Is yawning always a sign of fatigue?

Yawning can be caused by several reasons, and not just by the desire to sleep.

Yawning is a classic symptom of fatigue, but it can also sometimes be a sign that your body is ready for bed. This is a common phenomenon: animals yawn, babies yawn, and adults too do it. But yawning is not necessarily a sign that you are tired. Pay attention to other potential causes of such a common phenomenon, which you may not have guessed.

Monkey sees - monkey does

The process of yawning is "contagious". If you see someone yawning, or reading about this phenomenon, you can start yawning yourself. This involuntary imitation can be associated with evolutionary development. A nonverbal signal that says it's time to relax may have survived in people, unlike many other signs, because it helps us to adjust our response to a changing environment. So this is more of a social cause than a biological one.

You are a compassionate person

People who have a gentle nature and subtly feel the mood of others, are more likely to yawn also when they see how other people do it.

Your brain is boiling

Yawning, as it turns out, helps regulate the temperature of the brain. A warm brain can tell the body to yawn, because when this process happens itself, impulses are sent along the body that "bend" the sinus walls of the brain's shell, and this helps cool the important organ.

Does this mean that a person is bored?

Without stimulation, people can begin to feel drowsy. In other words, if you look at the wall, you are more likely to yawn than if you just watched a loud and bright music video on TV.

You are preparing for different kinds of movements

Since this involves activities such as stretching the muscles, moving the joints and increasing the heart rate (think about the beginning of the morning awakening), yawning can be part of the way the body is prepared for active movements or actions.

Your body wants you to know: something happened

This is not common and does not mean a catastrophe, but in some cases, for example, in people with epilepsy, yawning can signal an impending attack. In rare cases, excessive yawning may be a secondary symptom of a disease, such as Parkinson's disease or multiple sclerosis. However, the underlying disease is not a common cause for this normal and at the same time quite normal reaction of the body.