Discover the Top 5 Unexpected and Entertaining Fun Facts About Yawning!
1. Yawn Immunity in Rodents
Yawning: it's like an airborne virus of the animal kingdom, but don't worry, not everyone catches it! Fret not, mice and rats: Yawning is not contagious among all mammals and birds; in fact, research indicates that many animals, including our little rodent friends, are immune to this so-called yawn epidemic and will not yawn in response to witnessing others succumb to it.
Source => frontiersin.org
2. Brain's Refresh Button
Yawning: not just your body's way of saying it's bored stiff! In reality, it's your brain's sneaky method of hitting the "refresh" button: A study in Physiology & Behavior revealed that yawning serves to cool down the brain by drawing in a deep breath of ambient air, which creates a counter-current heat exchange and helps to maintain its optimal thermal zone.
Source => pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Did you know that our brains are actually party rockin' with memory consolidation and dreams when we sleep? Discover more fascinating sleep facts!
=> Fun Facts about Sleep
3. Yawning Queens
Ladies and gentlemen, let's have a round of applause for our yawning queens: women are actually more susceptible to contagious yawning than men, due to their heightened levels of empathy and ability for empathetic processing. In addition, it turns out we share this spreading yawn-fest drama with our fur buddies like dogs and cats, through socialization. But don't worry, merely reading about yawning won't set off a chain reaction; that's simply a bedtime story.
Source => usatoday.com
4. Contagious Yawn Epidemics
Next time you yawn, thank the silver screen's most contagious scene-stealers: humans, chimpanzees, and some primates are the only social animals capable of inducing yawning epidemics: Contagious yawning helps synchronize group behavior and heightens vigilance, as per a study by Andrew Gallup from the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute, improving participants' ability to detect threats like snakes while leaving them unfazed by frogs.
Source => science.org
5. Electrifying Yawns
Yawning: an electrifying experience for our brains! According to the wildest Saturday night party in the world of neurological science, a case report in Epilepsy & Behavior found that stimulating the putamen with just 6-8mA of electricity consistently triggered yawns in a 46-year-old woman. So the next time you're stifling a drowsy yawn, remember that your putamen might be craving a zap to get the party started!
Source => pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
