Nothing Like A Good Yawn [2 page - 704 word Humor Article]

Last week, as I sat in the waiting room of my grandmother's podiatrist, I noticed a very curious thing. I had to wait a good 45 minutes before she came out from seeing the doctor. After having read all I ever needed, or wanted to know about bunions, I tossed the only available reading material on a nearby table and began observing people.

My eyes nonchalantly surveyed the small, partially filled room. One man sat with his legs stretched out in front of him, head thrown back and sleeping soundly. An elderly lady sat a few seats away, sucking contentedly on a mentholated cough drop I could smell all the way across the room. Another woman set next to a small child who was busy coloring a picture of Barney with a large purple crayon. The woman looked irritated. She was obviously late for another engagement, because she kept looking up at the clock that hung above the check-in window and sighing loudly. She looked at the clock once again. Then she glanced at the watch on her wrist for a second opinion, as if doing so could speed up the tedious waiting process.

By the time I had scanned the rest of the room and noted the remaining three disinterested faces, my tolerance level for boredom reached its peak. Before I knew what hit me, an inescapable yawn took over. I sat there, mouth open wide, displaying the three new fillings I received the day before at the dentist. I tried in vain to cover my mouth. After letting out a small guttural sound and feeling my eyes tear up, I closed my mouth and immediately glanced around to see who had witnessed the embarrassing scene. To my surprise and amusement, the impatient woman, the elderly lady, and the sleeping man (who was now awoke and stretching languidly), were all looking in my direction and yawning!

According to a psychology professor at the University of Maryland, yawning is "extremely contagious". Dr. Robert Provine, who has studied the yawn for 10 years, says: "Seeing someone yawn, thinking about it, and even reading about it, makes you yawn …" Provine says no one is ever reported being able to repress a yawn. The brain has a mechanism that is able to detect a yawning face and may trigger neurological machinery to be activated. Once activated, there is no holding back, it must go to completion.

Though once believed that yawning is caused by temporary oxygen deficiency, Provine did a study and claims his results disprove this folklore. In his study, one group breathed gas mixtures rich in carbon dioxide, the other group breathed ordinary air of pure oxygen. The carbon dioxide group didn't yawn any more than the oxygen group.

Based on various research, scientists suggest that a brain chemical called dopamine is linked to yawning. Dopamine transmits commands from the muscle control center. One Montréal University study showed how yawning was induced when the brain's dopamine receptors were stimulated by a drug called apomorphine.

All this yawn sense raises a very interesting question and primary concern of Dr. Mary Carskadon, psychiatry professor at Brown University. Carskadon, also the director of the Bradley Sleep Research Lab, is working to find out whether sleepiness really makes a person yawn, or yawning actually makes a person sleepy. Last I checked, the jury was still out.

When Grandma finally came out from seeing the doctor, she set in the vacant seat next to the little girl, while I waited at the window for her next appointment date. "What a pretty picture you colored", Grandma told the girl. The child smiled shyly, then closed her book and handed it and the purple crayon to the inpatient woman sitting beside her.

After getting her Appointment Slip, I said, "Come on Grandma, we’re ready to go". I watched as she rose from her chair and waved goodbye to the little girl. The girl smiled again, leaned back with her head against the chair, and yawned widely. As I held the door for Grandma to exit, she hobbled past me, saying: “Oooh, I don't know why I'm so sleepy. I think I'll go home and take a nap”, then she yawned loudly.