Why does severe yawning occur? What is yawning? Causes of yawning in children and adults

Photo 1. Yawning is not unique to humans. Source: Flickr (Janačka).

Causes of frequent yawning

provoke frequent attacks yawning maybe great amount various reasons. In some cases, its appearance is not caused by any pathologies, while in others it indicates serious illnesses. If you yawn regularly for no reason, you must undergo medical treatment. diagnostic examination.

Physiological

Physiological reasons – phenomena when yawning is caused by non-pathogenic factors. These include:

• Lack of air– may occur during prolonged exposure to stuffy room, this is how the body tries to get oxygen.
• Brain overheating- when a person for a long time is in overvoltage, it begins to heat up. When yawning, a person swallows a lot of air, which ensures ventilation of the brain. Open the window and place it on your forehead cold compress to alleviate your condition.
• Decreased body activity– if the body is tired, that’s it metabolic processes it slows down. Therefore, metabolic products accumulate in the blood. Thanks to yawning, blood circulation in the body is restored, heartbeat, metabolism accelerates.
• Fatigue and lack of sleep– the most common reason frequent yawning. It can be triggered by frequent lack of sleep or chronic fatigue. This is due to the fact that the brain cannot renew itself due to lack of sleep. To start the whole process in it, it needs oxygen.

Note! To get rid of yawning, just cool down and have a good rest. This will restore metabolic processes.

Psychological and emotional

A number of emotional and psychological factors can provoke frequent yawning:

• Severe overvoltage– yawning acts as psychological relief. Such a manifestation may indicate an approaching nervous breakdown.
• Chain reaction– if someone from the environment starts to yawn, the person who sees it repeats after him.

Why does a person yawn in his sleep?

In rare cases, people yawn in their sleep. Usually the cause of this phenomenon is:

• Hormonal imbalances.
• Migraine.
• Chronic fatigue syndrome.
• Therapy with antihistamines.
• Deficiency of vitamins and microelements in the body.
• Sleeping in an awkward position.

Frequent yawning as a symptom of illness

In some cases, yawning can be caused by a nearby pathological conditions. It may indicate a pre-fainting state if it is accompanied by dizziness, darkening of the eyes, decline blood pressure and a decrease in body temperature. In addition, the following diseases may be the cause of this phenomenon:

1. Vegetovascular dystonia.
2. Multiple sclerosis.
3. Respiratory failure.
4. Long-term depression.
5. Violations in cardiovascular system: heart failure, ischemia, tachycardia, arrhythmia.
6. Atherosclerosis – deposition cholesterol plaques on the walls of blood vessels.
7. Diseases endocrine system: hypo-, hyperthyroidism, diffuse goiter and others.

Note! If you regularly suffer from yawning, get tested. This phenomenon may indicate serious pathologies.

How to stop constantly yawning

Frequent bouts of yawning cause discomfort to any person. Of course, because of them, a person cannot work normally or be in society. In order to get rid of constant yawning, you can take the following actions:

• Breathe through your nose- this way you can lower your body temperature, cool your blood, and therefore stop yawning. If you feel a yawning attack approaching, try taking a few breaths through your mouth.
• Have a drink cold water – this will lower your body temperature, after which the yawning will stop.
• If you work in a hot, stuffy room, always keep a bottle of chilled liquid handy.
• Do some exercise– this will help disperse the blood and speed up the metabolism.
• Eat something cold– watermelon, melon or ice cream are best for this.
• Make yourself a cold bandage or compress on your forehead - this will invigorate and relieve yawning.
• Ventilate rooms regularly.
• As soon as you feel a yawn coming on, rest your tongue on the upper palate.

Yawning often attacks without any reason and sometimes puts a person in an awkward position, while it is not always possible to fight it. Some yawn silently, some from the heart, some yawn from boredom, others in a stuffy room, you can yawn from lack of sleep or for company, having become infected from another onlooker. Will try to understand the question: why do you need to yawn and why does yawning attack?

Not only people, but also animals yawn: cats, dogs, horses and hippos; it has been noticed that animals often use this technique to intimidate their enemy, thereby showing their sharp teeth. Another interesting fact: yawning can be contagious among those people who are prone to empathy; callous people are very rarely susceptible to such a reaction to a yawner, while autistic people do not react at all in response.

Why does yawning occur?

In medical terms, yawning is a breathing act at the level of reflexes, which is an inhalation through the mouth and a quick exhalation, while an additional influx of oxygen occurs into the body. But scientists still cannot decide on the question: why do you need to yawn? There are a number of assumptions with which we can agree.

What does yawning mean?

• Shortness of breath and yawning. In case of excess carbon dioxide, the body reacts to eliminate the imbalance. Doing deep breath and yawning, while straining the muscles of the face and neck, a person receives an additional flow of oxygen to the brain cells and blood vessels.
• It is recommended to yawn on an airplane in order to equalize the pressure in the body. When yawning the channels between ears and nasopharynx, which eliminates congestion in the ears. The same thing happens not only on the plane, but also on the ground.
• When yawning, a person often wants to stretch, and therefore improve blood circulation in the muscles, the result is increased attention. Yawn acts as a kind energy drink, absolutely harmless and, on the contrary, very useful.
• Simultaneously, Yawning is a kind of relaxation and stress relief. Very often people yawn when they are nervous, this is a way to reduce psycho-emotional stress and improve their mood.
• Yawning before bed helps prepare the body for sleep and relax.
• Yawning often occurs when it is hot or stuffy. This can be explained by the fact that the brain needs to “cool” during the day if the surrounding conditions are uncomfortable. When yawning, cool air flows into the brain cells.

Frequent yawning is a sign of disorders in the body

It would seem that yawning is useful activity for the body, but frequent yawning can be a sign of oxygen starvation of the brain, problems with blood circulation and blood vessels, and the cause of other diseases. In such cases, the body needs help, you should take medications to nourish the brain and eliminate oxygen starvation, such as, which is not only useful for brain function, but also for strengthening the entire circulatory system and general condition body. In addition, you should visit a doctor.

While reading this article, perhaps someone has already yawned; I would like to hope that it is not out of boredom, but for health reasons. From all of the above, the conclusion suggests itself that if nature created this reflex, then it is necessary, although we do not know its operating principle for certain.

So, yawn to your health, with pleasure and to your heart's content!

We yawn when we wake up in the morning and fall asleep in the evening. We yawn during boring meetings and during long pauses. We yawn as soon as someone nearby yawns.
It would seem that such a habitual reflex or ritual. But it’s surprising: researchers are still confused about the reasons for its appearance.

What is yawning?

Yawning is a breathing process that occurs involuntarily with a long, deep inhalation and a relatively quick exhalation. The mouth, as a rule, is wide open and this breathing action is accompanied by a peculiar sound, and for some, tears also reflexively appear.

The process of yawning is in most cases a normal physiological phenomenon that occurs when there is a lack of oxygen, stressful situations, overwork, but may be a sign of certain diseases in the body.

Causes

The most common version is that yawning is a defense mechanism, allowing the brain to relieve fatigue by invigorating with a fresh dose of oxygen, and at the same time getting rid of excess carbon dioxide. Statistics and research support this hypothesis: people are most likely to yawn at times when their gray matter is tired and clearly in need of rest - for example, in the evening after a hard day at work, during a boring meeting, or during an overly complex lecture.

A yawn is essentially the same as inhaling, allowing the lungs and blood to become saturated with oxygen. However, as it turned out, people yawn even if you give them something to breathe pure oxygen, - that is, the reflex opening of the mouth is in no way associated with hypoxia (lack of oxygen). With what then?

Yawning is needed to cool the brain, one of the newest and increasingly popular theories tells us. A computer or laptop, for example, cannot function without a built-in fan: under heavy load, the processor overheats and, if it is not cooled in time, may fail. Our gray matter works on a similar principle: with prolonged or intense work, its temperature rises, which impairs connections between neurons and ultimately has a destructive effect on thinking. Therefore, the brain needs cooling - this can be facilitated by open window or a walk in the park, a glass of cool water, or (since neither the walk nor the glass is shining) a sweet yawn.

In principle, the cooling theory is confirmed by experiments. For example, volunteers who had an ice compress applied to their forehead while watching boring movies yawned 2 times less often than a group of volunteers without a cooling compress. So, if you feel like you're gaping, be sure to note: Your brain is overheated, and it would be nice to take it for a walk. fresh air.

Why yawning is contagious

To make sure that there are no simple explanations for yawning, it is enough to remember the well-known fact: this reflex is contagious. As soon as someone yawns, an epidemic of yawning covers the majority of those around them.

Neither oxygen starvation, this cannot be explained by overheating of the brain, because physiological processes each one occurs individually, which means they cannot be simultaneous. This means that the reflex has some other meaning. And he was actually discovered after stumbling upon another fact.

Yawning in people begins not only with visual contact with someone yawning nearby: often, to start the process, you just need to think about yawning, read about it, or hear the specific sound of yawning. It follows from this that a reflex is not always a physiological process, but also a mental one.

After conducting research, scientists came to the conclusion that yawning is contagious due to mirror neurons. They are located in the layer of gray matter of the brain not only of people, but also of some animals and birds and are endowed with the property of empathy - they begin to get excited when we see the actions of others. These neurons are responsible for the ability to imitate (for example, when learning foreign languages) and empathize. They force us to consciously experience the emotions of other people, which is actually called empathy.

Roughly speaking: You yawn means you have empathy and are able to function in social groups. It is assumed that our ancient ancestors in this way determined “their own” - those with whom they could play in a team. By the way, as experiments show, children under 4 years of age and those who suffer from autism are not susceptible to mirror yawning: they have not yet learned to act according to social laws. However, even this Interesting Facts yawning is not limited to.

Yawning can be “infected” both from person to person and from person to dog. Research by Swedish scientists proves that dogs can yawn when yawning people come into their field of vision, and the older the dog, the more prone he is to reflexive imitation, and for puppies less than 7 one month old yawning is not transmitted.

If we talk about spontaneous, non-imitative yawning, then different animals have their own reasons for it. The same dogs often “reflect” when they are nervous - for example, when they find themselves in an unusual environment. While waiting for lunch at the zoo, the lions begin to yawn intensely. Hyenas - when preparing to attack a victim. Many monkeys, by opening their mouths wide, show their superiority in a pack of relatives. Birds, turtles, crocodiles, snakes yawn from time to time...

But herbivores yawn much less often than cold-blooded and carnivorous animals. For example, it is extremely rare to see a horse, cow, camel or hare yawning. This, by the way, leads scientists to believe that yawning may be somehow related to the level of intellectual development: those creatures whose IQ is higher yawn more often than “silly ones.”

What could frequent yawning be a sign of?

Frequent yawning in itself cannot be a sign of any disease. Its appearance can be triggered by lack of sleep, fatigue, stress, nervousness, overeating, and boredom. In that case, this normal reaction the body to such factors. Once they are removed, yawning will return to normal. By the way, a person yawns at least 10 times during the day.

The presence of other symptoms with frequent yawning may be a sign of illness. For example, when constant drowsiness and frequent yawning, a possible diagnosis is vegetative-vascular dystonia or cardiac arrhythmia.

Dizziness with blurred vision, increased body temperature along with frequent yawning may be a harbinger of an epileptic seizure.

How to overcome yawning?

There are situations when yawning is inappropriate. There are several ways to deal with it:

• When the next yawn approaches, you need to take a deep breath through your mouth and exhale through your nose.
• Many people find that taking a sip of water or wetting their lips with it helps.
• Adequate sleep prevents frequent yawning.
• Exercising will keep the body alert, saturating it with oxygen. You can do squats, push-ups or others physical exercise, which will increase the tone of the body.
• Proper nutrition and drinking the required amount of water throughout the day prevents frequent yawning.
• Don't slouch. Smooth posture promotes complete filling of the lungs with oxygen. When your back is bent, the diaphragm is not completely saturated with air, which can cause increased yawning.
• Walking in the fresh air, ventilating the room, and quitting smoking will help get rid of causeless yawning.

Video: Why do people yawn?

It is important to understand that yawning is a natural positive breathing action that activates the body and is not in itself a sign of illness. So the attitude towards the phrase “Don’t yawn!” It's worth reconsidering a bit. Yawn and be healthy.

Many studies have been devoted to the phenomenon of yawning, but scientists still cannot agree on the main purpose of this phenomenon. Let's try to understand the most common hypotheses, some of which are quite original.

Lack of oxygen
For quite a long time it was believed that with the help of yawning, the body takes a breath of air and replenishes the lack of oxygen in the blood. As a result, this theory was refuted, since a person who was given more oxygen or placed in a newly ventilated room did not stop yawning. This means that it is not a matter of oxygen and its quantity.

Brain cooling
According to another theory, a person supposedly yawns to cool the brain. Experiments conducted by American scientists demonstrated that those subjects who had cold compresses applied to their foreheads yawned less often when watching videos of people yawning than subjects without compresses or with warm compresses on the forehead. If the subjects were asked to breathe only through their nose, they also yawned less often, because in this case, when breathing, the brain receives cooler blood than when breathing through the mouth.

Warm-up
Presumably, another purpose of yawning may be the need for the body to stretch and relax tired and tight muscles. First of all, this applies to the muscles of the pharynx and tongue, but also to the muscles of the whole body: this is why a person often stretches when yawning. Perhaps this kind of warm-up of the muscles while cooling the brain will help invigorate the body and come to a state of readiness.

That is why frequent yawning, the reasons for which have not yet been determined, can “attack” a person before some important event: an artist can yawn before a performance, a student before exams, a parachutist before a jump. When a person is bored or wants to sleep, he also yawns, because the process of yawning will help invigorate numb muscles and a sleepy brain.

Yawning helps your ears
While flying on an airplane, it is very useful to yawn: it will help get rid of congestion in the ears, which occurs when there is a difference in pressure outside and inside the head. eardrum. Since the middle ear cavity communicates with the pharynx through special channels, yawning, by opening these channels, helps equalize the pressure in the ears.

Mirror neurons
Yawning is incredibly contagious. A person begins to yawn not only when he sees people yawning in real life, but even when viewing photographs and videos of people yawning. Often you only need to think or read about yawning to start yawning uncontrollably yourself. However, not everyone has the ability to perform a mirror yawn. Children under five years of age are resistant to mirror yawning because they do not yet have the ability to empathize with other people, and children with autism do not become infected with yawning, either when they actually see it or when watching a video of them yawning. How to explain this phenomenon?

The contagiousness of yawning is created by the so-called mirror neurons, which are located in the cerebral cortex, not only in humans, but also in primates and some birds. Mirror neurons have empathy, firing when a person observes someone else doing something. It is mirror neurons that determine the ability to imitate - it is clearly visible, for example, when studying foreign language and with empathy: it’s as if we not only notice the state of another person, but also actually experience it ourselves. One of brightest examples imitative behavior - mirror yawning.

Animals yawn too
Scientists believe that imitative yawning appeared in primates when coordinating the actions of group members: if one of the primates yawned in danger, his state was transmitted to the rest, and the group quickly came to a state of readiness for action.

Yawning is not only transmitted from person to person, but also from person to dogs. It has been noticed that the dog begins to yawn at the sight of its owner and other people yawning. At the same time, it is impossible to deceive the dog: if you simply open your mouth, imitating a yawn, it will not yawn in response. Next to a yawning person, the dog becomes relaxed and sleepy, that is, it copies not only the owner’s behavior, but also his physiological state.

Yawning as a sign of intimacy
Italian scientists discovered in 2011 that the contagiousness of yawning demonstrates a measure of emotional closeness between people, since it most often occurs among friends and close relatives of the yawner. Distant acquaintances and strangers are much less likely to become infected with yawning.

Yawning as a symptom of illness
Frequent, prolonged yawning may be a sign various diseases– from body thermoregulation, high blood pressure, arterial thrombosis and brain stem damage to sleep problems. Frequent yawning also occurs with depression and anxiety (the level of the stress hormone cortisol in the blood increases).

If you are suddenly “attacked” by incessant yawning, you should consult a doctor and check your blood pressure, heart and blood vessels. But first, it won’t hurt to stop being nervous and get a good night’s sleep - suddenly the yawning will disappear by itself.

Such a simple reflex as yawning has not yet been fully explained by scientists. However, there are many theories about why people yawn. Moreover, this process is often the first signal about the presence or development of various internal diseases, exacerbations and relapses of chronic pathologies.

Why do you want to yawn?

The main guesses are as follows.

Calming effect

It has been noticed that people often yawn on the eve of any exciting events: competitions, exams, performances. In this way, the body independently adjusts to a favorable result.

Restoring carbon dioxide balance

There is an opinion that during yawning the supply of oxygen in the blood is replenished, but experiments have shown that even with its deficiency, the frequency of the reflex in question does not increase.

Regulation of pressure in the middle ear

Straighten up when yawning eustachian tubes and channels maxillary sinuses, which relieves short-term ear congestion.

Awakening the body

Yawning in the morning gives you energy, helps saturate the blood with oxygen, helps you wake up, and improves blood circulation. The same factors provoke yawning when tired and fatigued.

Keeping active

It has been noted more than once that the described reflex occurs when a person is bored. Prolonged muscular passivity and mental overload lead to people falling asleep. Yawning helps get rid of this sensation, as in the process the muscles of the neck, face, and mouth tense.

Regulation of brain temperature

There is an assumption that when the body overheats, it is necessary to cool the brain tissue by enriching the blood with air. The process of yawning contributes to this mechanism.

Relaxation

The reflex in question is also universal, because in the morning it helps to cheer up and before bed - to relax. Yawning prepares a person for good sleep, relieves tension.

Why does a person yawn very often and a lot?

If this phenomenon occurs to you infrequently, perhaps you are simply overtired, exposed to stress and anxiety, and do not get enough sleep. But periodic repetition should cause concern and be a reason to visit a doctor.

This is why you always want to yawn:

• vegetative-vascular dystonia;
• hormonal imbalance;
• multiple sclerosis;
• presyncope;
• violations cerebral circulation;
• emotional burnout syndrome.

As you can see, the reasons for frequent yawning are quite serious and this reflex may indicate a number of serious illnesses. Therefore, if you notice a recurrence of this phenomenon, do not delay your visit to the therapist and be sure to undergo an examination.

Why does a person yawn when someone else yawns?

Probably everyone has noticed how contagious yawning is. As a rule, if someone nearby yawns, those around them will sooner or later also succumb to this reflex.

During interesting medical experiments and psychological research Scientists have finally figured out why people yawn after each other. To do this, the subjects were connected to a special device that reflected the activity of various brain zones in the color spectrum. It turns out that during the described process, the area of ​​the brain that is responsible for empathy and compassion is activated. Thus, we can conclude that a person who yawns when someone else yawns next to him is a subtle and vulnerable, responsive person. This statement is confirmed by the fact that people with autistic syndrome are not susceptible to this condition.