Yaaaawn....

I am so tired!!!

I have just come back from a night shift at the hospital that was a little intense and I'm lovingly looking at my bed... This said, I'm not quite ready to hit the sack yet!

When I'm not studying I always try to publish a blog article a day so let me ignore my sleepiness and get to work...

To stay on the subject I have decided to look into yawning... Why do we do it?

Well, I guess that the most obvious reason is because we are tired or bored.
Because in these occasions breathing is shallow so our levels of carbon dioxide and oxygen are unbalanced and so yawning is a way of restoring the right ratio. But... scientists are not quite sure about that!
Why in fact, would a fetus yawn when there is no oxygen going in its lungs? And how can a baby who is not born yet be bored?

We all know that, like coughing, yawing is contagious... I dare you to look at someone yawning and not be tempted to follow suit...

Some doctors even suggested that yawning is like stretching.
Yawning and stretching increase blood pressure and heart rate and also flex muscles and joints. Evidence that yawning and stretching may be related comes from the observation that if you try to stifle or prevent a yawn by clenching your jaws shut, the yawn is somewhat "unsatisfying."
Don't you hate it when that happens???!
For some reason, the stretching of jaw and face muscles is necessary for a good yawn.

But the most recent theory was proposed in 2007, when researchers hinted that yawning is used to cool the brain. They found that people yawned more in warm environments than in cooler ones. People who breathed through their noses (thought to reduce brain temperature) did not yawn at all.

I'm afraid I won't be able to come to any certain conclusion this morning...
All I know is that in the half hour that it took me to write this article I have yawned about 20 times though sitting in a cool room, not bored at all, maybe a bit tired but not shattered and certainly not conditioned as there is nobody else here with me...

In Italy we say "il sonno porta consiglio" meaning that you may find the answers you are looking for in your dreams or with a rested mind...
I'll try that and report back if anything gets a bit clearer... meanwhile... **yawn** I'm wishing myself sweet dreams!