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health advisory Hospital Health advisory 2007-11-16 5:20:56

Cecil isn't about to settle the issue here, and he doesn't need to. We merely observe that whatever yawn-inducing conditions prevail for you also apply to your friends.

If you're out late in some crowded dive, you're probably all tired, all warm under the collar, and all breathing the same stale air. You're probably all on the verge of a yawn, too, and the power of suggestion from seeing one person do it is enough to push everybody else over the edge.

Adults rarely catch a case of the yawns from a child or animal, which tends to corroborate this idea.

Children usually have different sleep schedules and respiration rates from adults, so you would expect them to yawn at different times. Animals, on the other hand, often yawn not for physiological reasons but as a display of hostility, to which humans are evidently unresponsive.

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I don't know, but that is a good question.

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Yawning is a reflex triggered when the brain is not getting enough oxygen - usually because there's not enough oxygen in the area (e.g. a badly-aired room). Yawning is an attempt to get a lot of oxygen into the bloodstream in one go.

If someone else yawns, you brain registers this, and figures (subconsciously) "Well, if he's not getting enough air, maybe there's not enough air in the room, and I'm not getting enough either and just haven't noticed yet - better take a big gulp just to be on the safe side!". And you yawn.