why are yawns contagious?

[kicken250x]

well... why are they? i know im not the only one that yawns when someone else does so why do we do it.

[Gripfull450]

i do that also ha ha ha ha

Because you gotz t3h aids.

[Titanium]

honestly soon as i saw this forum i yawned lol.

[JOEX]

Yawning equalizes the pressure in your ears so that throws off the pressure in everyone elses ears nearby. They then have to equalize the pressure in thier own ears by yawning.

It's a viscious cycle:o

yawning is verry contagious. Next time you are taking a test in school ( has to be quiet), let out a yawn. 50$ says at least 3 other ppl in the room will yawn too.

[TREDZ71]

I've actually researched this a bit and there is no "real" explanation. It's amazing what man has accopmlished and still has no answer to this question....good luck finding the correct answer.

[blackwell17]

lol i wondered this too...but sometimes i dont yawn when someone else yawns...its only occasional :o

[HiperEX]

i yawned just yawned in this thread just reading the word maybe im just tired :confused:

[yamablaster24]

I heard it was to get more oxygen into your body to wake you up, or thats what bill nye said.

it feels so good when I yawn while im reading about yawning. I yawned like 3 times while reading this and they all felt so good

[prepracing]

I'm yawning too.......maybe because I've been at work for 10.5 hrs and I know I still have another 1.5 to go :o

[wilkin250r]

Originally posted by JOEX
Yawning equalizes the pressure in your ears so that throws off the pressure in everyone elses ears nearby. They then have to equalize the pressure in thier own ears by yawning.

It's a viscious cycle:o

Yep. As you equalize the pressure inside your own ears, it changes the pressure throughout the rest of the room.

Think about it. How often do you yawn only once? You yawn, and alter the pressure in the room, and other people yawn in response, which changes the pressure yet again. So you need to yawn again, because the pressure equilibrium has been thrown of by other people's yawns.

[Pappy]

i thought a yawn also made your body release adreniline?

i do know that there is now a term for sneezing when you look at a bright light or the sun:p

[thomps6s]

Evidence that the very human attribute of empathy might be more common and ancient than thought has come from yawning stumptail macaque monkeys.

The yawn is primal, being present in a vast range of creatures: mammals and most other animals with backbones yawn as well as fish, turtles, crocodiles and birds.

In people, yawns are also infectious, so much so that simply reading or thinking about them can trigger a chain reaction of yawns.

But it had been thought that the unstoppable and contagious variety was the province of humans and great apes alone because only they have empathy, that is, they are able to understand the minds of others, so that seeing another yawn makes one think about yawning.

That is set to change after research is published today in the journal Biology Letters by Dr Annika Paukner and Dr James Anderson of the University of Stirling.

Although macaques yawn too, it had been thought they lacked the empathic mental machinery to “catch” a yawn, said Dr Paukner.

But, when the Stirling team played video footage of 10 natural yawns by macaques and one of control mouth movements, they found the yawns triggered a statistically significant increase in yawning.

This would suggest that contagious yawning, and thus the empathy to recognise that a peer feels tired, dates back to before the common ancestor of the monkeys and the apes about 20-30 million years ago.

However, there is one puzzling feature of the yawning monkeys: they also scratched themselves, which is usually linked with stress and tension.

[wilkin250r]

My honest opinion, I don't think I buy into the whole "empathy" bit. I don't feel the need to convey my understanding that a peer is tired or exhausted. BS.

In reality, I don't think yawns are "contagious". I think it's just a matter of coincidence. If you are tired, bored, and need to yawn to pop your ears or get extra oxygen to your brain, it's very likely that others are also in the same scenario, and are equally bored and tired and in need of oxygen.

They aren't yawning to convey empathy for your exhaustion. They're yawning because they are just as bored as you.

Originally posted by wilkin250r
My honest opinion, I don't think I buy into the whole "empathy" bit. I don't feel the need to convey my understanding that a peer is tired or exhausted. BS.

In reality, I don't think yawns are "contagious". I think it's just a matter of coincidence. If you are tired, bored, and need to yawn to pop your ears or get extra oxygen to your brain, it's very likely that others are also in the same scenario, and are equally bored and tired and in need of oxygen.

They aren't yawning to convey empathy for your exhaustion. They're yawning because they are just as bored as you.


Yes, But it is done non voluntary. Like blinking or breathing.

[kicken250x]

reading some of youre posts some are saying its because you are equalizing the pressure inside youre ears and it changes the pressure in the room causing others to yawn. i dont see how this is possible because the void that would be needed to fill or the pressure that would be released is a small amount compaired to the volume of the room. if that was the case then every time someone too a breath or spoke or made any sudden movement, it would change the pressure around the "yawner" and people would yawn all the time, causing the pressure to change even more drasticly, causing a never ending cycle of yawning. then no one could communicate and life would basicly suck...also it happens when youre outside so thats not possible. the best i can come up with is it is all in youre head. litteraly... i believe what wilkin said is partly true but i think a lot of it is in our head, we always hear about yawns being contagious so when it happens we automaticly do it it may not be such a concious effort, but i dont think sometimes its because we are equally tired or bored.

maybe because it feels good to yawn and you remember that it feels good only when you read or see someone else yawning never thinking about how good it feels because you always forget because of course, its only a yawn.

i really need to yawn right now becuase of hearing that word but i just sneezed instead lol ....really:devil:

[Punk'd]

Yeah I just yawned.. lol thats weird..

Its a sleepy word:confused:

[omaits]

If it was contagious to yawn, don't you think everyone in the world woudl be yawning non-stop? Since the first person yawned, everyone that seen him yawn would yawn, adn it woudl spread exponetially until everyone was constantly yawning.

Also, the room pressure thing can't be true or this wouldnt be true for being outside. Plus, like the last person said, you couldnt release enough pressure from your ear to change the room pressure.

This topic was on myth buster. They did a controlled experiment and determined that it is not contagious. Its a mental thing.

[JRDrider22]

DId you find this on myth busters on the discovery channel? They had a show 2 nights ago on this. It was pretty amazing.

[400exrules]

i get so bored at school, tomorrow im gonna do my own expirement and start yawning and watching people lol

[ZeroLogic]

I love to yawn on purpose at school and make the whole class yawn during class, it cracks me up. :devil:

[kicken250x]

Originally posted by JRDrider22
DId you find this on myth busters on the discovery channel? They had a show 2 nights ago on this. It was pretty amazing.


actually i missed it didnt even know about it, if i would have seen it i probably wouldnt have started this thread haha thats kinda weird. what actually started it was the other night me and my g/f were laying in my bed and i yawned like 3 times (not on purpose) and did it everytime...then i did it once on purpose just to see what would happen and she still did it. then i told her what i did, after she hit me and called me a smart *** ,she was wondering why and it got me wondering too so i decided to make a post about it.

[JOEX]

Originally posted by kicken250x
reading some of youre posts some are saying its because you are equalizing the pressure inside youre ears and it changes the pressure in the room causing others to yawn. i dont see how this is possible because the void that would be needed to fill or the pressure that would be released is a small amount compaired to the volume of the room. if that was the case then every time someone too a breath or spoke or made any sudden movement, it would change the pressure around the "yawner" and people would yawn all the time, causing the pressure to change even more drasticly, causing a never ending cycle of yawning. then no one could communicate and life would basicly suck...also it happens when youre outside so thats not possible. the best i can come up with is it is all in youre head. litteraly... i believe what wilkin said is partly true but i think a lot of it is in our head, we always hear about yawns being contagious so when it happens we automaticly do it it may not be such a concious effort, but i dont think sometimes its because we are equally tired or bored.
The innards of the ear are very sensitive. Take music for example, there are a limited amount of notes and octaves available yet there are thousands upon thousands of different songs out there and most all sound different, except for rap and country.

Yawning puts out it's own frequency of waves that triggers your own reflex to yawn. In theory it could have been started by one single yawn.

Was it God? Was it Jesus? Was it Joseph Smith?

[nosliw]

Originally posted by JOEX
The innards of the ear are very sensitive. Take music for example, there are a limited amount of notes and octaves available yet there are thousands upon thousands of different songs out there and most all sound different, except for rap and country.

Yawning puts out it's own frequency of waves that triggers your own reflex to yawn. In theory it could have been started by one single yawn.

Was it God? Was it Jesus? Was it Joseph Smith?


chuck norris?


don't know a lot about the scientific aspect. all i know is that sometimes they feel better than a sneeze.

[SGA]

Originally posted by JOEX
Yawning equalizes the pressure in your ears so that throws off the pressure in everyone elses ears nearby. They then have to equalize the pressure in thier own ears by yawning.

It's a viscious cycle:o

I know you're joking ( for the slower ones in the room)

but your answer sounds good to me!

YAWNING FEELS GOOD! thats why everyone does it when they are reminded of it.

[Missed Shift]

Originally posted by MixMasterMike
YAWNING FEELS GOOD! thats why everyone does it when they are reminded of it.

So does spanking the monkey but i have not seen anyone claim it is contagious:cool:

[JOEX]

Yes it was Chuck Norris! Chuck Norris started the perpetual yawn!

Chuck Norris round House kicked God, Jesus, Joseph Smith, Allah and Buddah.

Everyone thought they were in awe when actually they were in yawn!

Originally posted by Missed Shift
So does spanking the monkey but i have not seen anyone claim it is contagious:cool: :ermm: that was a pretty dumb comment. but yes, it must be contagious because im doing it now. so I guess I just proved your point wrong.

[prepracing]

Originally posted by MixMasterMike
:ermm: that was a pretty dumb comment. but yes, it must be contagious because im doing it now. so I guess I just proved your point wrong.


Thats a little toooo much information :huh