Yawning: An Ironic Way to Beat The Powers That Be??

Never knew the widespread effects caused by yawning. I'd be interested to hear the subjective comparison between, and as a result of, meditation and this yawning experiment from any experienced in meditation/yoga/astral travelling, etc.

Also, very interesting how strongly 'anti-yawn' our mores really are.

www.upenn.edu...

Several recent brain-scan studies have shown that yawning evokes a unique neural activity in the areas of the brain that are directly involved in generating social awareness and creating feelings of empathy. One of those areas is the precuneus, a tiny structure hidden within the folds of the parietal lobe. According to researchers at the Institute of Neurology in London, the precuneus appears to play a central role in consciousness, self-reflection, and memory retrieval. The precuneus is also stimulated by yogic breathing, which helps explain why different forms of meditation contribute to an increased sense of self-awareness.

But yawning doesn’t just relax you—it quickly brings you into a heightened state of cognitive awareness. Students yawn in class, not because the teacher is boring (although that will make you yawn as well, as you try to stay focused on the monotonous speech), but because it rids the brain of sleepiness, thus helping you stay focused on important concepts and ideas. It regulates consciousness and our sense of self, and helps us become more introspective and self-aware. Of course, if you happen to find yourself trapped in a room with a dull, boring, monotonous teacher, yawning will help keep you awake. Yawning will relax you and bring you into a state of alertness faster than any other meditation technique I know of, and because it is neurologically contagious, it’s particularly easy to teach in a group setting. One of my former students used yawning to bring her argumentative board of directors back to order in less than 60 seconds. Why? Because it helps people synchronize their behavior with others.

Dogs yawn before attacking, Olympic athletes yawn before performing, and fish yawn before they change activities. Evidence even exists that yawning helps individuals on military assignment perform their tasks with greater accuracy and ease. Indeed, yawning may be one of the most important mechanisms for regulating the survival-related behaviors in mammals. So if you want to maintain an optimally healthy brain, it is essential that you yawn.

So what is the underlying mechanism that makes yawning such an essential tool? Besides activating the precuneus, it regulates the temperature and metabolism of your brain. It takes a lot of neural energy to stay consciously alert, and as you work your way up the evolutionary ladder, brains become less energy efficient. Yawning probably evolved as a way to cool down the overly active mammalian brain, especially in the areas of the frontal lobe. Some have even argued that it is a primitive form of empathy. Most vertebrates yawn, but it is only contagious among humans, great apes, macaque monkeys, and chimpanzees. In fact, it’s so contagious for humans that even reading about it will cause a person to yawn.

It is true that excessive yawning can be a sign that an underlying neurological disorder (such as migraine, multiple sclerosis, stroke, or drug reaction) is occurring. However, I and other researchers suspect that yawning may be the brain’s attempt to eliminate symptoms by readjusting neural functioning. Numerous neurochemicals are involved in the yawning experience, including dopamine, which activates oxytocin production in your hypothalamus and hippocampus, areas essential for memory recall, voluntary control, and temperature regulation. These neurotransmitters regulate pleasure, sensuality, and relationship bonding between individuals, so if you want to enhance your intimacy and stay together, then yawn together. Other neurochemicals and molecules involved with yawning include acetylcholine, nitric oxide, glutamate, GABA, serotonin, ACTH, MSH, sexual hormones, and opium derivate peptides. In fact, it’s hard to find another activity that positively influences so many functions of the brain.

Best,
Skunknuts

[edit on 1/10/2010 by skunknuts]

You're on the top of my list of posters to be watched !

Brilliant post and information

So much so, that I'm dashing off to copy it to show others before even going back to read it again properly

I've seen 'yawning' threads before, but the information you've posted tops everything I've read to date

Thank you !

Will be back again later .. busy saving in case it disappears

We should have a national yawn day, where we all get off work, have hundreds of people meet in a field and have someone start a yawn domino effect. Let's just hope the guy next to you decided to brush his teeth that day!

Great article, star and flag.

Excellent post! I was trying to figure out last semester why I kept yawning during my 7:30am Respiratory anatomy and physiology class. I had assumed it had something to do with surfactant production, but lo and behold my body was trying to bring itself into an optimum space for learning.

Super cool post.

Star and flag.

I will never think of yawning the same now.

Think I'll do some yawning experiments in a controlled setting, see how I feel about the information then.

Thanks for the good read.

Very enlightening post! Star & Flag! I am so happy I came upon this topic. I will have to catch myself in a yawn and decide whether it happened because of lack of sleep or because I am trying to stay focused (maybe they are one and the same).
Thanks for the research!

Just reading about yawning made me yawn several times.

Interesting post. Its the first real informative piece I have seen on the subject. Now if only I could quit yawning.

Originally posted by Dock9
You're on the top of my list of posters to be watched !

Brilliant post and information

So much so, that I'm dashing off to copy it to show others before even going back to read it again properly

I've seen 'yawning' threads before, but the information you've posted tops everything I've read to date

Thank you !

Will be back again later .. busy saving in case it disappears

Thanks for the compliment

I've been thinking about how efficacious the careful and controlled use of MDMA could be in psychotherapy (this was an emergent field of study before our awesome government pulled the plug, and is actually being studied now in countries with more 'freedom'). But starting a session of therapy with a minute of yawning might replicate some of the effects, thus speeding up and enhancing the therapeutic efficacy of psychotherapy. Who knows, it would be an interesting ice breaker, nevertheless....

Best,
Skunknuts

I must have yawned ten times while reading this. makes so much sense! it one of those things that when you hear it you wonder how you didnt realise it before. Exellent Post

Well, I'm going to be honest.

I read your first paragraph and very nearly dismissed the post as garbage without bothering to read on.

Boy that would have been a mistake!

As it happens, that was a really cool article and I love info like that. It also made your first paragraph make a lot more sense!

It is interesting how yawning can be so contagious. It's like a reminder when somone sees someone else doing it. I have thought for a while it was beneficial.

It's only annoying because certain people try to talk while they yawn, as if what they had to say was more important than yawning, or breathing and it couldn't wait. Or they somehow don't care that they are communicating poorly, you just "aren't that important to them." But they will waste their breath talking to you all day.

Everyone does it every now and then, but some people seem to make a point of talking through the yawn. Like everytime they have to yawn they quickly come up with something to say so they can hear their voice talking through the yawn, they think they sound relaxed but it's really annoying!

reply to post by skunknuts


Still cannot thank you enough for this information (safely in 'saved' mode now)

it will change not only the lives of those who read it, but of all those they know and to whom they transmit it


Post is chock-full of vital information

but this little gem, in the preface, should not be overlooked:

Also, very interesting how strongly 'anti-yawn' our mores really are

That comment in particular is going to make a lot of people think and is immensely valuable

thank you again

reply to post by Illusionsaregrander


me too..lol..so I decided to see what this all about.

Very interesting

Interesting; the thing is, you can't yawn on command!

Pretending you're doing it (opening mouth, stretching and all) probably doesn't cut it.

S&F will read later, sounds pretty interesting! I do believe that its true oddly, barely even read into it, will do later!

EDIT: does anyone by any chance hear this weird almost muffled kind of sound in their ear when you yawn???????????? I can reproduce it without a yawn, but it happens without fail every time i yawn.

[edit on 11-1-2010 by 4stral4pprentice]

Originally posted by Phanthom
Interesting; the thing is, you can't yawn on command!

Pretending you're doing it (opening mouth, stretching and all) probably doesn't cut it.

I can definitely produce a real yawn if i try. Its really not that hard at all. . . . I thought everyone could do it?

Originally posted by '___'omino

Originally posted by Phanthom
Interesting; the thing is, you can't yawn on command!

Pretending you're doing it (opening mouth, stretching and all) probably doesn't cut it.

I can definitely produce a real yawn if i try. Its really not that hard at all. . . . I thought everyone could do it?

Same here lol, I just did like 5 real yawns.

EDIT: make that six.... no 7 xD

[edit on 11-1-2010 by 4stral4pprentice]

Originally posted by Novise
It is interesting how yawning can be so contagious. It's like a reminder when somone sees someone else doing it. I have thought for a while it was beneficial.

The contagious nature of yawns and the feelings they invoke can be used politically.

Yawn when a politician is BSing a crowd. Then move and start the yawn in another part of the crowd.

It can have an effect on the speaker. And then after all the yawns you can get the word out about how it was boring BS, "people were yawning throughout the speech," you can say - and you'd be right to say it.

The OP was probably the most informative post I have seen on these boards in a long time. Thank you for this post. Star and flag for this thread!

reply to post by Mr. Toodles


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Example:

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