Is your brain hot? - Try yawning.
Posted: December 15th, 2008 | Author: karlfrankjr | Filed under: Biology, Karl Frank Jr. | Tags: Biology, Brain, Health, State University of New York at Binghamton, yawning | Comment Here »
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This one makes so much sense that I cannot believe someone did not come up with it sooner. Just like your computer, your brain overheats. When your brain overheats, you yawn! That’s it. Yawning is brain coolant!
Dec. 15, 2008 — If your head is overheated, there’s a good chance you’ll yawn soon, according to a new study that found the primary purpose of yawning is to control brain temperature.
The finding solves several mysteries about yawning, such as why it’s most commonly done just before and after sleeping, why certain diseases lead to excessive yawning, and why breathing through the nose and cooling off the forehead often stop yawning.
The key yawn instigator appears to be brain temperature.
“Brains are like computers,” Andrew Gallup, a researcher in the Department of Biology at Binghamton University who led the study, told Discovery News. “They operate most efficiently when cool, and physical adaptations have evolved to allow maximum cooling of the brain.”
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