I have a theory for why people yawn. I go into this explanation with the recognition that there is probably already a reason why people yawn, but if there is already a known reason, I haven't heard about it.
You know how pleasant it is to stretch your muscles? When you get up in the morning, when you get up after spending a significant amount of time at your computer, when you get out of the car after a long drive? You just stretch out and work all those muscles and it feels great. It is therapeutic.
I think that yawning is a stretch for our insides. You open that mouth wide, stretch out the lungs, tummy, etc. Good times. It is stretching for our insides.
2 comments:
Also I yawn when bored. What about that?? Sitting in a long meeting can produce at least 1 yawn per every 20 minutes. Maybe it's because I can't actually stretch so I yawn to get a little exercise.
Ok, boy, the scientific reasoning explains that yawns are the body's way of getting oxygen. When deprived, the body feels sleepy, sluggish--sometimes we interpret that as bored. Yawning is a natural method of uncorking plugged ears when the pressure changes...also a signal that oxygen adjustments are needed. So there you are. What science can't explain, is why yawns are contagious. For example, this summer at a museum in Paris, I saw a painting by Renoir of a peasant girl yawning hugely. It wasn't my favorite painting, by any means. But I have to admit that it affected me more than the others nearby, since as I looked at it, I had to yawn. And yawn. And yawn. It was so instinctive it was funny. I had to laugh. Between yawns. I took a picture of the painting to remember the experience. And as I write about it, I find myself yawning...
Post a Comment