Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: Karen W. on 21/01/2007 10:35:42
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I have had two hours of sleep in the last two days, today is third day, and I have just begun Yawning. I have just realized that this is a pattern with my sleep habits.. I don't yawn hardly ever until I have missed several nights of sleep..and so I wonder does Yawning help to produce melatonin to aid in sleep.. and has there been any studies linked to lack of yawning in insomniacs.. and is it just me or do I yawn way less then most people?
Does the yawning produce melatonin, or does the melatonin produce the yawns? OOOOOH!!! DOES ANYONE KNOW?
Also what do both Melatonin and Serotonin do to aide your sleep. I know they both do something serotonin helps with depression and sleep.. Could someone explain the individual effects on sleep between the two?
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As far as I know and that's not all that far I believe that Yawning is and indicator of tiredness and tiredness can be caused by many things.
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Cool New Forum Hadrian... LOL
Yeperoo Tiredness can be caused by many things...I believe your right.. Lack of sleep, LOL, over excercise, stress, improper nutrition lack of iron and other vitamins..certain illnesses etc.
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Cool New Forum Hadrian... LOL
Yeperoo Tiredness can be caused by many things...I believe your right.. Lack of sleep, LOL, over excercise, stress, improper nutrition lack of iron and other vitamins..certain illnesses etc.
Yep to all of the above
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I thought yawning was behavioural, from way back when we were all a bunch of apes, yawning was a way of synchronising everyone to sleep at the same time. probably lots of reasons why that would be a good idea. the fact that yawning is contagious is obviously the reason this works, but I really don't know why that is the case!
I have read though that yawning does actually wake you up. It's used, subconciously, to give us a few more minutes of alertedness when we're really tired.
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I thought yawning was behavioural, from way back when we were all a bunch of apes, yawning was a way of synchronising everyone to sleep at the same time. probably lots of reasons why that would be a good idea. the fact that yawning is contagious is obviously the reason this works, but I really don't know why that is the case!
I have read though that yawning does actually wake you up. It's used, subconciously, to give us a few more minutes of alertedness when we're really tired.
thats very intresting is there a paper on it somewere?
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Behavioral.. That does not make sense to me. When you get really tired doesn't your body slow down and everything slows down.. I would think because your body is physically worn out, that your body would yawn because of its need to take in more oxygen into the lungs. That would be my guess, mind you I am no Doctor or expert on the matter, but my common sense would say it's a oxygen thing.. .. As I sit here Yawning and thinking of the power of suggestion I am trying to feel what is happening as I yawn, My eyes begin to water and It feels great to take in those deep yawns and release them..
I wonder if anyone else could really tell us..????
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Karen W. wrote;
when you get really tired doesn't your body slow down and everything slows down.. I would think because your body is physically worn out that your body would yawn because of its need to take in more oxygen into the lungs. …………..my common sense would say its a oxygen thing.. ..
I agree.
By the way, Karen, you done great job .
As I sit here Yawning and thinking of the power of suggestion I am trying to feel what is happening as I yawn,, My eyes begin to water and It feels great to take in those deep yawns in and release them..
This is good example that shows that so many things are so near to us waiting to be discovered without use of Microscope, Stethoscope, Telescopes…….but just by simply observation and common sense...
I wonder if anyone else could really tell us..????
I think you already tell us everything about yawing.
What I like to know is does somebody before you come on this idea about yawing.
Anyway I hear now for the first time that “body yawn because of its need to take in more oxygen into the lungs” and I am sure that you are right.
Luka
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Luka asks...
What I like to know is does somebody before you come on this idea about yawing.
Luka
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Quote from: moonfire on 21/01/2007 09:46:56
I find this most interesting as an insominac...It is now 3:47am and I snuck into the living room to get my laptop so I can see what is going on...I usually don't get to sleep until noon like Karen, but get an average of 2-3hrs of sleep..this surely is not good for the heart, etc...your thoughts?
Karen, Quote...
It's not good for anything Loretta.. My face feels tingly and numb and my ears start popping as I try to yawn in hopes it will induce sleep! I just had a question pop into my head.. I best go put it in the proper place..
Karen W. wrote;
Luka asks...
What I like to know is does somebody before you come on this idea about yawing.
Luka
I was just thinking about how it might relate to ensomnia and the lack of production of seratonin or melotonin or both..
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I think the oxygen theory sounds like it must be right, to explain what makes you yawn in the first place, but the behavioural explanation is for the contagiousness side of them! there's no other reason I can think of why watching someone yawn would make you yawn too! I suppose lots of behaviours are contagious though, like watching someone vomit ... or maybe thats the smell!
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We are talking about yawning, and suddenly I am yawning like crazy.. big full deep incredible good yawns,, nostril flaring lung filling wonderful yawns.... YES>>>>>> Power of suggestion well at work here.. But it does feel really good down in the lungs.. I wonder now about why and how yawning sets off your tear ducts as this I would think is not emotional.. LOL, Maybe the squished up face one makes when yawning, compresses the tear ducts and just squeezes them out..What do you think??
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One of my former employers used to send me notes & memos on stationary he printed out especially for me. It was on grey paper and in very light, very small letters the word yawn appeared going all the way across the paper and all the way down. He would also come in and change the screen saver on my computer to have the word yawn scroll across it. I hated it when he did that - it would make me yawn all day. He was such a brat!
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Yes, that is pretty annoying... but funny!
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Karen,
Doesn't seem like you have much in the way of answers to your original question yet? Serotonin, (5-hydroxy tryptamine) is a precursor of melatonin, (N-acety-5-methoxy tryptamine). Melatonin is synthesised in the body from serotonin, and is then stored in the pineal gland within the brain. In the dark melatonin is released from the brain and stimulates sleep. When light enters the eyes melatonin release stops. This may be why some people get SAD ( Seasonal Affective Disorder)during the dark winter months.
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Nope you were right about my original questions.. LOL..
That is interesting.. So does that mean the darkness stimulates the production of melotonin? And usually Yawns come in before and after sleeping and waking, Does meletonin have anything to do with that..? Would lowering my light level help increase my sleepiness.. or effect my yawning..? Are they connected.. to each other?
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Karen,
Yes melatonin synthesis is stimulated in the dark and inhibited by light. As to the connection with yawning; well it is possible to induce yawning with agonists of serotonin receptors, (see www.ihop-net.org/UniPub/iHOP/pm/679297.html?pmid=8727685), but what the answers to your other questions are, I don't know. Some interesting studies on yawning can be found at:
www.baillement.com/cooper-dourish.html
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9551709&dopt=Abstract
and more recently
www.sono.org.br/publicacoes/2002%20Nakamura%20Pharm%20Biochem%20Behav.pdf
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Thanks the information is some help.. Very hard to understand, but seratonin is linked to it but not alone.. They are not very conclusive.. The last link I could not get to open.. Thanks Nick!
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Karen,
Sorry, should have mentioned that the final link is to a pdf file so you need Adobe Reader to open it, (it's bit heavy going anyway). you are right about the inconclusive bit; it appears that the physiology of yawning is not fully understood, but then again probably not a high prioroty for research funds
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The reason for my question was because I noticed in my case, anyway, That when I am having difficulty sleeping I do not yawn.. hardly ever.. I can be on my 3rd day awake with 0 sleep before I finally start yawning...now, I yawn upon waking after I have slept... three or 4 hours...my average when I am sleeping, and still feel very sleepy....
So I was wondering do other insomniacs have these periods of no yawning and if they do could it be more of a lack of the stimuli needed to produce the yawn..IE meaning serotonin or other chemicals produced by the brain to help induce sleep in the first place...
I do know that talking about yawning can produce the yawn, so the power of suggestion does have the ability to start me off yawning..... but I still wonder if lack of yawning is a symptom if you will of insomnia?
I have adobe acrobat, I wonder why that link did not work, I will try it again... although I must say Nick that was pretty dry stuff, but none the less interesting...LOL I will try again...LOL
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Hi Nick, I tried the link again and my tool bar is filling with this link.., which looks right, ( http://www.sono.org.br/publicacoes/2002%20Nakamura%20Pharm%20Biochem%20Behav.pdf )The window pops up but when it says it is done, it is a white blank page.....does not open.. I wonder why my acrobat is not working to open it up. Shouldn't it just automaticly open it without me having to open acrobat? Do I have to open it up to see the link?
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Karen, I tried the link from your last post and it works fine. You may need to give it a while to load or else update your Adobe reader? Maybe you could right click and save it to disk first then see if your reader will handle it. Probably not worth bothering with though; it is a fairly turgid scientific paper.
When you’re fatigued, you tend to breathe more shallowly simply because you don’t have enough
energy to draw in deep, full breaths. Over a period of time this shallow breathing decreases
the amount of available oxygen so your body’s response is a big yawn, a deep breath that pulls a lot of oxygen into the lungs very quickly.
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Yes and it felt good too. I should come read this thread about three hours bfore I want to be asleep, maybe the power of suggestion yawning would help me go to sleep! LOL It is 6:30 Am and I am still awake, just yawned for first time after reading this about yawns,,LOL