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Why Do We Yawn? It May Keep Us From Getting Hot-Headed Yawning may activate a sinus “pump” that ventilates our brains. In the Image: Chinese paramilitary police officers in Beijing. Yawning may help you keep a cool head—literally, a new study suggests. The findings might hold some hope for sufferers of insomnia, migraines, and even epilepsy. Though scientists have put forth various theories for yawning—from fatigue to lack of oxygen—none have held up to scrutiny. “We can put a man on the moon, but we do not understand what the function of yawning is,” said study co-author Gary Hack, of the University of Maryland School of Dentistry in Baltimore. Now, Hack and co-author Andrew Gallup, of Princeton University, propose that yawning causes the walls of the maxillary sinus to expand and contract like a bellows, pumping air onto the brain, which lowers its temperature. Located in our cheekbones, the maxillary are the largest of four pairs of sinus cavities in the human head. Sinus Solution? In addition to potentially solving the mystery of yawning, the study may also reveal why we have sinuses, whose existence has also stumped scientists. It’s a “unified theory tying yawning, sinus ventilation, and brain cooling into a neat little package,” Hack said. Ryan Soose—an ear, nose, and throat doctor as well as director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Division of Sleep Surgery—added, “The hypothesis that these two relatively unknown things may be directly related, to me, is very intriguing.” Cadaverous Clues In 2002 study co-author Hack and his team were dissecting a cadaver when they discovered that the back wall of the maxillary sinus was much thinner—and therefore more flexible—than described in many medical textbooks. “I’d always kept that in the back of my mind, because yawning was an exaggerated jaw movement that would have an impact on this previously undescribed pump in humans,” Hack said. Later, he came across the postdoctoral research of Princeton’s Gallup, who in 2007 had become the first to suggest the brain-cooling theory for yawning. Yawning Theory May Influence Medicine Overall, understanding yawning could be a useful tool for diagnosing certain medical conditions, such as epilepsy and migraines, which are both preceded by excessive yawning, the scientists say. Credits: Christine Dell’Amore National Geographic News Published November 15, 2011

Why Do We Yawn? It May Keep Us From Getting Hot-Headed

Yawning may activate a sinus “pump” that ventilates our brains.

In the Image: Chinese paramilitary police officers in Beijing.

Yawning may help you keep a cool head—literally, a new study suggests. The findings might hold some hope for sufferers of insomnia, migraines, and even epilepsy.

Though scientists have put forth various theories for yawning—from fatigue to lack of oxygen—none have held up to scrutiny.

“We can put a man on the moon, but we do not understand what the function of yawning is,” said study co-author Gary Hack, of the University of Maryland School of Dentistry in Baltimore.

Now, Hack and co-author Andrew Gallup, of Princeton University, propose that yawning causes the walls of the maxillary sinus to expand and contract like a bellows, pumping air onto the brain, which lowers its temperature. Located in our cheekbones, the maxillary are the largest of four pairs of sinus cavities in the human head.

Sinus Solution?

In addition to potentially solving the mystery of yawning, the study may also reveal why we have sinuses, whose existence has also stumped scientists.

It’s a “unified theory tying yawning, sinus ventilation, and brain cooling into a neat little package,” Hack said.

Ryan Soose—an ear, nose, and throat doctor as well as director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Division of Sleep Surgery—added, “The hypothesis that these two relatively unknown things may be directly related, to me, is very intriguing.”

Cadaverous Clues

In 2002 study co-author Hack and his team were dissecting a cadaver when they discovered that the back wall of the maxillary sinus was much thinner—and therefore more flexible—than described in many medical textbooks.

“I’d always kept that in the back of my mind, because yawning was an exaggerated jaw movement that would have an impact on this previously undescribed pump in humans,” Hack said.

Later, he came across the postdoctoral research of Princeton’s Gallup, who in 2007 had become the first to suggest the brain-cooling theory for yawning.

Yawning Theory May Influence Medicine

Overall, understanding yawning could be a useful tool for diagnosing certain medical conditions, such as epilepsy and migraines, which are both preceded by excessive yawning, the scientists say.

Credits:

Christine Dell’Amore

National Geographic News

Published November 15, 2011

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Posted on Thursday, 16 February
Tagged as: Brain   Human   News   Science   Trivia   Why   long read   long reads   yawn   trivias  
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