Summary:
Your brain operates best at a specific temperature. Yawning cools down the brain, so when you're tired, you yawn in order to cool down the brain. Yawning also increases blood pressure, stretches facial muscles, and increases focus. When you stretch all your muscles and yawn, you pendiculate, making your muscles more readily available to be used in any moment. Contagious yawning is advantageous because when the first animal in a group yawns, the other animals follow along and become alert, too.
Many animals have different reasons for yawning. Some yawn to intimidate enemies, while others yawn to attract mates. Some snakes yawn to re-align their jaws and open their tracheas after a large, body-disfiguring meal.
Relevance to Class:
Yawning is an example of homeostasis that our body uses in order to cool our brain down and let it function at an optimal temperature. Our body experiences a stimulus that it is too hot or needs to cool down, and the brain functions reacts and sends signals to our body to yawn. Yawning is also linked to the social portion of the brain since we can yawn due to other people yawning.
Video Information:
Url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGIbUK4nw00
Youtube Channel: Vsauce
Publication Date: May 12, 2012
but when you are tired, is the brain already cooled down?
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ReplyDeleteNope. So when you're tired your brain is sort of like overheated and it needs to cool off. Like when you feel hot after a long time working.
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