You've seen them — the yawners. You're talking and they're listening and then they just yawn, as if what you're saying is the most boring thing they've heard in a million years — or at least in the last 10 minutes. You jump to a conclusion and then get incensed that they think what you're saying is so uninteresting, when what is really happening is that they're acting out of self-preservation.
No, it's not to keep from keeling over because of boredom — it's actually to keep their brain cool. So says a study in the December issue of Medical Hypotheses. See, a group of scientists got together and spent a whole lot of time thinking about yawns and what they mean and why people experience them and other important things like that. These scientists discovered that people used their sinuses as a sort of bellows, to get cooler air into the brain so it didn't overheat. Your brain, like any other computer, needs a relatively cool temperature in order to process properly.
Think about what happens when you yawn. Better yet, do it. What do your cheeks do? Your mouth is open a bit wider than normal, your sinuses are open a bit more as well; and even though you might appear to exhale, you're also making it possible for cooler air to get into your brain through your sinuses. (Presumably, if you're snotty because your nose is stuffed up, it takes a wider or a longer yawn to get that brain cooled down enough to keep functioning.)
It's the maintenance of proper brain function, apparently, that precipitates the yawn. So the next time you see someone yawn, don't think that you're boring them. You could be having quite the opposite effect — you could be stimulating their brain so much that it's overheating.
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