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Popcult
The real truth about yawns. Very cool.
By Heidi Dawley
Jul 9, 2007 - 8:46:57 AM

In the ranks of rudeness, the yawn has long been up there, a sure sign of boredom with whatever happens to be going on, and usually at the worst possible moment, as when the person across the table from you is striving earnestly to make a very important point.

We now know, as we know the earth is not flat and the sun does not rotate around the earth, that the yawn is not a sign of boredom after all, as off-putting as it may be.

We can thank science. It turns out, the real purpose of the yawn is to cool the brain. The yawn opens the mouth and rushes in fresh air for that very purpose. The idea is that the fresh, cooler air will reinvigorate the brain, allowing it to better focus on the matter at hand, scientists tell us.

So in some ways, odd as it may seem, the yawn is an expression of interest, not boredom at all.

“If you are talking with someone and they yawn, there is no need to be offended. Rather than being discourteous it may really be a compliment,” says Gordon Gallup, professor of psychology at the State University of New York at Albany.

Yawning is as natural as scratching our heads. It begins before we are even born, and it’s also common among many animals.

Gallup’s work puts to rest a lot of theories about yawning, among them the association with boredom and sleepiness and that we yawn to replenish low blood oxygen levels.

Gallup’s cooling notion arises from the fact that the brain uses lots of calories to operate, about one-third of our caloric intake, and that kicks off lots of heat. Heat, it turns out, is a problem for brains. Says Gallup: “Brains are like computers. They can only operate efficiently when they are effectively cooled.”

Which is where the yawn comes in. The idea is that when a person’s brain temperature becomes too elevated, it triggers a yawn. As a person yawns, large volumes of cool air pour into the lungs, cooling down the blood in the capillaries. That causes heart rate and blood pressure to increase, and this in turn sends a cool wave to the brain.

To test the theory, Gallop showed a group of undergraduates a video that included footage of people yawning. The participants were asked to do such things as breathe through their noses or hold a cold or hot pack to their heads while they watched the video. Some of these activities, but not all, were designed to cool the brain. 

The purposed of the video was to stimulate the human instinct to yawn when others are yawning, the so-called contagious yawn.

As it turned out, yawning nearly stopped while the participants were engaged in the two brain-cooling mechanisms: either breathing through the nose and holding a cold pack to the head.

“We think that the reason is that these two things cool the brain and eliminate the need to yawn. This would mean that contrary to what people think, yawning doesn’t promote sleep but is the antagonist of sleep,” says Gallup.

“When people feel they are getting tired or bored it may be an indication of increased brain temperature. And yawning reduces the brain temperature and reduces the feeling of being tired or bored,” he explains.

But what's behind contagious yawning?

Here's one theory: Back in the early days of mankind, when vigilant watching was important for group safety, if someone yawned it would have shown that person’s brain was performing at a suboptimal level. A good yawn all around could have helped ensure the group maintained vigilance. 

If Gallup’s theories are true, the yawn could be seen in a whole new light. And the habit of discretely trying to stifling a yawn during a conversation could become a thing of the past. But probably not, knowing human nature.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in popcult, “Transformers” finished No. 1 at the box office over the weekend, bringing in $67.6 million in ticket sales and pushing its total gross to $152.5 million. If that number holds, it would be the largest first-week revenues ever for a non-sequel.

In DVD rentals for the week ended July 1, according to IMDb.com, new releases “Shooter” and “Black Snake Moan” finished in the top two spots, pushing last week’s No. 1, “Ghost Rider,” down to No. 3.

On iTunes for the week ended yesterday, The Plain White Ts’ “Hey There Delilah” grabbed the top stop after spending three weeks at No. 2, ending Rihanna’s “Umbrella” six-week reign at No. 1.

In books, author Janet Evanovich’s “Lean Mean Thirteen” fell from No. 1 to No. 2 on The New York Times’ hardcover fiction bestsellers list for the week ended June 30, though it remained No. 1 on USA Today’s book chart for the week ended July 1.

Christine Feehan’s “Safe Harbor” debuted at No. 1 on The Times’ paperback fiction bestsellers list for the week ended June 30 and at No.3 on USA Today’s chart.

TOP MOVIES
 Weekend Box Office Estimates
Weekend of July 6-8, 2007

Rank

MOVIE

Engagements

Box office (millions)

1

Transformers ( Paramount)

4,011

$67.60

2

Ratatouille   ( Buena Vista)

3,940

$29.03

3

Live Free or Die Hard (Fox)

3,411

$17.40

4

License to Wed (Warner Bros.)

2,604

$10.40

5

Evan Almighty (Universal)

3,460

$8.11

6

1408 (Dimension)

2,631

$7.14

7

Knocked Up (Universal)

2,219

$5.16

8

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer(Fox)

2,618

$4.15

9

Sicko (Lionsgate)

702

$3.65

10

Ocean’s Thirteen (Warner Bros.)

2,102

$3.53

Source: Yahoo Movies

 

IMDb TOP DVD RENTALS
 Week ending July 1, 2007

Rank

TITLE

Last week

1

Shooter

-

2

Black Snake Moan

-

3

Ghost Rider

1

4

Bridge to Terabithia

2

5

Reno 911!: Miami

3

6

Breach

4

7

Dead Silence

-

8

Pride

-

9

Daddy’s Little Girls

5

10

Miss Potter

6

Source: IMDB

 

ITUNES TOP 10 SONG DOWNLOADS
 for week ended Sunday, July 8, 2007

Rank

TITLE

1

Hey There Delilah, Plain White T’s

2

Umbrella, Rihanna

3

Big Girls Don’t Cry, Fergie

4

The Way I Are, Timbaland

5

Party Like a Rock Star, Shop Boys

6

Makes Me Wonder, Maroon 5

7

A Bay Bay, Hurricane Chris

8

Thnks Fr Th Mmrs, Fall Out Boy

9

Buy U a Drank, T-Pain

10

Lip Gloss, Lil Mama

Source: iTunes

 

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING BOOKS
 Week ending June 30, 2007

Fiction (hardback)

Rank

TITLE

Last week

Weeks on chart

1

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

2

6

2

Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich

1

2

3

Bungalow 2 by Danielle Steel

-

1

4

Double Take by Catherine Coulter

4

3

5

Drop Dead Beautiful by Jackie Collins

-

1

Nonfiction (hardback)

1

The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown

1

3

2

God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens

4

9

3

The Assault on Reason by Al Gore

3

6

4

Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell with Patrick Robinson

6

3

5

The Reagan Diaries by Ronald Reagan, edited by Douglas Brinkley

2

6

Fiction (paperback)

1

Safe Harbor by Christine Feehan

-

1

2

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

1

11

3

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

4

121

4

Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich

3

2

5

The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever by Julia Quinn

-

1

Nonfiction (paperback)

1

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

1

23

2

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

2

77

3

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

3

13

4

Tree Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

5

22

5

90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper with Cecil Murphey

4

36

Source: New York Times

 

USA TODAY BESTSELLING BOOKS
 Week ending July 1, 2007

Rank

TITLE

Last week

1

Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich

1

2

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

2

3

Safe Harbor by Christine Feehan

-

4

The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever by Julia Quinn

-

5

Country Brides by Debbie Macomber

-

6

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

4

7

Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich

3

8

Bungalow 2 by Danielle Steel

-

9

Fool Me Once by Fern Michaels

-

10

The Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn and Hal Iggulden

5

Source: USA Today

 



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