The Science of the Yawn
Posted on: Friday, May 27, 2016 Category: Uncategorized (58)< 1 min read
At Brand New You, we teach our clients to yawn to stretch their soft palate. Your soft palate is at the back of your throat. A tight soft palate leads to a tight, stressed and restrained vocal sound. A stretched and worked soft palate gives a beautiful, deep and resonant vocal sound. Remember that 38% of your ability to influence people is reliant on you having a great voice.
But yawns do something else, and it is not relieve tiredness or boredom. What it does is cool our brain!
Our brains have an optimal working temperature. When they become too hot, a yawn helps to cool them down – hence the refreshed feeling you get after a really big yawn.
How? Yawns increase both the heart rate and blood flow and deliver an over-sized gulp of air to the head, cooling the blood in that area. Yawning doesn’t actually increase oxygen to the respiratory system, as previously thought – otherwise we would yawn while we exercise!
We yawn when we are tired because sleep deprivation and exhaustion are known to increase brain temperature. So a good yawn will both stretch your soft palate – making a great voice, and cool down your brain – making you more energised and alert! What’s not to love?
