alt Hacker NewsYawning has an unexpected influence on the fluid inside your brain
Comments
You know how yawning is also a social function, and seeing someone yawn makes you yawn? I just got forced into a good neurofluid flow reorganization session just by reading the title.
The contagious nature of yawning is so weird. It has to be evolutionarily advantageous because it's so wide spread, but it's also non-obvious.
Reminds me of a recent finding that attention lapses in a sleep-deprived brain correlate with flushing of cerebrospinal fluid (almost a garbage collection pause).
There was an article posted recently about a new discovery around CSF flows during sleep too. It sounds like yawning causes similar flows, which could maybe explain why you yawn more when tired? It could be a compensation mechanism to provide a bit of the same effect you normally get when sleeping.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.17.695005v1
Is that the paper in question?
> “Each individual seems to have what looks like an individual yawning signature”
I’m looking forward to “yawn to unlock”.
Also, what’s the deal with that article image?
> If an animal is drowsy or bored, it will be less alert than when fully awake and less prepared to spring into action. "Contagious" yawning could be an instinctual signal between group members to stay alert.
> Anecdotal evidence suggests that yawning helps increase a person's alertness.
> Paratroopers have been noted to yawn during the moments before they exit their aircraft.
This article made me yawn. :)
paywall
> yawning is not simply an intensified breath but a distinct cardiorespiratory manoeuvre that reorganizes neurofluid flow
Brilliant, I'll use that next time I yawn somewhere inappropriately.