Turn up the Temp to Stop Yawning
health: blog
CAUSE OF YAWNING
Victoria Moorhouse
We?ve all let out a big ?ol yawn? usually in the middle of a long meeting or a phone call with an insufferable aunt. But a giant mouth stretch doesn?t necessarily mean boredom?or even sleepiness.
It might just mean winter. According to new research published in the journal Frontiers in Evolutionary Neuroscience, yawning can be a physiological response to cold temperatures.
Why? Letting in a yawn of cool air helps to cool down the brain. It turns out the brain works best within a narrow range of temperatures, and deeply inhaling cool air is one way the body keeps the brain in that temperature range.
In the study, researchers found that as time spent outside in cold weather increased, so did the likelihood of yawning. But as the time spent outside in warm weather increased, the likelihood of yawning didn?t increase.
So next time someone calls you out for yawning and looking bored, just tell them to turn up the thermostat.
photo: Digital Vision/Thinkstock
Last Updated: November 23, 2011 - 1:34pm
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Source: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/cause-of-yawning
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