Why Yawning is catching!!!

Why Yawning is catching???

We've all done it- Someone yawns and, before long,
so do we. Scientists now believe this response can be traced back to the behaviour of our distant ancestors. According to Dr Steven Platek and colleageus at Drexel University,
Philadelphia, the yawn was used by members of prehistoric groups to signal a time to sleep. Interestingly the report goes on to suggest that if you are the type to "catch" yawning in this way, you are also likley to score highly on tests measuring levels of empathy with your fellow human beings.

So are you a catcher? Hmmmmm

I tend to believe it's more a "power of suggestion" kind of thing, like seeing someone else yawn reminds you of sleep/rest, and that memory/thought triggers the yawn. Whenever I think about sleep, I yawn........or it's just like a natural glitch of the body to want to yawn when we see someone else do it.

I've heard some people claim that a "Yawning" chemical is released when we yawn that is breathed in by others, causing them to yawn...

I suppose its like when some one Starts itching
Or some one talks about head lice, you can not help scratching your head....

intresting about the chemical released...
Could that be used in greater force as some kind of weapon....
masses of yawning armys???

*yawwwwns*

when people yawn, i yawn too.

You don't even have to see someone yawn. Because my partner lives about an hours drive away we have a lot of late night conversations during the week. The moment he starts yawning down the phone, I follow, and vice versa.

Thats an interesting theory asala

Yeah, I think Asalas idea is good......I've heard a lot of things explained by our prehistoric ancestors behaviour like that, although I can't for the life of me remember any.....
But I wonder how the "pros" find out so much about how they lived, to be able to come to these conclusions......I'm not being nasty, I am really interested. How did they now about how cavemen yawned etc......I've wondered that for a while.

animals yawn, ive seen cats dogs, birds, infact ive seen most animals yawn apart from fish..

i've never seen a penguin yawn, but come to think of it, that would be a funny site

[Edited on 24-8-2003 by infinite]

chebob Your right to question it..
i also wonder how they came to find this conclusion.
Maybe it is something in the structure of the skull that tell them if this happens or not...does it wear away a little part of the jaw over time??
im really not sure .....


P.S . Adelie penguins actually yawn as part of their wooing ritual. Couples face each other and the males stand with their beaks wide open and face towards the sky.



[Edited on 24-8-2003 by asala]

I read that yawning is to maintain a level of awarenes. When you yawn you are introducing more oxygen into the system. People and animals yawn when other people yawn because its natural for them to want to maintain the same level of awarness.

Like you said: "the yawn was used by members of prehistoric groups to signal a time to sleep. Interestingly the report goes on to suggest that if you are the type to "catch" yawning in this way, you are also likley to score highly on tests measuring levels of empathy with your fellow human beings."

There is nothing more to it. This is the truht.. i have known this as long as i can remember..

Btw.. this works with ANIMALS also..

So are you a catcher? Hmmmmm

To quote Ren, in the new Ren & Stimpy...

"I'm the pitcher, you're the catcher!"

Man, that's disturbing.... (if you've seen it, you'll get it...)

I always yawn when someone else does (hell, I'm yawning with all of this talk of yawning...), that researcher is smokin' something... Simple power of suggestion is all....

damn i yawned 5 times reading this thread. I yawn when ever some yawns around me. I dont see how this shows i have empathy for them. All i have for them is antipathy. I hate yawning.

I also yawned while reading this thread....very interesting

Originally posted by The Blade Runner
infact ive seen most animals yawn apart from fish..

Fish actually do sorta yawn. I work at an exotic fish store and if a tank has little oxygen you can see fish struggle to gulp in more water (thus more oxygen). This is basically yawning.

Fish are cool

I know my prehistoric ancestors yawn, I watch them every night, and when they (and anybody else!) yawn I start as well. Seems that I cath everything that goes around!

Yawning is a reaction to having too little oxygen in your body, this is why it is correlated with sleep. As you tire toward the end of the day, your heart rate slows, as does your breathing. If you choose not to sleep, your body will attempt to bring itself back up to speed, thus the yawn, which introduces more oxygen to the body, and heightens the persons level of awareness because they arous from their stupor adn have everything running againa t full.

There are a couple of reasons for it catching to other people:

1. If you are in an area where the oxygen available is low level, you will yawn to get more of it...consequentially, others in the area will also be experiencing low levels of oxygen and will yawn also.

2. As stated above...power of suggestion.

I doubt very much that it was a prehistoric signal for sleep, but it likely was something that occured before sleep.

he likely got 5000 $$$ from the government to research this theory of his, hehe.........

UMMM i wonder if they have any jobs going??