Yawns are fascinating. The fact that it is triggered by a lot of
specific emotions varying from tiredness, boredom, to being sleepy is
just interesting. What is more fascinating is that yawns are somewhat
contagious as you can yawn just after you see someone else do it. So
what are these exactly and why do we do it? In this article, we will
explore the truth about yawns.
Yawning is an involuntary behavior
in which your mouth opens up wide and you inhale deeply followed by
exhaling. When you say involuntary, this means that you have no control
over this action so much like other reflexes such as blinking or
sneezing so you cannot do anything to suppress it nor consciously
control it. Yawns are not only exclusive to human beings as all other
animals do this. When we yawn, there are various neurochemical changes
that happen in our brain.
Although there is no concrete proof as
to why we yawn, there are several explanations as to why we yawn. Some
researchers have a theory that yawning is a processed used to cool our
brains off.
Your brain is like a CPU of a computer. It functions
as a machine where all the actions and movements of all your other body
parts originate from this part. That is why it is called as the central
part of your body or central nervous system because just like a CPU to a
computer, you cannot function well if your brain is not functioning
well. Because your brain works 24/7, it might 'overheat' just like a CPU
will if it does not get the rest it needs or even just some cooling
off. So, what the brain does is to inhale cool air, through yawning to
cool off the brain.
When you yawn, air comes in and it cools down
the brain. When your brain is cool, it tends to function better than
when your brain is tired or is nearing 'overheating.' This theory is
called the brain-cooling hypothesis or the radiator hypothesis.
Another
explanation as to why you yawn is because it is the brain's way of
telling you to get more air into your lungs. At a normal rate, you do
not get to use majority of your lungs' capacity, hence, the low oxygen
levels when you are breathing normally. Therefore, for the lungs to not
get stiff due to low levels of oxygen, your brain urges you to sigh or
yawn.
I don't agree with this mechanism of yawning at all. Where do you got this theory. I think it is completely wrong.
ReplyDeleteDr. Adil