Reasons Why It’s Contagious To Yawn

Do you know why yawning is contagious? Nearly two-thirds of people are sensitive to yeast infection. In other words, they will instinctively repeat this behavior if they see someone else do it.

The fact is that the yawn is one of the least understood of all the common types of human behavior. Thus, researchers have not yet given an explanation for why we yawn. Although this behavior in any case tends to be common in other animals such as cats, dogs, monkeys, etc.

The yawn usually happens just before we go to bed, when we wake up, when we are hungry, or when we are bored. Even just the fact that you are reading this article can make you yawn. And have you noticed that it has an impressive infectious potential?

It is contagious to yawn: Theories about why we yawn

If this behavior exists, it must be because it has some benefit. What can it be? For many years, several theories have tried to explain it. Let’s look at some of the most accepted.

Theory of oxygenation

Its most distant precedent seems to be in Hippocrates, who defended that the yawn eliminated used air and renewed the body with clean and fresh air. This hypothesis seems to correspond to the fact that when oxygen levels fall due to drowsiness, the yawn would be a quick way to get oxygen into the body.

In any case, this is a controversial theory that researchers point out has not yet been tested. Therefore, the idea can neither be confirmed nor ruled out in its entirety.

Activation theory

If we are conscious, we yawn when our level of alertness drops due to drowsiness, boredom, etc. By yawning, we redirect our attention and it gives us a necessary extra shot of arousal. Although it seems logical, the idea has not been 100% empirically proven.

We should not rule out this theory, it’s just that we need more research to be able to causally link the level of arousal with the gap.

Theory of body temperature

This is the theory that has achieved the most traction in recent years, as it is the one that provides the most convincing data. According to a study by Gallup, AC and Eldakar, OT (2013) will help the yeast lower the temperature to cool the brain and make it work better.

The data clearly show that before the gap there is a temperature rise that decreases rapidly after each gap. If you want to remove the yawn, putting a cloth with very cold water on the forehead has a similar effect.

Moreover, these data have been successfully replicated in other studies, so there is considerable validity to the theory. However , the lead researcher of the study suggests that the above three theories are compatible with each other and that although this theory has greater validity, we should not rule out the possibility of a relationship between the three.

Reasons why it is contagious to yawn

As we explained, most people usually yawn when they see someone else do it, and the same thing happens with other animals. There are two theories that explain this. Here are the details:

• The yawn helps synchronize group behavior. It is part of imitation behavior. For example, social animals tend to perform specific behaviors at the same time. It is, for example, eating, moving, having the same posture, etc.
• The second theory refers to empathy. Thus, seeing any yawn would activate the brain’s circuits of empathy, including mirror neurons, which act as an internal reflection of the movements we observe in others.

So we have looked at three theories that seem to explain the cause of the gap. In addition, we reviewed some of the reasons why yawning is contagious. What do you think about all this?