At one time it was believed that during yawning, a person provides the body with a large amount of oxygen and emits stagnant carbon dioxide in the lungs when the brain needs additional “recharging”. However, this version has long been recognized by scientists as implausible: even when breathing with pure oxygen, the desire to yawn does not disappear.
American psychologists from the State University of New York in Albany believe that yawning acts like a fan in the computer: it cools our brain, and therefore improves its functioning. To test this version, in 2011, experts conducted a study that showed that in the cold season, people yawn less than in the warm, and the audience watching an uninteresting film with a cold compress on the forehead, yawn much less than those who miss without an ice bandage. In addition, sleep interruption causes a slight increase in brain temperature. That is why we need to make a tasty yawn immediately after awakening.
Italian scientists say that yawning is nothing but a sign of sympathy. They observed the inhabitants of Madagascar and Italy during one year and found out when and under what circumstances they yawned in response to yawns. As it turned out, it happened more often in the presence of a closed one or a relative, a little less often with colleagues. It was more difficult for strangers to force the interlocutor to yawn.
By author Darya Chebotareva