Why We Yawn | Hacker News Reader

Why We Yawn

online.wsj.com

31 pointsT-A8 comments

After reading the article it seems they don't really know why we yawn.

I think that's been true of every "why we yawn" article I've ever read.

Maybe it just relates to the jaw making sure that at various points it's fully opened, for whatever reason.

Related to that idea: I've heard the suggestion that development of dementia is accelerated by (unreplaced) loss of teeth in old age. As in, when you stop chewing and just start taking your food by liquid, your brain stops working as well, possibly because it's now suffering chronic under-oxygenation on top of everything else.

This, along with the chewing gum/migraines connection, seems to suggest the motion of the jaw has a lot to do with brain function.

My personal hypothesis: given that the jaw specialized from the fusion and hardening of gills, perhaps the brain still expects it to perform gill-like functions in regularly "pumping" oxygen upward.

I've yawned between 10 and 15 times while reading the article...

Yawned 3 times while reading that sentence " Dopamine levels are highest early in the day, giving a plausible explanation for why people yawn after waking up, he said." , and I just woke up ..

If yawning is associated with the first derivative of dopamine levels, then you'd think taking a higher dose of Adderall than prescribed would make one immediately yawn. People who have been prescribed Adderall (specifically non-time-release L-Amphetamine): does this happen?

(Or, equivalently, the same question to anyone without ADHD who has taken Adderall, or anyone who has taken meth or snorted cocaine. But these are likely to be less common experiences in this community.)

I have to say I find it a little funny for this article — with no news value — to be run this week, when the world is teeming with news. I don't subscribe to the idea that people can only attention to one thing, so don't I think there's anything wrong with that. It just seems like they'd prefer to burn off a story that is literally about yawning on a slow news day.

You don't want a little fluff in your otherwise intense news day? A little slice of sweetened ginger to cleanse your palate?

"Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God", or more secularly, a varied diet is a healthy diet. I like keeping abreast of the news as much as anyone, but I also like a bit of R&R.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com