Talk:Yawn
From Academic Kids
A lot of the structure of the article or essay seems to come from "The straight dope" article on 19-Sep-1986. Including the bits about penguins and the long held belief.
Quotations need attribution.
I have minor issues with this bit:
Yawning is a powerful non-verbal message with several possible meanings, depending on the circumstances:
- It's a not-always-so-subtle cue for attention, sympathy and a respite due to tiredness, stress, over-work or boredom.
- An action indicating psychological decompression after a state of high alert.
- A means of expressing powerful emotions like anger and rejection.
I don't think #1 is really a cue for attention in itself, and the phrase "not-always-so-subtle" sounds too much like an ironic way of saying "blatant". I think it'd be better stated as an indicator of tiredness, etc. I'll change that now. #2 is...I dunno. I'm not familiar with yawning in that context. #3 is definitely unfamiliar to me; I don't know anybody who yawns because he's angry! It may partly be a cultural thing, but if so, it should be marked as such.
Also, the idea of yawning being contagious could possibly be elaborated further. I've yawned numerous times in making this post because it's about yawning. :P
--Furrykef 19:27, 21 May 2004 (UTC)
I don't like how the first section is written in the past tense:
A long-standing theory behind yawning is that there was too much carbon dioxide and not enough oxygen in the blood. The brain stem was assumed to detect this and would trigger the yawn reflex. The mouth stretches wide and the lungs inhaled deeply, causing oxygen into the lungs and thence to the bloodstream. This is not certain however: a more recent theory is that it is a form of bodily temperature regulation.
so i've changed it
Guy
speaking of that part, i'm quite confused. i frequently experience chain yawning when air quality is poor and in a crowded room (places where logically there is less oxygen available)or when talking for a very long time without any break, and the only way to stave it off is to conciously take deep breaths. wouldn't this support the idea of it being an oxygen-deficiency problem triggered by too high a CO2-to-Oxygen ratio? note that plenty of people have the same experience as me, but otherwise i haven't seen anything scientific on it.
Is it just me, or does everyone involuntarily yawn after reading this page? --Sum0 18:57, 20 Apr 2005 (UTC)
