Why do we yawn? Do you yawn when others yawn? A new study has researched this. It found that yawning is contagious and unstoppable. We automatically yawn when we see others yawn. We yawn more when we try to stop yawning. Some people want to yawn a lot more than other people. Researcher Professor Stephen Jackson said that even reading about yawning could make us yawn. You might even want to yawn right now.
The researchers studied the actions and brain activity of 36 people. The people looked at videos of people yawning. They then had to yawn or stop themselves yawning. The people were videoed doing this. The researchers checked the brain activity of the adults. Jackson said understanding more about yawning will help to treat illnesses like dementia and epilepsy. He said he was looking for possible non-drug treatments that might help the brain.