The moment you saw someone yawn, you found yourself yawning too.
Have you ever had that experience?
This phenomenon actually has a name: “contagious yawning.”
What’s even more curious is that it can happen even without seeing a yawn in person; videos or photos of someone yawning can set it off.
So why does someone else’s yawn “spread” to us?
Yawns Don’t Happen Only “When You’re Sleepy”
To begin with, why do we yawn at all?
We tend to think of yawning as something that happens “because we’re sleepy,” but that’s not the whole story.
Yawns are also likely after waking up, before going to bed and when we’re bored, and yawning is thought to be a behavior linked to moments when our level of alertness is changing.
On the other hand, the “real reason we yawn” has not been fully explained.
Research is still ongoing from many angles, including its relationship with the brain’s state of arousal.
It’s something we do so naturally every day, yet some mysteries still remain.
Are Yawns from “People Close to You” More Contagious?
There is an interesting study on contagious yawning.
In 2011, researchers at the University of Pisa in Italy and other institutions observed 109 adults in everyday settings for about a year and analyzed 480 yawning episodes.
The study also looked at the relationship between the person who yawned and the person who saw or heard it.
The results showed that how likely a yawn was to spread was linked to how close the relationship was,
family and partners > friends > acquaintances > strangers
and a trend in this order was confirmed.
In other words, yawns from people close to us tended to be more contagious than yawns from complete strangers.
Isn’t it fascinating that even a casual yawn might be influenced by our relationships with one another?
Is It True That “More Empathetic People Catch Yawns More Easily”?
Based on studies like this, it has long been thought that contagious yawning may be linked to empathy and social connection.
However, later research has shown that it isn’t quite that simple.
In a 2014 study at Duke University, 328 participants were shown videos of people yawning, and the relationship between contagious yawning and factors such as empathy was examined.
The results showed large individual differences in how much yawns spread, but factors such as empathy alone could not adequately explain those differences.
That’s why
“catching yawns easily = being highly empathetic”
is not a conclusion we can simply draw.
Many factors, such as age and how attention is directed, are being studied, and the mechanism behind contagious yawning has still not been fully explained.
Can Just the Word “Yawn” Make You Want to Yawn?
After reading the word “yawn” so many times in this article,
“I feel like I’m about to yawn…”
some of you may be feeling this way.
Contagious yawning is not limited to seeing the person in front of you yawn; it can also be triggered by other yawn-related cues.
In other words, when our brain sees another person’s bodily reaction, it may not simply be watching, but may be affected by it in some way.
What’s more, relationships and individual differences also play a part in that reaction.
It’s a casual, everyday phenomenon, yet it’s a fascinating subject of research for thinking about the human brain and our social nature.
Don’t Worry About “Yawning” During Your Treatment
At La HEAD, too, some guests yawn during their dry head spa treatment.
When they yawn or doze off partway through,
“I’m sorry,”
some guests say, but of course there’s no need to worry at all.
At La HEAD, in a calm, fully private room, we care for not only your head but also your neck, shoulders and arms as one connected whole.
Please take your time, stepping away from daily work, your smartphone and the flood of information, as a time to let your body relax.
And the next time you catch someone’s yawn,
“Why did I just yawn, too?”
take a moment to remember this article.
Even the bodily reactions that happen so casually every day hold mysteries of the brain that have yet to be solved.
We look forward to welcoming you.