Why is Yawning Contagious

Animation by Health chronicle explaining why yawning is so contagious. Health Chronicle releases a health educational video a week. Subscribe here - goo.gl/aCbMww Please Subscribe to Health Chronicle. Like and comment on this video. Share this video with your family and friends. Come and join us here: Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hchron Visit our website: https://www.healthchronicle.org for more information Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hchron Tweet us: https://twitter.com/THchron Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healthchronicle/ #health #bodyaches #health #healthchronicle #yawning ************************************************************************ why yawning is so contagious You weren’t feeling so sleepy until you looked across a crowded chemistry class and saw one of your studious peers yawning. Before you know it, you’re doing the same thing. This ancient autonomic response, as neuroscientists would describe it, is hardwired into us – but why? Yawning can be triggered by boredom, sleepiness, and even temperature. Due to the mirror neurons we have in our brains, a yawn can also be triggered just be watching someone else do it. Some people with autism or schizophrenia don't exhibit a yawn-contagion response, but that is likely because their emotional responses don’t trigger as most of ours do. The brain’s mirror neuron system is one of empathy. When someone else yawns, we may just be yawning along with them to cue social compassion. Other research suggests that our brains yawn when we are preparing for “fight or flight.” A yawn may be an evolutionary shortcut to ready our brains for action. More likely, though, just like laughter, contagious yawning may have developed as an evolutionary trait because it makes us feel good. The action of opening your jaws and sucking in a big gulp of air relaxes the body and floods the brain with extra oxygen, but it does more than that. Yawning when other people yawn may signal unselfconsciousness, and a relaxed state, the same way that laughing at someone’s joke makes them feel loved and included. So – are you yawning because you’re bored, tired, or gearing up for a stressful event, OR, are you yawning to let your peers know that yea, this chemistry class is a bore, but hey, we can all meet up later for a brew, and everything will be just fine. Your yawn might simply be an evolutionary form of body language signaling that all is right with the world. So yawn away!

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