs. The people with warm packs on their head yawned 41% whereas the cold pack people yawned only 9%. 

 

But what makes it contagious? It is apparently linked with empathy. There was a study done on autistic children and non-autistic children, they were shown a video of people yawning. The autistic children did not yawn as much as the other children. (Autistic children tend to lack social interaction skills and communication.) So when we yawn we are feeling empathetic towards the person who yawned and then we yawn. Therefore yarning can be contagious, but it depends on how much empathy you feel towards other humans.
 

SSP