Do not snooze! Why is yawning infectious, and how it can be used
'17.09.2017'
Source: The university of nottingham
Yawning is a contagious thing. Its effect is well known, even psychologists and spies know this trick: you want to know who is watching you on the sly, make a yawn: in a moment the observer will also yawn.
The method is also used to combat insomnia: if you watch a video for a long time, where a child or an adult yawns, the yawning will "attack" you, and you will immediately want to sleep. What is the secret of contagious yawning - experts from University of Nottingham.
Most likely, looking at this photo, many of you also want to yawn.
Scientists have discovered a special area of the cerebral cortex that may be associated with the easy transmission of yawns from person to person. The experiment involved 36 adult volunteers who were shown videos of people yawning. Some of the participants received the task - to restrain yawning while watching the video, while the other part was given the opposite task: to yawn exactly as much as they wanted.
The processes occurring in the brain of participants in the experiment were scanned using special instruments. It turned out that the tendency to adopt a yawn from other people is connected with the area of the human brain, which is also responsible for the movements of the muscles of the whole body. This is an individual factor, which means that spyware described in the first paragraph does not work with everyone.
The more we restrain yawning, the more our body wants to yawn. Deliberately induced yawning can really help the body tune in to a "sleepy" mood: why not yawn a little on the coming sleep? But doing this is not recommended for non-work.
The experts also plan to use this information for the treatment of uncontrolled movements, nervous tics and diseases of the central nervous system.
