Ever noticed how just thinking about yawning can make you do it?
Or how one person’s yawn can set off a chain reaction in a room?
It’s one of the most mysterious, contagious reflexes we all experience—but why do we do it?
This is How We Regulate Brain Temperature
For years, people believed yawning was simply the body’s way of bringing in more oxygen. Turns out, that’s not the case.
The leading theory now says that we do so because our brain tends to regulate its temperature.
A 2014 study found that yawning is more common in warmer weather and less frequent in winter.
This proves the hypothesis that yawning helps cool down an overheating brain.
Yawning Isn’t Just Physical
But here’s where it gets interesting: yawning isn’t just physical, it’s social.
A study from Baylor University found that catching a yawn from someone else could be linked to empathy.
The more empathetic you are, the more likely you’ll “catch” a yawn.
