Is it unhealthy to interrupt a yawn?
142620
No..A yawn is something your body does when it needs a little more oxygen. Like if you were in a small area your body will yawn to get as much oxygen it can and remove the carbon dioxide .. all you have to do is take a deep breath and go about your business..
41848
I have a theory on this to share.\nMay be yawning is not a chain reaction at all.\nIts just our reaction to the state of things, outside as well as inside our body.\nFor instance, we feel sleepy when our brains are tired or refuse to process. Result is that we all yawn when after a tired game, after a boring speech.\nMay be even when there is lack of sufficient oxygen.\nWe all have different reaction times though. Thats probably the reason why its being mistaken to be a chain reaction.
220911
Why is yawning infectious? \n\nGemma Martin, London UK\nWhen you yawn, you equalise the pressure in your middle ear. This causes a small, localised pressure change around you, which affects others in the vicinity - and therefore they have to yawn to equalise the pressure in their own middle ears. \n\nJoe Lambert, Norwich, England\nIt's a left over mechanism from our days as troupe creatures. Infectious yawning meant that we slept togther as a group when the most tired required to sleep. \n\nPeter Brooke, By Kinmuck Scotland\nIn 1990,in Guardian Notes and Queries vol.1, an answer was that it was part of a mechanism to "synchronise wake/sleep cycles" among people in a social group, and that yawning is poorly understood. I don't know if progress has been made since then. \n\nivor solomons, norwich england\nThis applies only to group/troupe animals. It supplies a method for the most sleepy to forcefully communicate their need for rest and thus ensures that the group rests/sleeps together. \n\nPeter Brooke, By Kinmuck, UK\nYawning is essentially a reflexive method of increasing oxygen intake. Oxygen intake in this manner is primarily used as a means to stay alert. When we observe others yawn it triggers a warning to ourselves that we are in a situation where we need to be alert, hence the infectious desire to yawn yourself. \n\nAndy Preston, Otley, UK\nIf you accept the theory that yawning is related to breathing, as a means to either redistribute lung surfactant or to temporarily increase air intake, it may be that watching someone yawn triggers a subconcious concern about one's own ability to breathe, hence mimicking the yawn. Alternatively, it may be a throwback to primate warning signs, which involve displaying of teeth when threatened. The common response to this is a reciprocal baring of teeth. \n\nBrendan O'Sullivan, Birmingham, UK\nThere is no one answer to this question, other than unsatisfying ones like "because we evolved that way". Or more accurately, some species in our distant past evolved that way (if you yawn at a dog, it will often yawn back, and chimpanzees also exhibit contageous yawning). Yawning might help communicate to other members of a group that it's time for everyone to settle down for a snooze, but (like laughing and frowning), it's hard to explain why this particular behaviour should represent this meaning. \n\nAllan Dean, Wimbledon \nI've heard it's because when the alpha male in the group of apes (which turned into us)had checked everything out and knew it was safe to sleep he would yawn to other apes, as a message that all was safe, and they in turn would yawn the message through the group, so it's instinctive. \n\nDonna Thomas, Bristol, UK\nIt's because you're afraid that other people are stealing your air \n\nJimmy, Ceredigion, Wales\nSteven Platek, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at Drexel University in Phildelphia, has carried out research correlating the "echoing" of yawns with the empathetic response of the individual. In other words it is a kind of social response, and those deficient in the ability to make emotional bonds (schizotypal individuals) are less likely to yawn back. \n\nTony Dunlop, Zeal Monachorum, England
481065
(yawn) I'm sorry, could you repeat the questionzzzzz
123342
This might help\n\nhttp://www.world-science.net/exclusives/050309_yawnfrm.htm
333306
Yes.  Not frequently, though.  I've woken my partner up before.  Don't worry about it... no need to see a doc unless you hate it.
55666
I saw something on this before..it said that if you yawn when other people yawn..your a sympathetic person.  In my observing this..I've noticed it's kind of true..particularly..there is a guy that I work with who NEVER yawns when he is around other people who are yawning.  He is not a very sympathetic person at all about anything..kind of rude..or short..I don't know..not very people friendly.  However my friend and I at work are very sympathetic..and we always yawn at the other's yawn! :)
1177906
Yawning is your body's attempt to get more oxygen.  When you are tired, your breathing tends to get more shallow, and your body tries to compensate by making you yawn - bringing in more oxygen.\n\nHere's some more information on yawning, and why it's "contagious".
17567
Yawning is one of those bodily mysteries that scientists haven't completely figured out yet.  The best theory I could find was that you yawn because you're not getting enough oxygen to the brain (maybe there is a lack of oxygen in the space you're standing).  Whenever you're aware of someone yawning, it activates a reaction in your subconscious mind that acts as a threat response.  Basically, whenever you see someone yawn, it makes you body think there is a shortage of oxygen too, and you yawn in response.  No one knows if this is actually the case, but I think that it is a good theory.
462731
Cover your mouth if you want to, but it won't keep the next guy from "catching" your yawn.\nContagious yawning is real, scientists say, and it's "probably programmed into us," according to Dr. William Broughton, director of the Sleep Disorders Center at the University of South Alabama Knollwood Hospital.\n\nThe action of a mouth opening is not what compels others to yawn, Broughton said. Studies have demonstrated that showing someone a photo of a wide-open mouth does not induce a yawn.\n\nConversely, holding a hand over the mouth while yawning doesn't prevent it from being contagious, Broughton said.\n\nContagious yawns appear "basically to be a visual response," Broughton said.\n\nBetween 40 and 60 percent of people who watch videos or hear talk about yawning also end up doing the deed, according to Nature News Service.\n\nResearchers from the State University of New York in Albany tested people to find out why some are susceptible to contagious yawning and deduced that self-aware or empathetic people are more likely to catch yawns, according to the news service.\n\n"Identifying with another's state of mind while they yawn may trigger an unconscious impersonation....The findings also explain why schizophrenics, who have particular difficulty in doing this, rarely catch yawns," Nature News Service reported.\n\nBroughton said contagious yawning may be a social phenomenon, allowing groups of humans to coordinate their times of sleep.\n\nRonald Baenninger, a professor in the psychology department at Temple University in Pennsylvania, has studied yawning and said that the contagiousness is the part we know the least about.\n\nOne hypothesis is that the phenomenon came about when ancestral humans lived in troops, and it was important for them to wake up at the same time. Yawning may have been a way for them to communicate the level of alertness among different group members, Baenninger said.\n\nToday, contagious yawning is just the result of evolution, an instinctive action, Baenninger said.\n\nThough other creatures yawn - including dogs, cats and even snakes - contagious yawning is a "purely human occurrence," Broughton said. It begins around age 2.\n\nBaenninger and his students conducted a study to see if the contagion works between species. The students went to the zoo to observe whether humans would yawn when the animals did. A few people yawned in response to a lion's yawn, but the lion never replicated the humans' behavior, Baenninger said.\n\nThere is some evidence that when one ape yawns, others will too, the professor said.\n\nBroughton said it's not clear what causes yawns. He defined yawning as "slow, involuntary gaping movements of the mouth," and said the word is derived from the Old English word ganien, which means "to gape."\n\nSpontaneous yawning begins in the embryonic stage, so it is not learned behavior, Broughton said.\n\nThe idea of a fetus yawning while in the womb goes along with the notion of the action being a way to prepare for something, Baenninger said.\n\nYawning appears to be associated with sleepiness, though the idea that it has to do with boredom is not necessarily true, Broughton said. It's an unconscious effort to keep your alertness level elevated, Baenninger said.\n\n"I'm a professor. All professors are used to having students yawn at them," Baenninger said. But the yawns are an attempt to stay awake, rather than an affront, he said.\n\nA few notions about why we yawn have been debunked: "Because breathing takes in oxygen and removes carbon dioxide, theories in the past about why we yawn centered on the assumption that it was a reflex in response to low oxygen or high carbon dioxide levels," writes Dr. Robert H. Shmerling, an associate physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School.\n\n"This theory lost favor
246554
Yes. The mere suggestion of yawning can induce a yawn in some people. (In fact I'm yawning right now from reading your question.) So if you sent an email saying "I'm yawning" to such a sensitive person, even if (s)he couldn't see or hear you that person could yawn.\nAlso, two people might yawn excessively if they shared an environment that is conducive to yawning, i.e., low in oxygen or high in carbon dioxide, but that wouldn't really be contagion.
288559
A yawn is a reflex of deep inhalation and exhalation associated with being tired, with a need to sleep, or from boredom. \n\nThe yawn reflex is often described as contagious: if one person yawns, this will cause another person to "sympathetically" yawn. The reasons for this are unclear; however, recent research suggests that yawning might be a herd instinct.\n\nHerd instinct\n------------\nThe so-called herding instinct is a social tendency in humans to identify with and model many behaviors and beliefs after a larger group of individuals with whom they identify.\n\n\nOther 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...
56869
The answer is, no one really knows why yawning is "contagious". Or why we yawn at all. One popular explanation is that yawning allows you to get rid of too much carbon dioxide in your system and increase your oxygen supply. This was disproved by Dr. Robert Provine and his research team in 1987.\n\nNow scientists are wondering if yawning is from our deep past -- part of our evolutionary history. Did a yawn signal to the group that it was time for everyone to retire to the trees and snooze? Did a yawn signal that we were all feeling cozy and warm about each other? Did a yawn signal something more like, "Gee, I know how you're feeling, I feel that way too."
365189
The popular theory is that yawning is for oxygen boosting/carbon dioxine expulsion. Hwoever, this is contended, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yawning for some other theories.\nThe fact that it is contagious is far more interesting though.\nThere were theories that it was related to the environment being the same, or even an exchange of chemicals. However, there is more debate now, as if you have a video conversation with someone on a webcam: same thing happens. You could be on different sides of the world, at different times of day, and you're still both yawning.\nAnother theory is that it's a subconscious psychological effect. You see someone yawning, and your subconscious thinks that it would rather like to do that, Interestingly, I have yawned quite a lot whilst I've been writing this, and I'm not tired at all.\nThere's a similar question to yours here http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_309.html\nBut the truth is, no-one really knows the answer.
414151
What's behind this mysterious epidemic of yawning? First, let's look at what a yawn is. Yawning is an involuntary action that causes us to open our mouths wide and breathe in deeply. We know it's involuntary because we do it even before we are born. Research shows that 11-week-old fetuses yawn. \n\nThere are many parts of the body that are in action when you yawn. First, your mouth opens and jaw drops, allowing as much air to be taken in as possible. When you inhale, the air taken in is filling your lungs. Your abdominal muscles flex and your diaphragm is pushed down. The air you breath in expands the lungs to capacity and then some of the air is blown back out. \n\nWhile the dictionary tells us that yawning is caused by being fatigued, drowsy or bored, scientists are discovering that there is more to yawning than what most people think. Not much is known about why we yawn or if it serves any useful function, and very little research has been done on the subject. However, there are several theories about why we yawn. Here are the three most common theories: \n\n\nThe Physiological Theory -- Our bodies induce yawning to drawn in more oxygen or remove a build-up of carbon dioxide. This theory helps explain why we yawn in groups. Larger groups produce more carbon dioxide, which means our bodies would act to draw in more oxygen and get rid of the excess carbon dioxide. However, if our bodies make us yawn to drawn in needed oxygen, wouldn't we yawn during exercise? Robert Provine, a psychologist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and a leading expert on yawning, has tested this theory. Giving people additional oxygen didn't decrease yawning and decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide in a subject's environment also didn't prevent yawning. \nThe Evolution Theory -- Some think that yawning is something that began with our ancestors, who used yawning to show their teeth and intimidate others. An offshoot of this theory is the idea that yawning developed from early man as a signal for us to change activities. \nThe Boredom Theory -- In the dictionary, yawning is said to be caused by boredom, fatigue or drowsiness. Although we do tend to yawn when bored or tired, this theory doesn't explain why Olympic athletes yawn right before they compete in their event. It's doubtful that they are bored with the world watching them. \nThe simple truth is that even though humans have been yawning for possibly as long as they have existed, we have no clue as to why we do it. Maybe it serves some healthful purpose. It does cause us to draw in more air and our hearts to race faster than normal, but so does exercise. There's still much we don't understand about our own brains, so maybe yawning is triggered by some area of the brain we have yet to discover. We do know that yawning is not limited to man. Cats, dogs, even fish yawn, which leads us back to the idea that yawning is some form of communication. \n\nHave we provoked a yawn out of you yet? If we have, hopefully it's not out of boredom, but by the power of suggestion.
204275
Yawning or "pandiculation," is still pretty much a mystery to psychologists. (I just asked a friend in the trade.) Aside from the obvious observations of how it's related to boredom and how it gets "contagious" after a certain period of development in people, there isn't that much information on it. Sorry. (Hey, this is info from an old friend, so you might want to check newer sources.)
361765
Not really sure---but just seeing the word yawn made me yawn--Thanks alot---yawns again---wonders about yawns--yawns again-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yawn Why are yawns contagious? Getting kind of tired-- http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_309.html-- Why do we yawn? http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/yawning.html A yawn reasearcher? http://psychology.drexel.edu/ECNL/  Huh? Sorry must be groggy--Pictures of animals yawning --Oh No-- yawning out of control-- http://www.animalyawns.com/ all this reading about yawning ---YAWNS deeply--- I'm getting so sleepy ---  It's hard to keep my eyes open--z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z