- Yawn. Go
ahead: Laugh if you want (though you'll benefit
your brain more if you smile), but in my
professional opinion, yawning is one of the
best-kept secrets in neuroscience. Even my
colleagues who are researching meditation,
relaxation, and stress reduction at other
universities have overlooked this powerful
neural-enhancing tool. However, yawning has been
used for many decades in voice therapy as an
effective means for reducing performance anxiety
and hypertension in the throat.41
-
 -
- Several recent brain-scan studies have shown
that yawning evokes a unique neural activity in
the areas of the brain that are directly
involved in generating social awareness and
creating feelings of empathy." One of those
areas is the precuneus, a tiny structure hidden
within the folds of the parietal lobe. According
to researchers at the Institute of Neurology in
London, the precuneus appears to play a central
role in consciousness, self-reflection, and
memory retrieval.43 The precuneus is also
stimulated by yogic breathing, which helps
explain why different forms of meditation
contribute to an increased sense of
selfawareness.44 It is also one of the areas
hardest hit by age-related diseases and
attention deficit problems,45 so it's possible
that deliberate yawning may actually strengthen
this important part of the brain.
-
- For these reasons we believe that yawning
should be integrated into exercise and stress
reduction programs, cognitive and memory
enhancement training, psychotherapy, and
contemplative spiritual practice. And, because
the precuneus has recently been associated with
the mirrorneuron system in the brain (which
allows us to resonate to the feelings and
behaviors of others), yawning may even help us
to enhance social awareness, compassion, and
effective communication with others.46
-
- Yawning is so effective and important to the
functioning of your brain that I'm going to ask
you to review for yourself the thirty-four
yawn-related studies I've cited in the endnotes
(you can read the abstracts and several papers
by going to pubmed.gov). Why am I so insistent?
Because if I were to ask you to put this book
down right now and yawn ten times to experience
this fabulous technique, you probably won't do
it. Even at seminars, after presenting the
overwhelmingly positive evidence, when I ask
people to yawn, half of the audience will
hesitate. I have to coax them so they can feel
the immediate relaxing effects. There's an
unexplained stigma in our society implying that
it's rude to yawn, and most of us were taught
this when we were young.
-
- As a young medical student, I was once
"caught" yawning and actually scolded by my
professor. He said that it was inappropriate to
appear tired in front of patients, even though I
was actually standing in a hallway outside of
the patient's room. Indeed, yawning does
increase when you're tired, and it may be the
brain's way of gently telling you that a little
rejuvenating sleep is needed.47 On the other
hand, exposure to light will also make you yawn,
suggesting that it is part of the process L of
waking up.48
-
- But yawning doesn't just relax you it
quickly brings you into a heightened state of
cognitive awareness.49 Students yawn in class,
not because the teacher is boring (although that
will make you yawn as well, as you try to stay
focused on the monotonous speech), but because
it rids the brain of sleepiness, thus helping
you stay focused on important concepts and
ideas. It regulates consciousness and our sense
of self, and helps us become more introspective
and self-aware.5° Of course, if you happen
to find yourself trapped in a room with a dull,
boring, monotonous teacher, yawning will help
keep you awake.
-
- Yawning will relax you and bring you into a
state of alertness faster than any other
meditation technique I know of, and because it
is neurologically contagious,5' it's
particularly easy to teach in a group setting.
One of my former students used yawning to bring
her argumentative board of directors back to
order in less than sixty seconds. Why? Because
it helps people synchronize their behavior with
others.52
-
- Yawning, as a mechanism for alertness,
begins within the first twenty weeks after
conception.53 It helps regulate the circadian
rhythms of newborns,54 and this adds to the
evidence that yawning is involved in the
regulation of wakefulness and sleep.55 Since
circadian rhythms become asynchronous when a
person's normal sleep cycle is disturbed,
fawning should help the late-night partygoer
reset the brain's internal clock. Yawning may
also ward off the effects of jet lag and ease
the discomfort caused by high altitudes.
-
- So what is the underlying mechanism that
makes yawning such an essential tool? Besides
activating the precuneus, it regulates the
temperature and metabolism of your brain.56 It
takes a lot of neural energy to stay consciously
alert, and as you work your way up the
evolutionary ladder, brains become less energy
efficient. Yawning probably evolved as a way to
cool down the overly active mammalian brain,
especially in the areas of the frontal lobe.
Some have even argued that it is a primitive
form of empathy.57 Most vertebrates yawn, but it
is only contagious among humans, great apes,
macaque monkeys,58 and chimpanzees.59
-
- In fact, it's so contagious for humans that
even reading about it will cause a person to
yawn.60
-
- Dogs yawn before attacking, Olympic athletes
yawn before performing, and fish yawn before
they change activities.61 Evidence even exists
that yawning helps individuals on military
assignment perform their tasks with greater
accuracy and ease.62 Indeed, yawning may be one
of the most important mechanisms for regulating
the survival-related behaviors in mammals.63 So
if you want to maintain an optimally healthy
brain, it is essential that you yawn. However,
excessive yawning can be a sign that an
underlying neurological disorder (such as
migraine, multiple sclerosis, stroke, or drug
reaction) is occurring. However, we and other
researchers suspect that yawning may be the
brain's attempt to eliminate symptoms by
readjusting neural functioning.
-
- Numerous neurochemicals are involved in the
yawning experience, including dopamine,65 which
activates oxytocin production in your
hypothalamus and hippocampus,66 areas essential
for memory recall, voluntary control, and
temperature regulation. These neurotransmitters
regulate pleasure, sensuality, and relationship
bonding between individuals, so if you want to
enhance your intimacy and stay together, then
yawn together. Other neurochemicals and
molecules involved with yawning include
acetyicholine, nitric oxide, glutamate, GABA,
serotonin, ACTH, MSH, sexual hormones, and opium
derivate peptides.67 In fact, it's hard to find
another activity that positively influences so
many functions of the brain.
-
- Our advice is simple. Yawn as many times a
day as possible: when you wake up, when you're
confronting a difficult problem at work, when
you prepare to go to sleep, and whenever you
feel anger, anxiety, or stress. Yawn before
giving an important talk, yawn before you take a
test, and yawn while you meditate or pray
because it will intensify your spiritual
experience.
-
- Conscious yawning takes a little practice
and discipline to get over the unconscious
social inhibitions, but people often come up
with three other excuses not to yawn: "I don't
feel like it," "I'm not tired," and my favorite,
"I can't." Of course you can. All you have to do
to trigger a deep yawn is to fake it six or
seven times. Try it right now, and you should
discover by the fifth false yawn, a real one
will begin to emerge. But don't stop there,
because by the tenth or twelfth yawn, you'll
feel the power of this seductive little trick.
Your eyes may start watering and your nose may
begin to run, but you'll also feel utterly
present, incredibly relaxed, and highly alert.
Not bad for something that takes less than a
minute to do. And if you find that you can't
stop yawning-I've seen some peopk yawn for
thirty minutes-you'll know that you've been
depriving yourself of an important neurological
treat.
-
- 12 ESSENTIAL REASONS TO YAWN
-
- 1. Stimulates alertness and
concentration
-
- 2. Optimizes brain activity and
metabolism
-
- 3. Improves cognitive function
-
- 4. Increases memory recall
-
- 5. Enhances consciousness and
introspection
-
- 6. Lowers stress
-
- 7. Relaxes every part of your body
-
- 8. Improves voluntary muscle control
-
- 9. Enhances athletic skills
-
- 10. Fine-tunes your sense of time
-
- 11. Increases empathy and social
awareness
-
- 12. Enhances pleasure and sensuality
-
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