Yawn. It’s one of the best things you can do for your brain

http://www.upenn.edu/gazette/1109/expert.html

by soundsop • 17 years ago

118 36 17 years ago

upenn.edu

alanthonyc• 17 years ago

How many of you yawned when you read the title to this post?

rms2• 17 years ago

I tried it but can't decide if any relaxation I felt was placebo or not.

GavinB• 17 years ago

The relaxation was real, even if the cause was a placebo.

I believe this is the only time in the history of HN when it won't be rude to say . . . yawn

Paton• 17 years ago

I yawned at least 6 times

edu• 17 years ago

I did, and it worked :) Really feel energized now :)

julsonl• 17 years ago

I guess I was not alone...

nsrivast• 17 years ago

Strangely, I yawn aggressively when lifting weights and when I'm nervous (usually before a public speaking event).

nagrom• 17 years ago

It could be that your heart rate increases (exertion, nerves) and this is your body's way of increasing oxygen in the system. That'd be my guess, anyway.

electromagnetic• 17 years ago

I was always told by biology teachers and such, from junior highschool up to college professors that yawning is stimulated by a decrease in oxygen in the brain. A decrease in oxygen can be related to a number of things, one being exercise (which will reduce overall body oxygenation), another being concentration (certain areas of your brain can locally reduce its oxygen levels by working more than normal, likely when you shift from using one area of your brain to another), another is tiredness due to reduced respiration and heart rates, and finally by waking up as your body tries to increase its oxygenation levels to cope with rapidly increasing demands (this can be effected by what state of sleep you're in: light, deep or REM; typically deep sleep would cause the most yawning when being woken up from).

I'd certainly believe you could induce yawning from anaerobic exercise. If it was induced by aerobic exercise, I'd say you're not doing the exercise properly!

christopherdone• 17 years ago

I am the same. I yawn when nervous or scared. I used to yawn when walking past a bunch of thugs at school in the mornings.

People at work tend to yawn when I talk to them.

giardini• 17 years ago

Ditto for me, especially on squats. About 8 seconds after my first lift in a set, the lack of oxygen hits me hard: I first yawn and then begin breathing faster. This is when going straight into the squats with no warmup whatsoever.

papersmith• 17 years ago

"All you have to do to trigger a deep yawn is to fake it six or seven times."

Does this work for anyone else? Maybe I'm doing it wrong.

slig• 17 years ago

I was very skeptical, but it did work for me.

adammichaelc• 17 years ago

Worked for me

johnfn• 17 years ago

I only have to fake it like once or twice, actually. It should definitely work.

voidpointer• 17 years ago

After ten fake yawns I felt more like I had been hyperventilating - I'm clearly doing it wrong :/

ptn2• 17 years ago

Didn't work for me.

agbell• 17 years ago

Author of HOW GOD CHANGES YOUR BRAIN

codexon3• 17 years ago

Andrew Newburg is director of Penn’s Center for Spirituality and the Mind. This essay is from the book: HOW GOD CHANGES YOUR BRAIN

amix2• 17 years ago

So what... He has looked at how "believing in God affects our brains" - his idea that yawning could be a good thing is still valid and interesting.

He is a neuroscience professor (but then we'll fall into "Appeal To Authority"). Anyhow, I think we should stick for what he is saying now, and not what he has said or researched in the past.

Tichy2• 17 years ago

Especially since "believing in God affects our brains" seems entirely plausible.

mattmaroon• 17 years ago

In that case, more articles about Lisp please :)

ptn2• 17 years ago

I think you mean Erlang.

gloob• 17 years ago

I think you mean global warming.

onoj• 17 years ago

It irks me that while the story is interesting and potentially inspiring, the idea that this guy has a god fixation means I have to disregard it. Why don't these people do double blind studies (in this case with MRI) to find out if what they are saying is actually true rather and just post as if it was true.

antirez2• 17 years ago

The feeling of Yawning on purpose is not the same as yawning spontaneously :)

redcap• 17 years ago

Did you fake yawn 5 or so times before getting the real one out as the article suggested?

I faked a couple of yawns and it still felt good :)

antirez2• 17 years ago

I'll try it better :) Thanks

mdolon• 17 years ago

I've always found yawning very intriguing, and how people often get triggered to yawn as others around them are yawning. And how I just yawned at the thought of that!

Yawn. It’s one of the best things you can do for your brain

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