The Science Behind Yawning Will Exhaust You

The human body experiences involuntary actions every day, but yawning may be the most elusive.

Nearly every animal with a spine yawns for one reason or another — penguins yawn as a mating ritual, guinea pigs use the action to demonstrate anger and humans yawn for different reasons.

Image: Imgur, GrimReaperPT

AsapSCIENCE made this short, yet informative YouTube video to explain the science behind the human yawn. And you may be surprised, it's not as simple as just being tired

Scientists believe that humans yawn as a way to cool our brains. Yawning increases blood flow, heart rate, facial muscle use and forces air into your head, which all help cool the brain. Exhaustion and sleep deprivation does increase your brain temperature, explaining why we yawn more when we're tired Read more...