I think I’m yawn deprived.
When I look at other mammals, especially dogs and cats, I notice how they seem to yawn when they’re tired. They yawn before they fall asleep. They yawn after they wake up. It’s not just other mammals, it’s baby humans as well. Rubbing the eyes and then yawning to indicate feeling tired, or so it seems.
But what if yawning doesn’t just mean that one is tired?
I remember reading a few years ago about what they call pandiculation. From what I remember, it is the stretch that comes with the yawn. Some studies were saying that it actually stretches out the—I think it was called—muscular sheath. The layer on top of the muscles that seems to act as the structural integrity on top of our bone and muscle structure. Perhaps the name is different and yet I think the function is the same.
A few years ago, I started doing what I called Yawn Yoga. It was simple: 1) breathe in as slowly as I possibly could for as long as I could, which would normally trigger a yawn 2) stretch while doing this. I was amazed at how quickly it improved my flexibility and fixed my posture. I went to the gym one morning and did some Yawn Yoga and when I returned, my roommate seemed shocked and asked, “What did you do? It looks like you have the posture of a gymnast.” I’ve never had good posture.
I think at some point it started to scare me though. I could feel me jaw rearranging itself, so much so that when I closed my mouth, my teeth aligned in a different fashion. I worried that perhaps it gave me flexibility too fast, that my body wasn’t used to it, and I would cause myself injury. So I mostly stopped. I also seemed to think that it was more of a repair action, and that if I needed it, I was doing something else wrong in life to feel so tight.
Yet this morning I realized that I woke up and didn’t really yawn. Come to think about it, last night before going to bed, I don’t think I yawned much. I often use the phone and am mentally moving quickly before bed, and then when I wake up, especially with this writing schedule, I start moving quick immediately. I think I keep forgetting to yawn.
There’s also the cultural aspect of how yawning is 1) contagious and 2) often seen as rude. It can show disrespect to someone who is speaking, insinuating that they are tiring, not that one is tired.
Regardless, I want to yawn more. I think it’s good for the body, the soul, and really, somewhat fun. And it’s such a simple fix, I think.
So I’ll end this writing with a yawn.
