Why Is Yawning Contagious? This Is The Explanation According To The Expert

Image of yawning person (Karolina Grabwoska-Pexels)

JAKARTA - Have you ever yawned spontaneously after seeing other people yawn? Either in person, on the phone, or on a video call. This is actually very common where yawning can infect other people.

Then the question is, why is yawning contagious?

Reporting from the SehatQ page, yawning is the body's response to fatigue, drowsiness, and stress. In fact, frequent yawning can indicate a health problem. Unfortunately, some people still like to underestimate the causes of frequent yawning.

The process of yawning usually begins with opening your mouth, taking deep breaths, and filling your lungs with air until a sufficient amount is present. The air is then processed and released slowly.

Over a period of time to yawn, the eardrum stretches and the eyes close. This is the reason why the tears come out as you yawn.

Based on the results of a study published in the International Journal of Applied and Basic Medical Research in 2013, it is stated that yawning is a reflex way for the body to cool the brain, get more oxygen, or even stretch internal organs.

This condition cannot be tolerated. In fact, yawning can be transmitted to those around you. Why is that?

Quoting information from the Healthdigest page, yawning is the most contagious human behavior. This contagious yawning event is better known as contagious yawning.

The Yawn (Miikka Luotio / Unsplash)

Robert R. Province, a neurologist believes that it is possible for someone to yawn immediately when they read something about yawning.

Province said yawning is not only contagious by seeing it, but also by reading or hearing it.

Other facts also reveal that yawning can be contagious because of perceptual sensitivity.

Reporting from the Bigthink page, researchers at Tohoku University, Japan revealed that infectious yawning is caused by perceptual sensitivity rather than empathy.

The purpose of perceptual sensitivity is the sensory sensitivity in processing something.

Researchers therefore assume that contagious yawning has nothing to do with empathy or emotional closeness to someone who yawns.

A study also showed that the innate tendency to repeat yawning was caused by a primitive reflex from the part of the brain responsible for motor function.

James Giordano, a neuroscientist, believes that this behavior can be attributed to mirror neurons in the brain. He claims that what is involved in these neurons matches how you feel and how you move.

Giordano also says that this social mirroring is linked to other behaviors like crossing your legs and laughing.