What happens if you hold back a yawn? The doctor gave 3 reasons why you should not do this

certified clinical geneticist, nutritionist, expert of the UniProf Academy of Physicians

Why should you not hold back yawning? How can it be dangerous?

Sometimes it’s so nice to stretch and yawn sweetly, even when it’s far from morning. There is nothing special about spontaneous short-term yawning – it is a natural “cheering up” reflex of the body. But what if yawning follows every day? What to do if it catches up at the wrong time? Is it worth restraining this urge?

Why you should not hold back yawning

Although no single explanation for the function of yawning has yet been found, there are several clinically proven facts in the medical community that this process is necessary for the body.

“Overheating” the brain

Yawning is necessary to “cool” the brain and control its temperature – which can vary depending on the environment, the duration and intensity of mental activity, and stress.

By taking a deep breath during a yawn, we get more oxygen and internal “ventilating” happens faster. This cooling improves performance, concentration and alertness. This is why we may yawn more in the morning – to energize our internal processes.

For the same reason we want to yawn after long mental work, when the brain is “boiling”, or with strong emotional shocks. The release of adrenaline at the moment of stress stimulates the activity of all metabolic processes in the body, and saturate the tissues with oxygen should be faster.

Restrain the urge to yawn in this case is not worth it. The body needs to “cool down” in time to continue to fully function. Blocking yawning, it is as if we are driving further overheated car.

Low level of oxygen in the blood

When we inhale deeply, the general blood supply is activated, and this helps to increase the supply of oxygen to the body, including the brain.

Low oxygen levels cause drowsiness, and when the environment is highly charged (has a high concentration of carbon dioxide, such as a crowded conference or school classroom), we tend to yawn more. Often we are also very tempted to yawn in the mountains, where the oxygen concentration is lower, in addition to lowering our body temperature.

The natural excess flow of oxygen can also make you yawn more often, saturating all cells with oxygen faster and adapting the body to new conditions. Yawning in such cases helps you get used to new conditions quickly.

Both lack and excess of oxygen is a disruption of the respiratory chain of mitochondria (“energy stations” of cells), which is exactly what yawning helps to restore. Blocking this process will disrupt the balance of energy production in the body. And lack of energy will lead to a slowdown of all metabolic processes, including growth, development, regeneration and others.

Emotional and physical stress

Humans are not the only ones who yawn. For example, lemurs tend to do it when they feel threatened: yawning sharpens their senses and helps them to be more alert.

Some animals yawn after hunting or fleeing from danger to relieve stress and relax by oxygenating their cells. It also engages the muscles of the muzzle and jaw, which normally suffer from tension or stress.

What are the dangers of yawning frequently

Although most of the time yawning is normal and not associated with any health problems, but when yawning episodes are frequent, a certain metabolic disorder may be behind it.

“Excessive yawning” can be a warning sign.

Sleep disorders

If there is a lack of sleep or insomnia, the body will yawn to compensate for overstressing the body – “overheating”, a lack of a state where all organs and tissues are regenerated. To restrain this process is like covering a pot of boiling water with a lid.

In apnea (temporary respiratory arrest), both day and night, the body compensates for the lack of oxygen in the body by yawning. Systemic nocturnal apnea, caused, for example, by enlarged or stretched lymphoid tissue in the larynx, may not be noticeable and insignificant at first. But if you do not get enough sleep and yawn too often, and you also feel a lack of oxygen during the day, you should not ignore “excessive” yawning – it is a signal that the body needs help.

Cardiovascular diseases

In the most advanced cases of systemic apnea and cardiovascular disease, yawning can be caused by the reaction of the vagus nerve (it starts in the skull and goes down the pharynx, esophagus, trachea, etc.). In that case, it is a heart attack signal.

Brain tumor

Recurrent excessive systemic yawning, provided there is adequate sleep and no external factors, can also be a symptom of cancer, stroke, epilepsy, or developing multiple sclerosis.

Migraine

Some people yawn more frequently than usual, every few minutes just before a migraine attack. This may be due to clamping or stretching of blood vessels, lack of blood supply to the brain, or oxygen deficiency.

Leave these symptoms unattended also can not be ignored, long systemic hypoxia (low oxygen levels in the blood) can lead to more serious disorders. To hold back yawning in this case is to impair oxygenation of the brain.

Of course, these conditions have many other symptoms. Remember, the exact diagnosis can only be made by a doctor.

Side effects of some drugs

Yawning can accompany the intake of antidepressants, anxiolytics, antihistamines and antihypertensive drugs. All of them affect the parasympathetic system of the body and can both depress and activate certain brain processes, neurotransmitters. Because of which the body needs either a greater flow of oxygen or “cooling”.

To restrain yawning in this case is useless. But to consult with a specialist who prescribed the drug, it is worth it – perhaps it can be replaced by one that will not give side effects.