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Health and Fitness - The Huffington Post
Here's What Happens In Your Body When You Yawn (At Least In Theory)
Welcome to Ask Healthy Living -- in which you submit your most burning health questions and we do our best to ask the experts and get back to you. Have a question? Get in touch here and you could appear on Healthy Living!
"Ask Healthy Living" is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice. Please consult a qualified health care professional for personalized medical advice.
What happens to the body when you yawn and why do we yawn?
-- Teresa
The earliest theory of yawning, laid forth by Hippocrates, suggested that the action sucks in "good" air while pushing out bad air. That isn't too far off from the theory that dominated the last century, which is that yawning delivers an extra hit of energy-boosting oxygen while pushing carbon monoxide out. But although commonly accepted, that theory has been contradicted by research, which shows that those who need more oxygen -- including exercisers and people with oxygen-depriving medical conditions -- don't yawn more than the average person.
Yawning remains a bit of a mystery, perhaps because -- pitted against deadly diseases -- it is a low priority for medical research funding, suggests Steven M. Platek, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville, Ga., who studies contagious yawning.
While the medical community has not yet settled on a definitive explanation, the most commonly agreed upon and promising theory (and by promising, we mean the hypothesis has been confirmed in all studies and contradicted by none, but research is not yet conclusive) is that a yawn is triggered by a rise in brain temperature.
"Brains are metabolically costly," explains Platek. "They're the size of a grapefruit but they consume 40 percent of our metabolic energy. And the brain runs hot."
Researchers have found that yawning has a cooling effect on the brain, preventing it from getting overheated, which can diminish alertness. Core brain temperatures rise when we're tired, when we're unstimulated (read: bored), and among other circumstances such as hot ambient temperatures or infections. And a quick cooling can help us regain alertness.
"Brain temperatures are determined by three variables: rate of arterial blood flow, the temperature of the blood and the metabolic heat production within the brain," explains Andrew C. Gallup, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology at SUNY College at Oneonta and a lead author on several studies about thermoregulation and yawning. "So yawning may function in altering the first two variables: increasing arterial blood flow and allowing the flow of cooler blood to the brain."
To answer the question of what happens in the body is fairly straightforward: When you yawn, your mouth gapes open and you inhale deeply, finishing with a short exhalation. During this time, the muscles around your skull contract and stretch and you take in ambient air. New, cooler blood is pushed toward the skull as warmer venous blood is pushed out.
"That action increases cerebral blood flow to the brain and to the skull and, at same time, it forces the warmer venous blood away from the skull," explains Gallup. "The muscle stretching increases circulation to that area."
Secondary behaviors, like stretching out your arms or throwing your head back as you yawn, also function as cooling techniques as ambient air hits the under-arm area, points out Platek. What's more, these full-body stretches prep your muscles for quick action, contributing to the overall push toward alertness that comes from the cooler brain temperature.
In a research review of thermoregulation and yawning published in Frontiers in Neuroscience, Gallup and his colleague Omar T. Eldakar found that rises in brain temperature preceded yawns in both humans and rats, and that brain temperatures went down following a yawn. They also found research that demonstrated how yawns are more frequent when ambient temperatures are high (contributing to high brain temperatures), but actually decrease when they are so high that they exceed internal brain temperatures, thus rendering the ambient air useless in the service of cooling the brain.
Brain thermoregulation has been an important component in the study of human evolution. Platek points to the work of anthropologist Dean Falk, who specializes in paleoneurology and whose radiator hypothesis suggests that our ancestors' brains began to grow to their current powerhouse size after they developed cranial veins that help cool the brain, allowing for the larger, more complex and metabolically costly brains we now possess.
But the thermoregulation hypothesis for yawning only explains the root cause of what's known as "spontaneous yawning." Much of the research done on the subject actually focuses on contagious yawning -- a phenomenon in which we yawn in response to watching someone else yawn, or even hearing mention or thinking briefly about the action. What's more, we are even more likely to yawn when we watch a close friend or family member do so.
Most of the research on contagious yawning (though a recent paper questioned this connection) has focused on the role of empathy. But we're not talking about compassion or even cognitive empathy -- we're talking about a really unconscious, low-level impetus to relate to others. Think, Platek suggests, of a televised sporting event: If you watch a football player get a terrible sports injury on TV, you might flinch, develop a sympathy pain, or react physiologically in some immediate way. This is the type of empathy researchers are referring to when they discuss its role in yawns. Interestingly, people with autism or schizotypal personality disorder -- neurological conditions characterized by a lack of even low-level empathy -- do not catch yawns as frequently.
And from an evolutionary perspective, this makes sense: If you are in a circumstance in which your brain is heating up or you require some greater alertness, chances are the other people in your group may be experiencing the same thing. Initiating a yawn contributes to the group's communal alertness. "If one member of a group yawns, it's indicative of something that you should be doing," theorizes Platek. Since contagious yawns are physiologically identical to spontaneous ones, they both serve the same purposes.
So why do you yawn? It could be to cool down your hard-working brain or improve alertness -- or it could simply be because you watched someone else do it. Or maybe you're yawning right now as you read this.
Watch the video below to learn more:
Have a question? Ask Healthy Living!
"Ask Healthy Living" is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice. Please consult a qualified health care professional for personalized medical advice.
What happens to the body when you yawn and why do we yawn?
-- Teresa
The earliest theory of yawning, laid forth by Hippocrates, suggested that the action sucks in "good" air while pushing out bad air. That isn't too far off from the theory that dominated the last century, which is that yawning delivers an extra hit of energy-boosting oxygen while pushing carbon monoxide out. But although commonly accepted, that theory has been contradicted by research, which shows that those who need more oxygen -- including exercisers and people with oxygen-depriving medical conditions -- don't yawn more than the average person.
Yawning remains a bit of a mystery, perhaps because -- pitted against deadly diseases -- it is a low priority for medical research funding, suggests Steven M. Platek, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville, Ga., who studies contagious yawning.
While the medical community has not yet settled on a definitive explanation, the most commonly agreed upon and promising theory (and by promising, we mean the hypothesis has been confirmed in all studies and contradicted by none, but research is not yet conclusive) is that a yawn is triggered by a rise in brain temperature.
"Brains are metabolically costly," explains Platek. "They're the size of a grapefruit but they consume 40 percent of our metabolic energy. And the brain runs hot."
Researchers have found that yawning has a cooling effect on the brain, preventing it from getting overheated, which can diminish alertness. Core brain temperatures rise when we're tired, when we're unstimulated (read: bored), and among other circumstances such as hot ambient temperatures or infections. And a quick cooling can help us regain alertness.
"Brain temperatures are determined by three variables: rate of arterial blood flow, the temperature of the blood and the metabolic heat production within the brain," explains Andrew C. Gallup, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology at SUNY College at Oneonta and a lead author on several studies about thermoregulation and yawning. "So yawning may function in altering the first two variables: increasing arterial blood flow and allowing the flow of cooler blood to the brain."
To answer the question of what happens in the body is fairly straightforward: When you yawn, your mouth gapes open and you inhale deeply, finishing with a short exhalation. During this time, the muscles around your skull contract and stretch and you take in ambient air. New, cooler blood is pushed toward the skull as warmer venous blood is pushed out.
"That action increases cerebral blood flow to the brain and to the skull and, at same time, it forces the warmer venous blood away from the skull," explains Gallup. "The muscle stretching increases circulation to that area."
Secondary behaviors, like stretching out your arms or throwing your head back as you yawn, also function as cooling techniques as ambient air hits the under-arm area, points out Platek. What's more, these full-body stretches prep your muscles for quick action, contributing to the overall push toward alertness that comes from the cooler brain temperature.
In a research review of thermoregulation and yawning published in Frontiers in Neuroscience, Gallup and his colleague Omar T. Eldakar found that rises in brain temperature preceded yawns in both humans and rats, and that brain temperatures went down following a yawn. They also found research that demonstrated how yawns are more frequent when ambient temperatures are high (contributing to high brain temperatures), but actually decrease when they are so high that they exceed internal brain temperatures, thus rendering the ambient air useless in the service of cooling the brain.
Brain thermoregulation has been an important component in the study of human evolution. Platek points to the work of anthropologist Dean Falk, who specializes in paleoneurology and whose radiator hypothesis suggests that our ancestors' brains began to grow to their current powerhouse size after they developed cranial veins that help cool the brain, allowing for the larger, more complex and metabolically costly brains we now possess.
But the thermoregulation hypothesis for yawning only explains the root cause of what's known as "spontaneous yawning." Much of the research done on the subject actually focuses on contagious yawning -- a phenomenon in which we yawn in response to watching someone else yawn, or even hearing mention or thinking briefly about the action. What's more, we are even more likely to yawn when we watch a close friend or family member do so.
Most of the research on contagious yawning (though a recent paper questioned this connection) has focused on the role of empathy. But we're not talking about compassion or even cognitive empathy -- we're talking about a really unconscious, low-level impetus to relate to others. Think, Platek suggests, of a televised sporting event: If you watch a football player get a terrible sports injury on TV, you might flinch, develop a sympathy pain, or react physiologically in some immediate way. This is the type of empathy researchers are referring to when they discuss its role in yawns. Interestingly, people with autism or schizotypal personality disorder -- neurological conditions characterized by a lack of even low-level empathy -- do not catch yawns as frequently.
And from an evolutionary perspective, this makes sense: If you are in a circumstance in which your brain is heating up or you require some greater alertness, chances are the other people in your group may be experiencing the same thing. Initiating a yawn contributes to the group's communal alertness. "If one member of a group yawns, it's indicative of something that you should be doing," theorizes Platek. Since contagious yawns are physiologically identical to spontaneous ones, they both serve the same purposes.
So why do you yawn? It could be to cool down your hard-working brain or improve alertness -- or it could simply be because you watched someone else do it. Or maybe you're yawning right now as you read this.
Watch the video below to learn more:
Have a question? Ask Healthy Living!
Male Breast Cancer: Grappling With a 'Woman's Disease'
Imagine that you are a male, sitting in a radiology waiting room. You just had a mammogram and a fine needle biopsy on your breast tissue. In your hands rests a pink pamphlet about breast cancer that prominently displays a woman checking her breasts. Surrounding you are women's puzzled and surprised expressions at seeing you in a bright colored pink Jonny that doesn't quite fit your frame. Someone calls out your name and as you enter the consultation room, you hear the words, "You have breast cancer." It is not often we read stories about men with breast cancer. Yet for some men, this scene is their reality.
I talked with and surveyed almost 100 men with hereditary breast cancer and/or at high risk for developing breast cancer. We are just beginning to understand the challenges men face in grappling with what is so commonly thought of as a woman's disease.
By listening to men's breast cancer narratives, it becomes clear that many of the men I spoke with felt the health care profession abandoned and trivialized their health concerns and worries even when, on a routine physical examine, they presented with a small lump in their breast and/ or some discharge coming from one of their nipples. Their initial symptoms might stretch out for months or even years before any medical intervention was initiated on the part of a health care provider. No cancer history was taken at the time of their initial examination, and for those men with a history of breast cancer in their families, none were told that perhaps they might, in fact, harbor the BRCA 1/2 mutation for breast cancer.
It is not surprising, then, that men who undergo genetic testing for the BRCA 1/2 breast cancer mutation get tested much later in their lives compared to women, and are diagnosed at a more aggressive stage that places them at a greater risk of dying from breast cancer. One participant in my study stated, "No one told us anything about having a hereditary risk for cancer. When I say no one, I had asked an oncologist in San Diego ... about it, and he told me it goes from mother to daughter and I shouldn't be worried about it."
Another participant stated, "Not only have I had men tell me that they didn't need to worry because it can only be passed to women, I've had doctors tell me that." Misinformation such as this is common, and also contributes to men's lesser awareness of the BRCA genetic mutation and its health implications.
Being at high risk for breast cancer also flies in the face of men's sense of their masculine identity that often promotes emotional distance and avoiding feelings of being vulnerable and often brushing off their own medical issues. As one of the men in this study explains, "There's an easy explanation for men's breast cancer risk denial. It's called another mutation, and the mutation is the macho gene." Such a "macho mentality" makes some men unlikely to seek genetic testing and health care treatments.
Understanding men's bodily vulnerabilities needs addressing by the healthcare community. By blaming men for their reluctance to be tested or seek treatment, we ignore a critical examination of a healthcare system whose very clinical practices often reflect a set of hidden gendered assumptions that perhaps only rise to the surface when a highly gendered disease like breast cancer comes to the fore.
Men's breast cancer narratives can offer the medical community important lessons and recommendations for general clinical practice. For starters, any general physical exam should specifically ask men about their general health concerns, one that requires careful listening. It means clinicians need to think outside their traditional gender role box regarding men's healthcare. Yes, and by the way, it means checking men's breasts! That is what some of the men in my study wanted me to tell you.
When I asked one of my male participants what, if anything, their doctors could have done better after receiving their breast cancer diagnosis, one said, "All I wanted them to do was to talk with me one-on-one and to listen to how I was feeling. Instead, what I got from the medical team was more clinical talk about my diagnosis." What men in my study also taught me is that when they feel they are in a safe space, one where they can speak freely, they can and do share their medical concerns and issues as well as their hopes and fears for the future.
The lack of research into men's experiences with BRCA 1/2 hereditary breast cancer is disconcerting, and the healthcare field needs to develop a broader understanding of how illness, especially the threat of having breast cancer or a breast cancer diagnosis impacts men's lives. The Boston College BRCA Men's Study addresses this knowledge gap and invites you to understand the complicated emotional, social, economic, and psychological factors that come into play for BRCA 1/2 positive mutation male carriers and how it affects their loved ones.
But we need to learn more. If you are a male who is at high risk for breast cancer or who has taken the genetic test for the BRCA1/2 mutation, or who has been diagnosed with breast cancer, we want to hear from you. To take our survey and contribute to our research, please visit http://ift.tt/OPE1Kc. You can find more information about our research on our Facebook page, Boston College BRCA Study (http://ift.tt/1kBqSnb), and keep up with what we are doing by following us on Twitter (@BRCAStudyBC).
Don't be another invisible man in a sea of pink. Let your story be told.
Dr. Sharlene Hesse-Biber is a Professor of Sociology and Director of the Women's and Gender Studies Program at Boston College. Her latest monograph, Waiting for Cancer to Come: Genetic Testing and Women's Medical Decision Making for Breast and Ovarian Cancer (University of Michigan Press), will be published June 2014. You can learn more about her past and current publications and research at www.drhessebiber.com.
I talked with and surveyed almost 100 men with hereditary breast cancer and/or at high risk for developing breast cancer. We are just beginning to understand the challenges men face in grappling with what is so commonly thought of as a woman's disease.
By listening to men's breast cancer narratives, it becomes clear that many of the men I spoke with felt the health care profession abandoned and trivialized their health concerns and worries even when, on a routine physical examine, they presented with a small lump in their breast and/ or some discharge coming from one of their nipples. Their initial symptoms might stretch out for months or even years before any medical intervention was initiated on the part of a health care provider. No cancer history was taken at the time of their initial examination, and for those men with a history of breast cancer in their families, none were told that perhaps they might, in fact, harbor the BRCA 1/2 mutation for breast cancer.
It is not surprising, then, that men who undergo genetic testing for the BRCA 1/2 breast cancer mutation get tested much later in their lives compared to women, and are diagnosed at a more aggressive stage that places them at a greater risk of dying from breast cancer. One participant in my study stated, "No one told us anything about having a hereditary risk for cancer. When I say no one, I had asked an oncologist in San Diego ... about it, and he told me it goes from mother to daughter and I shouldn't be worried about it."
Another participant stated, "Not only have I had men tell me that they didn't need to worry because it can only be passed to women, I've had doctors tell me that." Misinformation such as this is common, and also contributes to men's lesser awareness of the BRCA genetic mutation and its health implications.
Being at high risk for breast cancer also flies in the face of men's sense of their masculine identity that often promotes emotional distance and avoiding feelings of being vulnerable and often brushing off their own medical issues. As one of the men in this study explains, "There's an easy explanation for men's breast cancer risk denial. It's called another mutation, and the mutation is the macho gene." Such a "macho mentality" makes some men unlikely to seek genetic testing and health care treatments.
Understanding men's bodily vulnerabilities needs addressing by the healthcare community. By blaming men for their reluctance to be tested or seek treatment, we ignore a critical examination of a healthcare system whose very clinical practices often reflect a set of hidden gendered assumptions that perhaps only rise to the surface when a highly gendered disease like breast cancer comes to the fore.
Men's breast cancer narratives can offer the medical community important lessons and recommendations for general clinical practice. For starters, any general physical exam should specifically ask men about their general health concerns, one that requires careful listening. It means clinicians need to think outside their traditional gender role box regarding men's healthcare. Yes, and by the way, it means checking men's breasts! That is what some of the men in my study wanted me to tell you.
When I asked one of my male participants what, if anything, their doctors could have done better after receiving their breast cancer diagnosis, one said, "All I wanted them to do was to talk with me one-on-one and to listen to how I was feeling. Instead, what I got from the medical team was more clinical talk about my diagnosis." What men in my study also taught me is that when they feel they are in a safe space, one where they can speak freely, they can and do share their medical concerns and issues as well as their hopes and fears for the future.
The lack of research into men's experiences with BRCA 1/2 hereditary breast cancer is disconcerting, and the healthcare field needs to develop a broader understanding of how illness, especially the threat of having breast cancer or a breast cancer diagnosis impacts men's lives. The Boston College BRCA Men's Study addresses this knowledge gap and invites you to understand the complicated emotional, social, economic, and psychological factors that come into play for BRCA 1/2 positive mutation male carriers and how it affects their loved ones.
But we need to learn more. If you are a male who is at high risk for breast cancer or who has taken the genetic test for the BRCA1/2 mutation, or who has been diagnosed with breast cancer, we want to hear from you. To take our survey and contribute to our research, please visit http://ift.tt/OPE1Kc. You can find more information about our research on our Facebook page, Boston College BRCA Study (http://ift.tt/1kBqSnb), and keep up with what we are doing by following us on Twitter (@BRCAStudyBC).
Don't be another invisible man in a sea of pink. Let your story be told.
Dr. Sharlene Hesse-Biber is a Professor of Sociology and Director of the Women's and Gender Studies Program at Boston College. Her latest monograph, Waiting for Cancer to Come: Genetic Testing and Women's Medical Decision Making for Breast and Ovarian Cancer (University of Michigan Press), will be published June 2014. You can learn more about her past and current publications and research at www.drhessebiber.com.
#mentalhealth
http://bit.ly/13Y6UVy
from Anxiety Agoraphobia Bipolar Disorder Evaluations and Treatment in Boise, Treasure Valley, Idaho http://ift.tt/1sYjOlT