Why Is Yawning Contagious?

There can be a lot of baffling behaviors that we notice every single day in our lives. Some scratch their head, some shake legs while sitting at a table, a person constantly tapping feet while sitting idle, and so on. But, there are certain behaviors that influence us too. We are talking about what the title says — yawning!

We’ve all experienced this, right? When a person around you yawns, you too end up yawning involuntarily. But hey, please understand that you’re not alone here. In fact, you should be relieved to know that you are a part of nearly 60-70 percent of people who end up yawning when they see another person yawning — in real and photo alike. They say that people yawn when they’re too tired or when they are sleepy. So, how can one end up yawning even at the start of his/her day just because he/she saw someone else yawn? Finding an answer to this leads us to a simple fact that yawning is contagious!

Consider the entire world and its living creatures now. Many creatures including pigs, snakes, hippos, sharks, and chimpanzees — they are all known to yawn. However, there are very few creatures known to catch yawns off each other as humans do. Our beloved four-legged friends, the dogs are an example for such creatures. We understand that yawning is a mid-afternoon thing because maybe you had a carb-loaded lunch. But let’s understand what is a yawn and why it seems so contagious. Let’s read together.

Why Do We Yawn?

You don’t have any scientific consensus for it. A simple theory behind it is that when we are tired, we don’t take any deep breaths, and this causes a buildup of carbon dioxide in our body. And at such times, we yawn. Consider this some form of special respiration process. This is because yawning helps build up the need for oxygen in our body quickly by expelling the carbon dioxide (1).

Now that we know what a yawn is, here are some theories to the age-old question as to why is it so contagious?

It Signals Empathy

Catching yawns from another person is a sign that you are unconsciously attuned to their emotions. See, it’s the same way as how you smile when you see another person smile, or you end up frowning when you see a frowning face. A 2010 study conducted by the peeps of the University of Connecticut supports this theory that yawning is also a sign of empathy (2).

The study helped find out that children didn’t really yawn until they had reached the age of four — an age when they start developing empathy skills. The study also noted that youngsters who suffer from autism, they had troubles feeling empathetic towards others. For this reason, they weren’t yawning as much. So, the researchers concluded that there is some sort of neurological connection here between contagious yawning and psychopathy.

Fun Fact: Contagious yawn is known to occur mostly in two species — humans and chimpanzees owing to their responses to seeing, thinking, or even hearing.

It Is Hardwired To Our Brain

There’s a theory that claims that the act of yawning was used by our ancestors as a means of communication to avoid danger. They used yawning as a way of signaling long before the smoke signals came up. Therefore, our brain considers this as a signal of something wrong.

Another 2010 study demonstrated that small parrots’ yawns multiply as and when the surrounding temperature increases. During the study, around 16 birds were exposed to various temperatures and it was found that their yawning was linked with the periods of changing temperatures.

Fun Fact: Animals with bigger brains tend to yawn longer (3). This yawning does have a relation with our brain chemistry, isn’t it?

We Yawn Because We’re Just Young

Yes, we’re serious, the younger you are, the more likely you are to catch yawns off others. And we aren’t just saying this. There’s a study that backs this up. In a particular study, 328 people were recorded yawning in a three-minute video. In this, around 82 percent of people who yawned contagiously were all under the age of 25. 60 percent of people who yawned were aged 26 to 49.

However, we think that more research is needed for this. The authors of this research strongly speculate that we humans become more susceptible to the problem of contagious yawning as we age. And this is probably because as we age, we don’t pay much attention to other’s behaviors.

Fun Fact: Even reading the word yawn can make people yawn. So, how many times did you yawn while reading this article? Let us know in the comments below.

Also, keep yawning and stay young!

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