You're not tired, but you saw a post about yawning? Well, guess what.
post
Wtf
Just reading this made me yawn.
When a baby is crying on an airplane during takeoff or landing, I visibly and audibly yawn in front of them on purpose, so they catch the yawn and pop their ears.
You're supposed to stay in your seat during take off and landing. Please, remain in your seat. Why do you keep getting out of your seat and silently scream at the babies?!
How to tell if your baby is a sociopath with this one simple trick. For this trick you'll need: a baby, a stranger, an airplane, and the power to suspend all critical thinking.
Apparently there isn't much consensus on what the actual reason(s) are for yawning. Apparently fish yawn though, so that's cool.
Isn't it a social signal, apebrain talking?
Solitary animals yawn too. Don't if they can catch yawns, or how to test it.
Supplying oxygen to brain before task, reused in ape for social?
My entirely uneducated guess would be that its some, very basal, ancient, basically gasping compulsion, that... just never quite fully got patched out by the subsequent tens of millions of years of evolution.
Sort of the behavioral version of vestigal limb, way down at some fundamental nervous system level.
It seems like it helps the brain switch modes (from low activity to high and from high activity to low). So yawning could help prepare the brain to pay attention to something important, as well as wind down for the evening. Hence both morning and evening yawns.
The contagious aspect could be as simple as "Oh, you're changing modes? I should get ready to do the same."
Are there any other involuntary social signals?
….erections?
Body language in general.
Dogs wag their tails in order to spread their happy pheromones by waving furiously. They unconsciously want everyone to know they are having a good time. When they are scared, they tuck their tail between their legs in order not to spread their stress pheromones by moving the air around their glands.
... anyone who is naturally expressive and has genuine, authentic responses that go against whatever current sociocultural norms are?
Hey, popular person told a dumb, offensive joke, that validates my internal insecurities by projecting derision outward onto some kind of minority group!
(Face twists up into disgust, shock, and maybe pity)
WTF is wrong with you, popular person is funny! We hate you now!
Best I can find, the 20 "most argued" reasons for yawning, at least the 20 most in 1999

Have you seen a stork yawn? They push their spine out through their mouth
What's that? You're not tired and you haven't seen anyone open their mouth big, but you read about a hypothetical person opening their mouth big? Bad news...
You read the word Yawn several times in a meme, guess what
I've yawned three times already reading through all these comments.
You hit the gym and are having a good session, guess what
This. I have started to wonder if yawns are actually a way to wake up. We know little about them. Some brain scans showed that we refresh the blood around our brain, like changing the water in a fish bowl.
I used to yawn incessantly during warmups before rugby matches. My coach would yell at me to get my head into the game. I kept telling him it's just what happens when I'm warming up it doesn't mean anything!
Snake yawns are the most cute of yawns and I will fight every one who says otherwise.
My idea is that yawing helps sync our internal clocks. So, we sleep at the same time, and wake up at the same time. That way, no one is left behind when the group starts moving to the next waterhole, or feeding ground.
A yawn is a signal to regain some alertness, so when you yawn in order to become more awake, it signals your fellow life forms they might want to be alert too. 🥱
Didn't have to see anyone, I've done it twice just reading this post.
Edit: 3 times cause I was checking back.
I got you fam:
Yawn contagion and empathy in Homo sapiens https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22163307/
Can confirm, I do struggle with empathy (more in the autism way than the socio/psychopath way though) and don't really catch yawns from anyone. I will still pretend to yawn when someone else does though, because I know that not doing that will make them subconsciously wary of me
You are all now breathing manually.
Also you're all now aware that your tongue is never fully relaxed in your mouth.
If it was, you'd swallow it.
No, you wouldn't. It's physically impossible to swallow your tongue, given that it's anchored to your mouth. Without cutting the lingual frenulum, it can't happen.
The tounge muscle is always tensed one way or another. Whilst it wouldn't slip all the way down your gullet to be digested in your stomach it when fully relaxed, which only happens when unconscious (not asleep) there is a risk that it can slip back and block your throat passage. This phenomenon is known as "swallowing your tongue" on the multiple basic first aid courses I have attended as a thing you check for when rendering first aid to someone that's unconscious: check for blocked air passages and remove visible blockages including the tongue if it has slipped back.
Isn’t the leading theory that yawning is more about cooling down the brain temp rather than a lack of oxygen or buildup of CO2?
Which does nothing to explain why it's "contagious".
I thought the idea was that back when we were in settlements, keeping watch out into the dark, the yawn would happen to a sentry if nothing was going on and would subconsciously signal to other humans, even the watch dogs that " nothing is going on, all is well" then spreading throughout the camp as sort of a psychic link, literally conveying information at the speed of light to anyone who can see you.
At least that's what some article I read had to say about it
I’d say for empathy and humans showing connection by yawning when others do.
I can yawn with my mouth closed.
Yawning is more about getting more oxygen in your system. Which sometimes can be due to you being sleepy and not breathing as well as normal, but not always to do with tiredness.
I think when you see someone else yawn, you do the same to make sure you're just as on point as they are. Since more oxygen in your system means you'll operate more efficiently.
I think that's correct, anyway? If someone knows better, please correct me
Read a meme about opening your mouth real big? You guessed it: open your mouth real big about it.
Dogs yawn as well, and it doesn’t only mean that they are tired, more like “I try my hardest to stay concentrated, but is really hard right now”
Why the heck is yawning contagious? I would expect such a feature to evolve if it served a purpose like, say, warning of something coming. See someone give a warning call, pass it on to the rest of the tribe. But why should a sleepy signal do that? Was there a sleep illness people had to worry about catching? Maybe it evolved to signal to everyone that it's nighttime. How many species is yawning contagious for? I'm picturing lions for some reason. I have a feeling the behaviour is common among mammals
Whatever you do, don't you dare cover your mouth so we didn't have to see your gaping maw
And the gas pump isn't a parking spot.
And turn off your headlights if you're parked.
And just stop being a clueless shithead all the time always.
Just saying
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