While many associate yawning with a certain level of tiredness, new research indicates that yawning could serve as a method for regulating brain temperature.
After studying the yawning frequency of 160 people in the winter and summer in Tucson, Ariz., Princeton University researchers found that participants were more likely to yawn in the winter as opposed to the summer.
The results have lead researchers to believe that a purpose of yawning may be to cool down our brains!
According to the thermoregulatory theory of yawning, our brains stay cool through a heat exchange with the air drawn in during a yawn. Summer temperatures warmer than our body heat don’t provide the relief necessary for our overheated brains.
Inneresting!
[Image via WENN.]
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