Yes, yawning really is contagious

Do you ever yawn after you see someone else yawn? Multiple viral videos on TikTok, including one with over 15.1 million views, claim yawning is contagious.

Many of the videos suggest social mirroring, which happens when individuals unintentionally imitate the actions of others, along with empathy, may be why some people yawn when they see others do it first.

Recent search trends show some people online are wondering if yawning is really contagious.

THE QUESTION

Is yawning contagious?

THE SOURCES

• Cleveland Clinic
• Houston Methodist
• Science, peer-reviewed academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
• Michael Breus, Ph.D., clinical psychologist and clinical sleep specialist, known as “The Sleep Doctor”
• Andrew C. Gallup, Ph.D., professor of biopsychology at SUNY Polytechnic Institute

THE ANSWER

Yes, yawning really is contagious.

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WHAT WE FOUND

All of our sources agree that yawning is contagious. But scientists are still trying to figure out why we yawn and what about the reflex makes it contagious among people and some animals.

“In humans, yawning is contagious, and yawning has been documented to be contagious in a number of nonhuman animal species as well, but not all. It seems that animals that yawn contagiously are the ones that are very highly social,” biopsychologist Andrew Gallup told VERIFY.

Yawns are classified into two types: spontaneous and contagious, according to Houston Methodist. Spontaneous yawning occurs on its own, like when you’re drowsy, stressed or anxious, while contagious yawning can happen after someone else yawns first.

People can yawn contagiously, as well as some highly social animals, such as birds, cats, dogs and primates, like apes, chimpanzees and orangutans. But the Cleveland Clinic says there’s still a lot of mystery behind why yawning happens in the first place. Some theories suggest yawning can help wake your body up, regulate your brain temperature or relieve ear pressure, especially after a long flight.

“There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that the function of spontaneous yawning is to provide cooling to the brain,” said Gallup, who has conducted multiple studies related to yawning and brain temperature. “Studies have found that yawning can be predictively enhanced or decreased as a function of the ambient temperature, or the surrounding temperature, that people or animals are exposed to.”

Gallup says the brain temperature theory also tends to influence contagious yawning. It’s also more common in environments with higher temperatures.

“We have done a few studies in which we have examined changes in seasonal temperature and how that impacts contagious yawning in particular. We found that, depending on when you are testing participants outside, it’s a reliable predictor of how often they will yawn,” said Gallup.

Houston Methodist says some believe that contagious yawning may be a way of showing empathy, which refers to our ability to identify and understand other people’s emotions. However, other studies have failed to show that relationship, according to Gallup, who says he’s “of the view that the jury’s still out.”  

Another contagious yawning theory claims it may happen as a way to match or mirror emotional states between people. For example, a 2020 study found that some people are more likely to experience contagious yawning with their closest acquaintances than they are with strangers. 

“Contagious yawning may have evolved to synchronize group behavior—yawns often cluster during particular times of day that coincide with transitions and activity. It also may have evolved to increase vigilance within a group,” said Gallup. 

Michael Breus, a clinical psychologist and sleep specialist, says people who have limited social interaction seem to yawn less than those who don’t. 

“It really does seem to be some type of a communication tool, or something that’s kind of telling everybody in the room ‘Hey, I’m tired,’” said Breus. 

If you’re noticing that you’re yawning more than usual and with no clear cause, the Cleveland Clinic and Breus recommend talking to a healthcare provider to see if there’s an underlying issue, such as sleep deprivation. 

This story is also available in Spanish / Lee este artículo también en español: Sí, los bostezos son realmente contagiosos