If you find yourself yawning much more than usual on a daily basis, there could be more than tiredness or boredom going on.
Yawning is a mostly involuntary process of opening the mouth, breathing in deeply, and filling the lungs with air. While there’s no precise cause of yawning, it’s often viewed as a natural response to being tired. In fact, yawning is usually triggered by sleepiness or fatigue.
It’s natural to yawn late in the day as you get tired, or perhaps when you’re bored. However, excessive yawning may be caused by other health conditions.
Read on to learn the possible causes of excessive yawning, and when it’s a good idea to see a doctor for help.
A yawn is an involuntary reflex where you open your mouth, breathe in deeply, and then quickly exhale.
Researchers aren’t exactly sure why yawning occurs, but common triggers include fatigue and boredom. Yawns may also occur when you talk about yawning or see or hear someone else yawn.
Some yawns are short, and some last for several seconds before an open-mouthed exhale. Watery eyes, stretching, or audible sighs may accompany yawning.
While excessive yawning is often attributed to being sleepy or bored, it may be a symptom of an underlying medical condition. Below are some of the most common—and less common—causes to consider.
The exact cause of excessive yawning isn’t known. However, it may occur as a result of the following:
Although less common, excessive yawning could also be a sign of health conditions that can include:
Certain conditions can cause a vasovagal reaction, which can result in excessive yawning, in addition to other symptoms.
During a vasovagal reaction, heart rate and blood pressure drop significantly. The reaction can indicate anything from a sleep disorder to a serious heart condition. Other triggers can include:
To identify the cause of excessive yawning, a doctor may first ask you about any medications you take as well as your sleep habits. They’ll want to make sure that you’re getting adequate restful sleep. This can help them determine whether your excessive yawning may occur as a result of being fatigued or having a sleep disorder.
If they can rule out sleep issues, a doctor may perform diagnostic tests to find another possible cause for excessive yawning.
An electroencephalogram (EEG) is one of the tests that may be used. An EEG measures the electrical activity in the brain. It can help diagnose certain conditions that may affect the brain, including:
A doctor may also order an MRI scan.
Also called magnetic resonance imaging, this test uses powerful magnets and radio waves to produce detailed images of the body, which can help doctors visualize and assess bodily structures.
These pictures are often used to diagnose conditions that can include:
If medications are causing excessive yawning, a doctor may recommend a lower dosage. Make sure to talk with a doctor before making any changes to your medications. You should never stop taking medications without approval from a medical professional.
If excessive yawning is occurring as a result of a sleep disorder, a doctor may recommend sleep-aid supplements, such as melatonin, or other medications, if necessary, and techniques for getting more restful sleep. These may include:
If excessive yawning is a symptom of a serious medical condition, such as epilepsy or liver failure, then the underlying problem must be treated immediately.
Due to the many possible causes of excessive yawning, it’s important to speak with a medical professional who can help you determine the underlying cause.
Talk with a doctor if you’ve noticed a sudden increase in your yawning, especially if you’ve been yawning frequently for no apparent reason. They can help determine whether or not excessive yawning is occurring as a result of a medical condition.
You may also consider consulting with a doctor if you recently started taking medications for an underlying condition and have started yawning a lot more than you typically do.
You can assist with the diagnostic process at your appointment by bringing a detailed list of your current medications, history of medical conditions, as well as when you started experiencing symptoms of unusual yawning, and how often it occurs.
Excessive yawning may mean that you are tired, drowsy, or fatigued. However, it can also be a sign of a medical condition, such as sleep apnea, narcolepsy, or a reaction to a medication.
If you find you are yawning excessively, it may be best to schedule an appointment with a doctor to determine the cause. In some cases, the excessive yawning may resolve once you treat the underlying cause.
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Your own experience has taught you that our yawns signal when we’re tired or bored, says Robert R. Provine, PhD, neuroscientist and professor of psychology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and author of Curious Behavior: Yawning, Laughing, Hiccupping, and Beyond.
As such, you don’t want your yawn to send a “you’re boring” message to a friend you’re chatting with or coworker who’s giving a speech. To stifle a yawn, you can try to inhale through your nose. “A yawn involves a long inhalation and short exhalation with gaping jaws,” explains Provine. If you seal your lips, you can’t go through the full motions of a yawn. Unfortunately, it’s only a temporary fix. You will yawn, so perhaps take a minute to excuse yourself. Don’t miss these medical reasons you’re tired all the time.
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Get a little chilly. In one study in Physiology & Behavior in 2019, people who placed a 40-degree F cold pack on their neck yawned three times less frequently compared to those who wore a heating pad (115 degrees F). One theory is that yawns serve to cool the brain; chill your neck and you may decrease your noggin temp, too. But if you’re constantly chilly, these medical reasons could explain why you’re cold.
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One thing Provine learned during his studies on yawns? Recording others stops them from yawning. “There’s a social inhibition effect. People looking at you will inhibit yawning,” he says. See if it works for you—ask a friend or two to watch you as you try to yawn or turn your iPhone camera on yourself and record the action. It’s worth a shot when you’re really trying to stop yourself from yawning.
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Here’s an interesting headache fact: nearly half of patients in a study reported experiencing repetitive yawning associated with a migraine attack, per 2018 research in Headache. For some of these patients, the yawns start up as a warning sign that head pain is to come. If you’re a migraine sufferer and you notice this pattern, it might be time to take medication to stop an attack.
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Just like breathing through your nose, you can try to grit your teeth to wait out a yawn. Turns out that feeling like you’re stuck “mid-yawn” is just as unsatisfying as being “mid-sneeze.” So you’re not going to win the battle of avoiding the yawn completely, says Provine: “You can block a yawn, but the urge to do it will still be met.” Look out for these everyday things that drain your energy.
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If you need to revive your vigor, excuse yourself and take a flight of stairs. A 2017 study in Physiology & Behavior found that stair climbing was as effective as lower doses of caffeine for a quick energy boost. But don’t push too hard—here’s what you should avoid doing when you’re tired.
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If you find yourself having yawning fits often, your medications could be to blame.
Drugs like SSRIs and other antidepressants, antihistamines, and some pain medications can make you drowsy and encourage yawns.
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When you’re dehydrated, your body might start feeling fatigued. Drink a big glass of water to rehydrate and fight the urge to yawn. Here are more surprising signs of dehydration.
Sources
”Originally Published: October 05, 2017
Marissa Laliberte
Marissa Laliberte-Simonian is a London-based associate editor with the global promotions team at WebMD’s Medscape.com and was previously a staff writer for Reader's Digest. Her work has also appeared in Business Insider, Parents magazine, CreakyJoints, and the Baltimore Sun. You can find her on Instagram @marissasimonian.
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Yawning is our body's evolved defense mechanism to help cool the brain and keep it from overheating. This conclusion was reached by biologists from Italy and the United States, who decided to figure out why we yawn and why this process is so contagious: just looking at a yawning person is enough to make you want to yawn yourself.
The results of the study are scheduled to be published in the August issue of the journal Physiology & Behavior.
"Yawning is often grossly misunderstood in both academia and the general public," says lead author Andrew Gallup, professor of psychology at New York Polytechnic Institute.
Not only people, but also many animals yawn. Scientists have long been trying to understand the mechanism of this process and its significance from the point of view of neurology.
blood from the head, that is, it serves for thermoregulation.
A new study confirms this hypothesis.
Scientists have discovered that yawning is caused precisely by an increase in temperature inside the skull.
And the purpose of this process - both spontaneous and "contagious" - is to maintain the optimal temperature of the brain for its most efficient functioning.
Previous studies by Gallup and colleagues have already shown that the contagiousness of yawning varies greatly in different seasons and is directly dependent on the ambient temperature.
In the northern hemisphere, for example, we are much less likely to yawn in winter than in summer.
The most contagious yawning starts around 20 degrees Celsius. A further increase in temperature has almost no effect on the frequency and duration of yawns.
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This time, in order to test the thermoregulatory hypothesis, the authors of the work alternately applied three compresses to the neck of the experiment participants: cold (4 degrees Celsius), warm (46 degrees) and room temperature (22 degrees).
After applying each compress to the carotid area for five minutes and confirming with thermography that the temperature of the brain had indeed changed, the scientists showed the subjects a short video of nine randomly selected yawning people - and looked to see if the participant himself began to yawn as a result - and if starts, then how actively.
At the same time, for the purity of the experiment, we also took into account how long each of them slept the day before.
As a result, it turned out that the cold significantly reduces the urge to yawn. If, after the application of heat, a contagious desire to yawn arose in 85% of the subjects, then after a cold compress, only less than half of the participants (48%) began to yawn.
Moreover, the total number of yawns when watching a video after a cold compress was reduced by an average of three times.
So, according to the authors of the study, the thermoregulatory function of yawning can be considered proven.
However, the experiment does not answer at least three questions.
First, if yawning is supposed to combat overheating of the brain, then why did a warm compress hardly increase the desire to yawn compared to a room temperature compress - after all, the temperature inside the skull increased?
In their study, scientists offer the following answer: "Yawning is only a compensatory cooling mechanism, and a warm compress raises the temperature of the brain already above the threshold where yawning becomes effective.
"
Second, why do we yawn so much more often, regardless of temperature, after a sleepless night or a too long and tiring day? Does this mean that fatigue reduces the effectiveness of normal thermoregulation mechanisms - and our body has to resort to additional ones?
Scientists say this is a plausible explanation, but it still needs to be confirmed by additional experiments.
And the third question: why is yawning so contagious after all - and we so often feel the desire to "cool the brain" when watching others yawn. Unfortunately, Gallup and his colleagues do not give an answer to this question - they previously carried out the corresponding experiments.
"A number of studies have pointed to a connection between contagious yawning and empathy, but the findings in these studies are rather ambiguous and inconsistent," the American professor admits.
Contents
Try Deep Breathing Even thinking about yawning can make you do it. This is what everyone does, including animals, and you shouldn't try to suppress it because when you yawn, it's because your body needs it. This is one of the most contagious, uncontrolled actions of the body.
There are many theories about why people yawn. One popular theory is that yawning helps the body take in more oxygen. But this theory has been largely debunked.
Keep reading to find out what the latest research says yawning says about you, your brain temperature and your empathy potential.
The most scientifically based theory about why we yawn is related to the regulation of brain temperature. And a 2014 study published in the journal Physiology & Behavior looked at the yawning habit of 120 people and found that they yawned less frequently in the winter.
If the temperature of the brain is out of range, breathing in air can help cool it down.
| You are yawning when you are | , since: |
| Tired | Your brain is slowed down, which is why its temperature drops | 90ARS causing temperature to drop
| seeing someone else yawn | when you are in the same environment as them, you are exposed to the same temperature |
Another reason you might yawn is because your body wants to wake up. Movement helps stretch the lungs and their tissues, and allows the body to flex muscles and joints. It can also make blood flow to your face and brain to increase alertness.
Yawning is definitely contagious. Even videos of people doing this can trigger a yawn session. Try watching the video below and see if you start to yawn.
We'll tell you what that might mean after.
If you yawn, according to a Baylor University study, it's a good thing: you show empathy and affection.
A study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences examined 135 college students, their personalities and how they responded to various facial movements.
The results showed that the less empathic a person has, the less likely they are to yawn when they see someone else yawn.
It is important to note that these results cannot be generalized. Lack of yawning is not indicative of psychopathic or sociopathic tendencies.
If you find yourself yawning excessively, try deep breathing exercises through your nose. Your body may need more oxygen. A 2007 study also found that nasal breathing completely reduced contagious yawning.
Breaking a routine can also help stimulate your brain. Feelings of fatigue, boredom, and stress make people yawn more. Excessive yawning can also be caused by taking too much caffeine or going through an opiate detox.
You can also try walking outside or finding a place with a cooler temperature. If you don't have time for this, drink some cool water or eat a chilled snack like fruit or carrots.
You should contact your doctor if you find yourself yawning more than usual and experiencing additional symptoms that interfere with your daily activities.
Tell your doctor when yawning started and about other symptoms such as blurred vision, pain in certain areas, or even lack of sleep. This information can help your doctor diagnose the underlying condition and make treatment recommendations based on individual needs.
