Researchers waking up to why we yawn\n\n    \nJanuary 19, 2006\n\n\nTHINK about someone yawning. Jaws gape. Lips spread wide. Arms stretched. There's that quick inhale and the long aaaahhhhh.\n\nYawning is an ancient, primitive act. Humans do it even before they are born, opening wide in the womb. Some snakes unhinge their jaws to do it. One species of penguins yawns as part of mating.\n\nOnly now are researchers beginning to understand why we yawn, when we yawn and why we yawn back.\n\nA professor of cognitive neuroscience at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Steven Platek, studies the act of contagious yawning, something done only by people and other primates.\n\nIn his first study, published in 2004, he used a psychological test to rank people on their empathic feelings.\n\nHe found that participants who did not score high on compassion did not yawn back.\n\n\nOkay, fine, interesting- does it explain why we yawn just by reading about it? I bet most of you reading this question are yawning by now! lol
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The power of suggestion.
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I just finished my 2nd semester of law school, and I am also sleeping in that much since last week. I assume that it is our body telling us that it is catching up on the sleep that we deprived it of for so many months. There has been research done on that; they refer to it as a sleep bank. So, as long as you are not emotionally unstable, there is nothing wrong with relaxing your body and busy mind with sleep. As you know, once school kicks in again, we will be sleep deprived again. Enjoy! :o)
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Scientists do not agree on the need for sleep.  But there are some theories:\n\n1.  It gives the brain time to sort and categorize the information it receives during the day.\n2.  It gives the brain time to receive no new data so that it does not enter a state of information overload.\n3.  It gives the muscles time to refresh with oxygen and nutrients from the food eaten during the day.\n4.  It gives the brain some "time off" when no new stimuli are being bombarded onto it.\n\n\nIncidentally, learn to spell.  Using "wut" in place of what makes you look like a dumbass.  If you ARE a dumbass then bad spelling is to be expected, because you are stupid.  If you are in fact NOT a dumbass, why would you want to be thought of as a stupid idiot.\n\nLearn English, spell properly, and stop following dumbasses who don't know how to spell.  Geeeez, you're an embarrassment.
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The yawn reflex is often described as contagious: if one person yawns, this will cause another person to "sympathetically" yawn.[2] The reasons for this are unclear; however, recent research suggests that yawning might be a herd instinct.[3] Other theories suggest that the yawn serves to synchronize mood behavior among gregarious animals, similar to the howling of the wolf pack during a full moon. It signals tiredness to other members of the group in order to synchronize sleeping patterns and periods of activity. It can serve as a warning in displaying large, canine teeth. This phenomenon has been observed among various primates. The threat gesture is a way of maintaining order in the primates' social structure. The contagion of yawning is interspecific (i.e., try yawning in front of your dog). Yawning in public is generally regarded as impolite in the West, but came into fashion in polite French society for a brief period in the late 18th century. Oddly, sometimes sympathetic yawning may be caused by simply looking at a picture of a person or animal yawning, or even seeing the word "yawn".
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I do know that when a room builds up in carbon dioxide, a lot of people in \nthe room, the carbon dioxide causes you to become sleepy and you begin to \nyawn even if you are not tired.  It would seem to me that yawning is the \nstreching of the neck and head muscles in order for the veins to constrict \nand move blood more rapidly to the brain.  So hypoxia of the brain or carbon \ndioxide would trigger it.\n\nFor further information, study about the veins and how blood is transported \nthrough them.
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A yawn is a reflex of deep inhalation and exhalation associated with being tired, with a need to sleep, or from boredom. The word "yawn" has evolved from the Middle English word yanen, an alteration of yonen, or yenen, which in turn comes from the Old English geonian. Pandiculation is the term for the act of stretching and yawning. Yawning is a powerful non-verbal message with several possible meanings, depending on the circumstances. It is also claimed to help increase the state of alertness of a person.\n\nCauses of yawning\nAn indication of tiredness, stress, over-work or boredom. \nAn action indicating psychological decompression after a state of high alert. \nA means of expressing powerful emotions like anger, rejection or apathy. \nA sign that one is not breathing deeply, and not receiving enough oxygen through the body. \nA yawn can express strong anti-social messages, and so in some cultures people try to mute or mask them by placing a concealing hand over the yawning mouth.\n\nA long-standing hypothesis is that yawning is caused by an excess of carbon dioxide and lack of oxygen in the blood. The brain stem detects this and triggers the yawn reflex. The mouth stretches wide and the lungs inhale deeply, bringing oxygen into the lungs and hence to the bloodstream. It is almost certain however, that this hypothesis is not correct. One study documented that this effect does not exist ("Yawning" by Robert R. Provine, pages 532-539, American Scientist, November-December 2005, Vol 93, No. 6). [1]. A more recent hypothesis is that yawning is used for regulation of body temperature. Another hypothesis is that yawns are caused by the same chemicals (neurotransmitters) in the brain that affect emotions, mood, appetite and other phenomena. These chemicals include serotonin, dopamine, glutamic acid and nitric oxide. As more of these compounds are activated in the brain, the frequency of yawning increases. Conversely, a greater presence in the brain of opiate neurotransmitters such as endorphins, reduces the frequency of yawning. Patients taking the serotonin reuptake inhibitor Paxil (Paroxetine HCl) have been observed yawning abnormally often.\n\nAnother theory is that yawning is similar to stretching. Yawning, like stretching, increases blood pressure and heart rate while also flexing many muscles and joints. Some have observed that if you try to stifle or prevent a yawn by clenching your jaws shut, the yawn is unsatisfying. As such, the stretching of jaw and face muscles seems to be necessary for a good yawn.\n \nThe yawn reflex is often described as contagious: if one person yawns, this will cause another person to "sympathetically" yawn.[2] The reasons for this are unclear; however, recent research suggests that yawning might be a herd instinct.[3] Other theories suggest that the yawn serves to synchronize mood behavior among gregarious animals, similar to the howling of the wolf pack during a full moon. It signals tiredness to other members of the group in order to synchronize sleeping patterns and periods of activity. It can serve as a warning in displaying large, canine teeth, thus proclaiming, "don't attack while I am sleeping..." The contagion of yawning is interspecific (i.e., try yawning in front of your dog). Yawning in public is generally regarded as impolite in the West, but came into fashion in polite French society for a brief period in the late 18th century. Oddly, sometimes sympathetic yawning may be caused by simply looking at a picture of a person or animal yawning, or even seeing the word "yawn".\n\nAdelie Penguins employ yawning as part of their courtship ritual. Penguin couples face off and the males engage in what is described as an "ecstatic display," their beaks open wide and their faces pointed skyward.\n\nYawning in Popular Culture\nCertain superstitions surround the act of yawning. The most common of these is the belief that it is necessary
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"When they ACT like they are choking"??? I just thought that was funny...\nWell the reason that my 7th grade science teacher gave me was that putting the arms up help open up the airways and lets you take in air more easily...hope I helped... I'm 22 and i still put my arms up :) Patting on the back can actually help lodge whatever obstructing your breathing. If you feel like your choking and you can still cough that means that air can still get in and your best bet is to try and cough it up. Choking with no breathing should be dealt with the Heimlich maneuver
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Your question sounds simple, but it in fact opens a whole can of worms!\n\n What is it to see, feel or taste? We have reflex actions and conscious decisions. Our "conscious world" is in fact a clever trick by our brain and we always lag slightly behind what is really happening. I'll try and explain:\n\nIn 1976, a team of researchers led by the German neurologist Hans Kornhuber set up an experiment to measure the time delay between the brain activity required to move a finger and actually making the movement. The speed of nerve impulses suggested the time delay would be around 200 milliseconds similar to that of reflex actions. Yet the researchers found the delay was much longer. This was at least consistent with the idea that anything involving the conscious mind involves a lot of processing. The researchers found something else, however: the brain activity began around 800 ms before people finally got around to moving their finger. This was a startling discovery, with disturbing implications for the long- cherished notion of free will. For the sheer size of the delay hinted that our actions are not initiated by our conscious mind at all, but by the non- conscious brain activity taking place out of our perception. \n\nAn even more perplexing discovery was made in 1979 by Libet and his colleagues during studies of the effect of applying direct stimuli to the brain. Again, common sense suggested just a short delay between applying the stimulus and conscious detection - but again the researchers found a substantial delay, of around 500 ms. They also found something else: that the brain appears to "back-date'' the conscious response, thus creating the impression there was hardly any delay at all. \n\nThese two findings not only cast new light on the link between brain activity and consciousness, but also gave some hints about what consciousness is actually for. \n\nFirst although our actions are not initiated by our conscious mind at all our consciousness can at least veto any actions generated by our non-conscious brain that we deem unacceptable. Free will is thus not about consciously choosing to act in certain ways, but about consciously choosing not to act. \n\nSecond, Libet’s experiments point towards a reason why the brain expends so much effort to create consciousness: it binds together sensory inputs from the outside world to produce a consistent and reliable model of what is happening “out there”.
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A yawn is in response to too much CO2 in the blood stream.  When you yawn there is a negative feed back loop in operation which tells the diaphram to contract (take a breath) because there is too much CO2......the yawn actually increases CO2.\nThe sneeze is due to irritation in the beginning of the respiratory tract, it expells such things as dust, bacteria and other irritants from your nose and sinuses.\nA hiccup is a sligh malfunction or mistiming if you will of the glottis which is a membrane that closes in your throat to prevent food from going into your lungs when you swallow.  Whenyou ge tthe hiccups it starts to close while you are taking a breath or expelling a breath.  It just takes a bit of time for your body to reset when it closes
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This is one of the best responses that I have seen in the questions that I have read regarding yawning.  Those you opine that there is nothing but the physical automatically exclude themselves from understanding so much about life.\nOne of the functions of yawning is to release energy from the back of the head, or occipital region.  The entire body has negative and positive polarized areas, and the negative areas allow for release of energy that comes in through the positive receptor locations.  Major positive areas are the head and heart.  Major negative areas are the jaw, the pelvis and the feet.  Negative does not mean "bad", just that it is a place where spent energy is released.  The phenomenon of "catching" a yawn is in my own observation, related to the matching of energy by individuals.  Whatever is heing matched in terms of thoughts and feelings cycles or releases itself from the back of the head.  The explanations given by brianarnold12 are also good, as there are various nuances and dimensions dealt with.  Understanding the importance of matching energy, and understanding the value of release are major spiritual steps! :0)
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patzky99 wrote:\n\ni had read an earlier answer about how we use descriptions of animals' behavior to apply to humans. i'll check back and see if i can find it...\n\nwell of course i can't now. if i recall the gist of it was that we lump some of our 'worst' behaviors along with animals... so you get a 'wolf whistle', or a person or a movie is a 'real dog', or someone is 'crazy like a fox'. some positive behaviors can be ascribed too, 'proud as a peacock' or 'busy as a bee'. perhaps these phrases are just an extension of the days when we assigned human characteristics to the animal world.\n\nwho was that guy who was 'acting like a loon'?  thanks for the 2nd chance :)
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We sneeze to clear our breathing passages. We all have a natural reflex to sneeze whenever a small foreign substance enters our airways. So don’t hold back your sneezes-let ‘em rip!\n\nSneezing involves a sudden and violent expiration of breath through the nose and mouth. But what is the purpose of this, other than being a way for foul people on the train to cover me with snot when they don't bother covering their mouths?\n\nBasically, sneezing occurs when the sensitive lining of the noise is irritated. And I don't mean when it gets a bit annoyed but when something gets up there that shouldn't be there. It could be a viral infection, a bit of pollen, animal hair, perfume, cold air, smoke or pretty much anything else that will fit and can tickle your nasal passages.\n\nA sneeze usually starts with chemicals such as histamine being released by inflammatory cells in the nose, telling the body that something is there that shouldn't be. Stimulation of nerve endings mean a message can get sent to the brain causing a reflex reaction that results in a sneeze. Of course, in allergies the body gets it wrong and thinks that something harmless (like pollen) is trying to attack us, so it causes the release of histamine and we start sneezing when there is no need.\n\nA sneeze manages to be so powerful by using a buildup of pressure inside the chest with the vocal cords closed. This causes that weird feeling just before a sneeze when you know you are just about to spray everyone with nose gunk and generally get a really silly expression on your face. The air in your chest is under lots of pressure so when the vocal cords are opened, it rushes out really fast (think of how the air in a balloon rushes out if you let go of the mouth after blowing it up). This results in anything unwanted hopefully being shot our of our noses at great speed! Many people believe that if our eyes were to stay open during this process, they would be blown clean out of our head. If you'd like to find out about this you can read Can you sneeze with your eyes open?
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more recent hypothesis is that yawning is used for regulation of body temperature. Another hypothesis is that yawns are caused by the same chemicals (neurotransmitters) in the brain that affect emotions, mood, appetite and other phenomena. These chemicals include serotonin, dopamine, glutamic acid and nitric oxide. As more of these compounds are activated in the brain, the frequency of yawning increases
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Seeing running water makes you want to go, it's the same with yawning, it's an involuntary reaction to seeing someone else do it before you. \nAn Auto suggestive sequence and it can spread.
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It's all psychological and "anatomical (?):" When you hear something that's emotionally painful to you, your brain starts to think differently and asks and answers multiple questions at the same time, consciencely or subconsciencely. To some point of this simultaneous complex thinking, it will tell the tear ducts to expel tears for no reason. Also, it will have some kind of pain around your heart (the heart-break feeling).\n\nI don't know exactly why the brain does that, but I think it's merely psychological. All animals do not cry for emotional or physical pain (salt-water crocodiles "cry" to expel salt). My hypothesis would be that sometime millenias ago, crying was a sign of sadness in some way, then, as evolution takes place, it just becomes embedded in our mind that the instinct when we're in pain, we tend to cry. But that's just my hypothesis and to my extent of my knowledge.\n\nPS Penguins!!!
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Pandiculation is the act of stretching and yawning\n-Everyone yawns - babies, kids, teenagers, adults. \n-Some birds, reptiles and most mammals also yawn. \n\nHere are a few things that are known about yawns:\n1.The average duration of a yawn is about 6 seconds. \n2.In humans, the earliest occurrence of a yawn happens at about 11 weeks after conception - that's BEFORE the baby is born! \n3.Yawns become contagious to people between the first and second years of life. \n4.A part of the brain that plays an important role in yawning is the hypothalamus (Part of the forebrain that regulates the amount of fear, thirst, sexual drive and aggression we feel). \n-Research has shown that some neurotransmitters (for example, dopamine, excitatory amino acids, nitric oxide) and neuropeptides increase yawning if injected in the hypothalamus of animals\n\nBut WHY do we yawn?\n-You know that when we are bored, we yawn. \n-Scientists have confirmed this observation by comparing the number of yawns in 17-19 year old students who watched music videos to the number of yawns in students who watched an uninteresting color test bar pattern. \n-As you might have expected, people who watched the color test bar pattern yawned more (5.78 yawns in 30 minutes) than those who watched the "MTV-like" video (3.41 yawns in 30 minutes.) \n-The average duration of yawns was also slightly longer in the test bar viewing group. \n-One unexpected finding was that yawns in male students had a longer duration than those in female students\n\nBut WHY do we yawn when we’re bored?\n-Many people assume that we yawn because our bodies are trying to get rid of extra carbon dioxide (CO2) and to take in more oxygen (O2). \n-According to this theory, when people are bored or tired, they breathe more slowly. \n-As breathing slows down, less oxygen makes it to the lungs. \n-As carbon dioxide builds up in the blood, a message to the brain results in signals back to the lungs saying, "Take a deep breath," and a yawn is produced. \n-The only problem with the excess CO2 theory is that research shows that it may not be true. \n-In 1987, Dr. Robert Provine and his coworkers set up an experiment to test the theory that high CO2/low O2 blood content causes yawning. \n-Air is normally made up of 20.95% O2, 79.02% N2 (nitrogen), 0.03% CO2 (and a few other gases in low concentrations). \n-The researchers gave college students the following gases to breathe for 30 minutes: \nGas #1 100% O2\nGas #2 3% CO2, 21% O2\nGas #3 5% CO2, 21% O2\nGas #4 Normal Air\n-Breathing 100% O2 (Gas #1) or either CO2 gas (Gas #2 and #3) did cause the students to breathe at a faster rate. \n-However, neither CO2 gas nor 100% O2 caused the students to yawn more. \n-These gases also did not change the duration of yawns when they occurred. \n\nThe researchers also looked for a relationship between breathing and yawning by having people exercise. \n-Exercise, obviously, causes people to breathe faster. \n-However, the number of yawns during exercise was not different from the number of yawns before or after exercise. \n-Therefore, it appears that yawning is not due to CO2/O2 levels in the blood and that yawning and breathing are controlled by different mechanisms.\n\n\nSo, the question remains - why do we yawn? \n-Dr. Provine suggests that perhaps yawning is like stretching. \n-Yawning and stretching increase blood pressure and heart rate and also flex muscles and joints. \n-Evidence that yawning and stretching may be related comes from the observation that if you try to stifle or prevent a yawn by clenching your jaws shut, the yawn is somewhat "unsatisfying." \n-For some reason, the stretching of jaw and face muscles is necessary for a good yawn. \n\nIt is possible that yawns are contagious because at one time in evolutionary history, the yawn served to coordinate the social behavior of a group of animals. \n-When one member of the group yawned to signal an event, all the other mem
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Yawn while opening your mouth wide open. Wide as possible.