What is a yawn?

Question

I know we yawn to get oxygen but why not just take a deep breath?? What exactly is a yawn?

Answer 1

Yawning is defined in the Miller-Keane medical dictionary as “a deep, involuntary inspiration with the mouth open, often accompanied by the act of stretching.”It is an involuntary respiratory reflex. One theory as to why we yawn is to regulate carbon dioxide and oxygen levels in the lungs.People yawn when they are tired or bored—whenever the oxygen levels in the lungs are low.Yawning is also sometimes thought of as contagious.Reasons for this are still unknown.One theory is that we yawn as a form of communication—when someone yawns, and we subsequently yawn, we are reflecting that we are a part of a particular social group, or the larger social group of people as a whole.Yawning is thought of as a way to become more alert.This is because yawning intakes oxygen, increasing heart rate, expelling carbon dioxide from the lungs and bloodstream and bringing oxygen to the blood vessels in the brain.When oxygen is supplied to the brain and the body, a person becomes more awake, at least at a surface level.Normal breathing, which has been compromised by an oxygen-deprived state, is restored. Excessive yawning occurs in people with brainstem

damage, brain tumors, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy. Individuals experiencing opiate withdrawal also yawn excessively.Individuals with Parkinson’s disease yawn less than average. Most yawning occurs in the hour before waking up and in the hour before falling asleep.Many animals yawn.The animal that has been noted to yawn the most is the cat. Fetuses yawn while in the womb, as early as the 15th week of development. From my research, it is still not known why fetuses yawn.Newborns have been noted to yawn shortly after taking their first breath.

Answer 2

I have seen Yawning from Reptiles, Birds, and especially mammals. I have not seen a fish yawn, though I suspect some might. Amphibians seem to have a rhythmic respiration that prevents yawning for the most part.
So I wonder, if when one comes out of hibernation, would a toad yawn? I have kept a fire-belly toad for the last 8 years. I have never seen it yawn.
Yawning is a spasm in my experience that seems to re-calibrate my breathing rhythm when I am breathing so shallow that my mentality wants to drop into lowered metabolism. It hen signals a yawn, asking for permission. Others seeing the request, thinking it a good idea will signal the same yawn request in agreement to throttle back as well. However in the right circumstances the yawn signal can be intercepted as vulnerability and set up an attack. I have seen this latter behavior especially in puppies and kittens.

Answer 3

A yawn is a reflex of deep inhalation and exhalation associated with being tired, with a need to sleep, or from lack of stimulation. Pandiculation is the term for the act of stretching and yawning. Yawning is a powerful non-verbal message with several possible meanings, depending on the circumstances. It is also claimed to help increase the state of alertness of a person. It could possibly be from lack of oxygen. Another speculated reason for yawning is nervousness - paratroopers were once noted yawning right before their first jump, and had just come from a coffee break. The exact causes of yawning are still unascertained. Yawning may seem simple, howver there is more then just one cause.

Answer 4

Usually that does make us yawn studying that, however I was once pondering polls is uninteresting or rocka bye little one within the tree most sensible whilst the wind blows the cradle will rock well night time sweetheart... so it didn't make me yawn this time...

Answer 5

dunno but its very catching, you see! if some one near you yawns and you can see I bet you yawn also.