My own psychologist >>>> Why does a person yawn?

Why does a person yawn?

Observing one's own behavior has always been considered an integral part of understanding the world around us and the interaction of the person himself with it. And one of the most frequent observations of one’s own behavior to this day raises many questions, one of which is the question of why a person yawns? There is no doubt that yawning is a reflexive process that is not controlled by a person, but can be interrupted by him (a person knows how to restrain the impulse to yawn). And the second question is why yawning is infectious if it is a reflex?

Any person is somewhat familiar with the anatomy of the bones of the head and knows that opening the mouth depends on the work of the temporomandibular joint and the group of muscles that move this joint.

The temporomandibular joint, in combination with the muscular corset of the head, represents an entire kinematic system, and the innervation of the head contributes to its rational movements during breathing, speaking, chewing and swallowing. An interesting fact is that in humans the central nervous system is highly differentiated, which means that there is a second signaling system that controls the facial muscles, which is directly related to the masticatory muscles.

As a result, it turns out that the head muscles obey impulses coming from the brain along the facial nerve, and are responsible for mental processes in the human body, which in turn are reflected in facial expressions and in the movement of facial muscles, including the masticatory muscles ( muscles of the temporomandibular joint).

The once-noted reaction of a person to extremely unusual events in his field of vision is described with such words as “The jaw dropped”. And this is not a fictitious or embellished reaction of a person, but a reaction completely physiologically and mentally determined by his general psychological state at the moment of assessing what he saw. The jaw can drop in a completely healthy person, and this is just a reflex of muscle numbness.

Yawning, that is, wide opening of the mouth and downward movement of the lower jaw, is almost the maximum amplitude of movement in the temporomandibular joint. And this is the same ordinary reflex that has been entrenched in the body since the time of its evolutionary development, and this reflex is due to several reasons. Firstly, a person yawns (opens his mouth wide) to make it easier to take a full breath when there is a lack of air, and in particular oxygen. Secondly, this movement reflexively relaxes the muscles of the neck and chewing muscles, which, like other muscle groups, can get tired from overexertion and become “numb” from immobility. When yawning, a person can provide himself with an invaluable service, that is, it allows the muscles of the head and neck to relax and at the same time gain tone.

Yawning is similar to stretching, and often occurs simultaneously. This is how the body compensates for both the lack of oxygen and the lack of activity in muscle fibers. In other words, yawning is a kind of exercise for the body, but rarely does anyone force a yawn, since this process is practically not controlled by a person. A person can forcefully and consciously imitate yawning, but he cannot repeat yawning as a reflex to the same extent as his body, which is regulated by higher nervous activity, does.

Interestingly, yawning has a infectious effect on people looking at this process from the outside. And such people begin to yawn not forcibly, but also reflexively. This contagious reflex is directly related to the psychological state of those people who repeat the yawn they see - they just reflexively repeat the psychological mood of another person (instinctively imitate him), but at the level of brain function. This process of the nervous system created by the evolution of organisms, and is called upon at the level of instinct to set the repetition of the actions of its fellow species, but in fact it is embedded in the physiology and psychology of any person as the oldest method of survival of the species. That is, a person will not instinctively yawn, repeating the yawn of a dog or cat he is looking at or any other creature that has the same reflex, but does not belong to his biological species.

Yawning is a very useful instinct, but, unfortunately, it is difficult to reproduce artificially. For this reason, there is no point in holding back a yawn, you just have to follow the rules of decency associated with it, that is, cover your mouth during this process.