• Question: why do we yawn ?

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      • Royal Society of Chemistry: Find out more on:
      Asked by to Rowena, Nicola, Kate on 18 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
      • Photo: Rowena Fletcher-Wood

        Rowena Fletcher-Wood answered on 18 Mar 2014:

        We yawn to get more oxygen into our bodies. When we are tired, we need more oxygen fuel to keep us going and sometimes normal breathing isn’t enough. This means we have to open our mouths wide and draw a huge amount of air in so we cane feed our bodies the fuel it’s after!

      • Photo: Kate Nicholson

        Kate Nicholson answered on 18 Mar 2014:

        Two reasons, one it is a reflex response when we are tired and need more oxygen to process more energy stores, and two it is a social response – have you ever noticed how yawning is infectious? All it takes is one person to start and you have the mouth version of a Mexican wave spreading around the room.

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