• Question: Is it rue that we yawn because of loss of oxeygen?

    Asked by rider491 to Claire, Kate, Matt, Rob, Sam on 24 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Kate Husband

      Kate Husband answered on 24 Jun 2013:

      I don’t think anyone knows exactly why we yawn. People have suggested that yawning gets in more oxygen, that it controls our body temperature, that we do it because we’re nervous… Also yawns are contagious (so people yawn when they see other people yawn) and writing this has made me want to yawn!

    • Photo: Claire Lee

      Claire Lee answered on 24 Jun 2013:

      I remember reading once that the “contagious” thing could be some sort of non-verbal cue back from our caveman days. As in, before we could talk, yawning was a way to “spread the word” (so-to-say) across the tribe that it was time to go to bed 🙂

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