Yawning and Your Brain

Have you ever been some where and you yawned and someone looked at you like "am I boring you?" Yawns actually are a good thing and if you are a speaker and see someone yawn take it as a compliment. While we often think that yawning is related to boredom, fatigue, or just plain rudeness, it is not. Yawning helps cool down our brains so that they function better.

Our brains function much better when they are cool. Believe it or not multiple studies have been done studying yawns and increases in brain and body temperatures. Many people still believe that yawning happens because of a lack of oxygen. There was a study in 1987 that disproved this.

In fact the yawn provides a means for increasing alertness and arousal, especially if you are changing from one mental state to another, such as going from activity to inactivity, or sleeping to waking. The yawn is a mechanism to recharge so you can better absorb information.