why is it that when you yawn its contagious?

Question

whenever I yawn or a person standing next to me yawns I or they yawn too! Why??

Answer 1

It is called pandiculation. To yawn is to pandiculate. It is the most contagious disease on the planet. We yawn to pump extra oxygen into our systems. It usually happens when we awake or when we are tired.

Answer 2

I just recently learned the answer to this question. People who are able to feel sympathy yawn back after someone yawns at them. There was some type of study that was done that showed people who cared only for themselves never mirrored back a yawn. So yawns are not contagious, but you can tell what kind of person you're with if they don't yawn back!

Answer 3

Scientists (and everybody else) have known for decades that yawns are contagious, but they've never known why. Some think it's an unconscious mirror effect - someone yawns, you yawn in response almost like a reflex.

The answer is, no one really knows why yawning is "contagious". Or why we yawn at all. One popular explanation is that yawning allows you to get rid of too much carbon dioxide in your system and increase your oxygen supply. This was disproved by Dr. Robert Provine and his research team in 1987.

When yawning is contagious and is a shared experience,
it is like a concensus...someone motions someone seconds
all agree that they are indeed in synchronicity with their
environments and the facilitating of stimulation within them.

Answer 4

Scientifically speaking- a yawn is the body's response to a lack of oxygen-therefore if someone is yawning it is a signal to you that there is not enough oxygen and so you yawn too-apparently!

Answer 5

I'm not positive why, but in my opinion it's because the person who yawns is taking up more oxygen out of the air and someone else in the room is then deprived of oxygen so they yawn. I think that is also why we yawn multiple times once we start.

Answer 6

Yawning is contagious because it indicates either that you are tired or that you must have some sleep. People in the same situation expreinces tiredness or feel sleepy . Once one of them yawns the others too follow.

Answer 7

I read that somewhere. I can' completely remember though. One is that people are not getting enough oxygen and if they see someone yawn it reminds them that they need more air so they eventually do it. I can't remember the others but I think 55% of people around someone who yawns will yawn.

Answer 8

Some say it's like what sheep do. When one sheep bleats another next to it will bleat too. Then all the sheep will start bleating. It is just what nature intended. When a sheep bleats, it is generally passing a message onto the others of it's kind.

Before humans developed complex languages to interact, they only used primitive gestures. Yawning is one of these and it is used to communicate that we are tired or bored. Despite our advanced languages, we still tend to have our primitive methods of communication because we just can't help it.

A yawn is similar to the bleat of a sheep in that it is a way of communicating without using words.

Answer 9

Theory has it that we yawn to get oxygen to our brains to make us alert. It dates back to our caveman days - early morning urg the caveman wakes and yawns, the others find it infectious and do the same - result everyone alert and ready for the hunt.

Answer 10

I don't know, but believe it or not I yawned immediately after reading this question (and no i'm not making a fresh comment about boredom). Good question!