# A sudden bout of yawns **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 3, 2023, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-sudden-bout-of-yawns/987987 "2023-08-03T03:31:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![longtry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/839c29/32.png) [@longtry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/longtry)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2023, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-sudden-bout-of-yawns/987987/1 "2023-08-03T03:31:55Z")
Has anyone ever experience this? A yawning ‘attack’ that seems to come out of the blue. For me, though it’s pretty random, I noticed that one could come after I have breakfast for some time, say, 70-75 mins. Then all of a sudden, I got to yawn every 10-30 secs. The whole episode lasts about 3-5 mins. During that time, I’m likely reading something or doing regular office-like work - no indication of anything abnormal happening. From my searches, I could only find some mentions about “vagus nerve being stimulated” and “a spike in body core temp”, which don’t seem to be able to explain the case very convincingly. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2023, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-sudden-bout-of-yawns/987987/2 "2023-08-03T14:14:10Z")
IIRC, day yawning is mostly a reaction to low blood circulation and blood pooling in your legs. It’s not related to sleepiness, beyond that slightly low blood pressure to the head results in mild mental lethargy too. If you get a yawning attack, stand up and walk around for a minute; that’ll probably stop it in its tracks. If that doesn’t work, at least you’ll know something else it’s not. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2023, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-sudden-bout-of-yawns/987987/3 "2023-08-03T14:19:30Z")
I was in bed one night thinking about reflexive things like sneezing and yawning. You cannot sneeze on command. I tried to and nothing happened. Then I tried to yawn and I did! But then I yawned again, and a then a third yawn. I got a bit worried about all this yawning, which led to me walking around for a bit and the yawning stopped. I got back into bed and my gf asked if I was ok. I told her I couldn’t stop yawning. Indeed I yawned again. Sitting here typing this I’ve yawned three times. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2023, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-sudden-bout-of-yawns/987987/4 "2023-08-03T14:38:19Z")
This is not technically a Factual Question, it’s more IMHO, so I’ve moved it for you, @longtry RickJay Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2023, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-sudden-bout-of-yawns/987987/5 "2023-08-03T14:52:38Z")
The claim about yawns being highly contagious in my experience is quite true. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2023, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-sudden-bout-of-yawns/987987/6 "2023-08-03T15:51:15Z")
Is it just yawning, or also tiredness? When it happens, you could note down what you had to eat and see if there’s any trends. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2023, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-sudden-bout-of-yawns/987987/7 "2023-08-03T15:58:49Z")
> [@longtry](#): > > Has anyone ever experience this? Yes, on occasion. I’ve read that yawning is not a sign of boredom, it is a sign that your body needs more oxygen. Yawning entails drawing in a LOT of air, so there may be some truth to this, or it may simply be an urban legend that sounds plausible. In any case, when I’ve been attacked by the “yawns”, I’ve tried deep breathing exercises, and they have made them go away. Coincidence? I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![longtry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/839c29/32.png) [@longtry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/longtry)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2023, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-sudden-bout-of-yawns/987987/8 "2023-08-05T04:58:11Z")
When I experienced the attack, it did come with a feeling of tiredness and wanting to lie down. Also it seemed like, at least for a few times, I’d have it when doing something that’s cognition-demanding and not interesting enough. So it’s likely that the brain tried to get more oxygen, true. But not in any elegant way - the lethargy coming with it kinda destroys the purpose. I’ll try to practice walking around or do some Wim Hof breathing the next time. And/or record what I ate. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2023, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-sudden-bout-of-yawns/987987/9 "2023-08-05T05:09:01Z")
Anyone able to get even this far without a big jaw-cracker coming on?