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Browsing through The Annals of Improbable Research, I see that Dutch academic Wolter Seuntjens has successfully defended a Ph.D. thesis entitled “The Hidden Sexuality of the Human Yawn”.
Since the proximate Cause(s) of why we yawn have eluded scientists, and baffled many people for quite some time, it’s interesting to see that some research has been conducted in this area, and rather intriguing to find that there may be a sexual element to some types of yawns.
Dr Seuntjens, of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, tries to provide a systematic-encyclopaedic overview of all the available knowledge about yawning; drawing on linguistics (semantics, etymology), sociology, psychology, the medical sciences (anatomy, physiology, pathology, and pharmacology), and even the arts (literature, film, visual arts). He then associates much of the data, and examines the hypothesis that yawning has a sexual aspect.
He believes there is currently no good explanation that explains yawning, and points out that the popular hypoxia (the body taking in extra oxygen) and hypercapnia (the body getting rid of extra carbon dioxide) theories were conclusively refuted by Robert Provine and collaborators back in 1987. But further, the newer popular theory that yawning leads to wakefulness (‘arousal defense reflex,’ Askenasy 1989) has a number of problems (Regehr, Ogilvie, and Simons 1992).
Dr Seuntjens makes the preliminary conclusion:
[W]e have really no idea what causes yawning and what purpose yawning serves or what mechanisms are responsible for yawning and even what the essential anatomical constituents of yawning are. In the age in which the human genome has been deciphered and space travel has become almost trite this verdict may sound like an affront
There was however at least one recurrent theme: eroticism-sexuality.
Both the ‘yawn’ and the ‘stretch’ of the stretch-yawn syndrome have been linked to ‘desire’ and ‘longing for’, by previous researchers. And ‘being in love’ by numerous proverbs and sayings. Psychoanalysts and Depth-psychologists that mention yawns interpreted them as latent sexual signals, while other authors have described the feeling that accompanies the acme of yawning as a ‘mini orgasm’.
Dr Seuntjens states:
In discussing pathology I discovered that yawning and spontaneous ejaculation were mentioned concomitantly in terminal rabies.
And continues:
In discussing pharmacology I found a link between yawning and spontaneous orgasm in withdrawal from heroin addiction. Likewise, yawning and sexual response were associated as clinical side effects of several antidepressant drugs. In one publication an undeniable causal relation was reported: both spontaneous and intentional yawning provoked instantaneous ejaculation orgasm.
He concludes:
There are times when a yawn is simply a yawn. (Even if a ‘simple’ yawn is not simple at all.)
In everyday life each and every individual yawn must be interpreted, as it cannot be ascribed to one specific cause, or be explained with total certainty.
Dr Seuntjens website baillement.com is a cornucopia of information on yawning, should you decide to study Pandiculation further.
Update:
It seems that the latest research into yawning suggests that it may be a brain cooling mechanism, cooling mechanism that promotes increased alertness.
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Posted by Jonathan in Art & Literature, Psychology, Sociology