How do you prevent yawning

The rank order of this suggestion is family, friend, stranger. The closer one is to the person who yawns, the more likely one is to yawn as well. Yawing clearly is associated with sleepiness and boredom. However, almost paradoxically, it is theorized that yawning is not a sign of sleepiness or boredom, but actually a reflex that your brain induces to wake you up or make you more alert. Yawning is associated with some hormones that are released that briefly increase the heart rate and alertness.

I suppose this is an evolutionary response related to a time where if one were asleep or inattentive something bad might happen to you! Related to arousal is the common phenomenon of yawning upon awakening after sleep or nap.

This is further evidence that yawing is a stimulation and arousal reflex rather than the opposite. During an important conversation or at a business meeting, you suddenly start yawning and often, over and over again then you realize that you cannot control yourself. Why do we yawn and how we can fight it? We at Bright Side collected for you the most common reasons for excessive yawning and tricks to get it back under control. Physiologically, the process of yawning is quite simple: it is a long breath followed by a brief breath delay, during which the air reaches the stomach.

Then follows a short exhalation, which is often accompanied by stimulation of the lacrimal glands — for this reason, while preparing for a crying scene, some actors begin to yawn heavily behind the scenes. When we yawn, we involuntarily widely open our mouth and breathe in deeply. This allows air to fill our lungs , makes our sternum go up, abdominal muscles flex, and pushes down our diaphragm.

According to one theory, a person yawns to cool down their brain. Experiments conducted by Austrian scientists have shown that the subjects who had a cold compress on their forehead yawned less when watching videos with people yawning than the subjects with a warm compress or without it. Those study participants who were asked to breathe only through their nose also yawned less because this kind of breathing provides cooler blood to the brain than mouth breathing.

Another purpose of yawning is the need to stretch and relax tired or cramped muscles. Mostly, it's the muscles of the pharynx and tongue, but could also be the muscles of the whole body. That is why usually a person stretches simultaneously with yawning.

This workout for the muscles, in combination with cooling the brain, helps to put your body back on track. Therefore, yawning often occurs when people are nervous before some important event, for example, students yawn before exams.

Yawning in neurology: a review. Arq Neuropsiquiatr. PMID: pubmed. Updated by: Linda J. Editorial team. Yawning - excessive. Causes may include: Drowsiness or weariness Disorders associated with excessive daytime sleepiness Vasovagal reaction stimulation of a nerve called the vagus nerve , caused by heart attack or aortic dissection Brain problems such as tumor , stroke , epilepsy , multiple sclerosis Certain medicines rare Problem with the body's temperature control rare.

When to Contact a Medical Professional. An EEG measures the electrical activity in the brain. It can help your doctor diagnose epilepsy and other conditions affecting the brain. Your doctor may also order an MRI scan. This test uses powerful magnets and radio waves to produce detailed images of the body, which can help doctors visualize and assess bodily structures. These pictures are often used to diagnose spinal cord and brain disorders, such as tumors and multiple sclerosis.

An MRI scan is also beneficial for evaluating the function of the heart and detecting heart problems. If medications are causing excessive yawning, your doctor may recommend a lower dosage. Make sure to discuss this with your doctor before making any changes to your medications.

You should never stop taking medications without approval from your doctor. If excessive yawning is occurring as a result of a sleep disorder, your doctor may recommend sleep-aid medications or techniques for getting more restful sleep. These may include:. If excessive yawning is a symptom of a serious medical condition, such as epilepsy or liver failure, then the underlying problem must be treated immediately.

What does yawning say about you and your body? Teeth often shift after dental procedures and throughout your life.