That’s what my wife tells me when she yawns in my face.
“No, you’re not boring me, it’s just that my brain is overheating.”
I thought she was kidding me but a recent study proved that yawns are able to control the temperature of the brain.
Andrew Gallup, a researcher in the Department of Biology at Binghamton University who led the study, told Discovery News “Brains are like computers. They operate most efficiently when cool, and physical adaptations have evolved to allow maximum cooling of the brain.”
Yawning parakeets
Gallup and two colleagues, Michael Miller and Anne Clark, analyzed yawning in parakeets. Why parakeets? These birds have relatively big brains and they don’t do contagious yawning like people. (You know, one person yawns and everybody else does.)
Gallup explained that contagious yawning is thought to be an evolved mechanism for keeping groups alert so they “remain vigilant against danger.”
The researchers exposed the parakeets to moderate, high and increasing temperatures. Their yawns doubled in frequency when temperatures were increased.
Chillin’ the brain.
“Based on the brain cooling hypothesis, we suggest that there should be a thermal window in which yawning should occur,” Gallup said. “For instance, yawning should not occur when ambient temperatures exceed body temperature, as taking a deep inhalation of warm air would be counterproductive.
“In addition, yawning when it is extremely cold may be maladaptive, as this may send unusually cold air to the brain, which may produce a thermal shock.”
Yawning acts like a radiator for birds and mammals.
If the air around you is cooler than your brain temperatures, a yawn takes in cooler air that lowers facial blood and cools the brain.
Also yawning heightens your state of arousal. In theory our early ancestors hung around in the forest yawning in order to stay alert for hunting or to avoid danger. Today it’s more likely we yawn in the morning to give us a jolt of energy like a cup of coffee.
These findings also explain why people who are tired yawn a lot, because sleep deprivation can increase their brain temperature.
In any case yawning isn’t a sign that your companion is bored. It means he or she is just raising their state of alertness. Maybe it’s a compliment.
Read more on the Discovery Channel web site.
If that’s the case I won’t be insulted if you yawn a lot when you visit our game site – Brain Games Software. You need a heightened state of awareness to beat these mentally stimulating games.
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