Yawning evolved to cool the brain


	Yawning evolved to cool the brain

gzyra

6-24-2007 11:27 AM

4440 views

tags:

biology, evolution, science, human

7 Comments |

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6-25-2007 1:35 AM

paotel

yaaaawwwnn....

6-25-2007 1:43 AM

sidegik

goodclip, gzyra. i agreed with the research, because after i drank beer or alcoholic beverages, i yawn and felt sleepy. and my head feels hot after consuming alcoholic beverages.
now if they could only explain why yawning is contagious?

6-27-2007 5:22 PM

FastDart

Dude, Now I know what was happening when I was banging all that Ice three years ago. My brain was on fire.

6-28-2007 12:12 AM

SurvivoR

well, I think this needs more experiment cuz this wld suggest that scientists or thinkers must be the biggest yawners? the study does not explain however y is it contagious?

6-28-2007 12:16 PM

jax twinblade

I feel like yawning right now!!! But I don't wanna sleep yet.......

6-28-2007 2:22 PM

GeDeGe

"So the next time you are telling a story and a listener yawns there is no need to be offended -- yawning, a physiological mechanism designed to maintain attention, turns out to be a compliment."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070621161826.htm

6-28-2007 4:07 PM

hippopotamus

Ahhh, i guess the hippos have lots of the "hardwired ritual" then hehehe...

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/72b84b2d-c79c-47f8-b74c-ae42fdcdd5e7/0C9002A8-01B8-415A-9DE0-F4DD08DA4998/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070621161826.htm" href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070621161826.htm" style="font-size: 11px;">www.sciencedaily.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070621161826.htm">The next time you "catch a yawn" from someone across the room, you're not copying their sleepiness, you're participating in an ancient, hardwired ritual that might have evolved to help groups stay alert as a means of detecting danger. That's the conclusion of University at Albany researchers</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070621161826.htm">people do not yawn because they need oxygen, since experiments show that raising or lowering oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood fails to produce the reaction.  Rather, yawning acts as a brain-cooling mechanism. The brain burns up to a third of the calories we consume, and as a consequence generates heat</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070621161826.htm">yawning enhances the brain’s functioning by increasing blood flow and drawing in cooler air</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070621161826.htm">Evidence shows that blood vessels in the nasal cavity and face send cool blood to the brain, and by breathing through the nose or by cooling the forehead, the brain is cooled, eliminating the need to yawn</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070621161826.htm">yawning does not promote sleep but helps mitigate the need to sleep</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/0C9002A8-01B8-415A-9DE0-F4DD08DA4998/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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