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Yawning During Workouts

Feb 28, 2011 | By Erin Monahan
Yawning During Workouts
Photo Credit Marili Forastieri/Photodisc/Getty Images

Yawning during a workout can be embarrassing, but there's usually a benign or harmless reason for it. Most people think yawning is a reaction to lack of activity, boredom or sleepiness, and while yawning certainly can occur in those situations, it's really just the body's way of cooling the brain and re-oxygenating itself. If your excessive yawning is coupled with other symptoms, such as dizziness, stop exercising and seek medical advice.

Energizing Effect

Yawning energizes the body, which is why tired people tend to yawn. A yawn gets your blood circulating, stretches your muscles and increases your heart rate. If you are exercising and your body is feeling sluggish, you may have the urge to yawn so that your body can keep up with the exercising.

Boredom

If you're bored, it's likely you'll yawn. The website Neuroscience for Kids cites studies done with college students that showed an increase in yawning when those students were asked to watch a test pattern on TV instead of a music video. The music video group yawned about 3.5 times in 30 minutes, while the test pattern group yawned nearly six times in 30 minutes. So if your workout is repetitive in nature -- such as cycling or walking on a treadmill -- you're more likely to yawn.

Contagious Yawning

You're more likely to yawn if you see someone else yawn, though scientists are not exactly sure why this happens. Evolutionary psychologist Gordon Gallup suggests that animals yawn to mimic another yawning animal to promote alertness within a group of animals. Gallup also notes that only humans, chimps and baboons do these types of yawns. So if someone else at the gym is yawning, you' likely yawn, too.

Medical Reasons

While nearly all yawning is harmless, some disorders can cause excessive yawning. These include multiple sclerosis, heart disease, epilepsy and some other neurological disorders. In these cases, excessive yawning also occurs at times other than during a workout, too, and can be accompanied by other symptoms, such as numbness or tingling, in addition to the yawning.

References

Article reviewed by Roman Tsivkin Last updated on: Feb 28, 2011

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