Study Shows That The Longer You Yawn, The Smarter You Are

Last Updated on 2023-03-10 , 3:57 pm

Are you the type who yawns longer than your friends?

Okay, granted that no one actually measures how long he or she yawns, but you get the gist: some people apparently yawns longer, and it’s not because they’re more tired; they just have that habit.

Shockingly, it turns out that the longer you yawn, the smarter you are. And we’re not simply saying this because everyone in Goody Feed yawns for hours every day in the office (we’re all pigs).

This time, science is here to back us up.

The longer you yawn, the smarter you are

According to the Daily Mail, biologists have found a correlation between the length of your yawns and the cognitive capacity of your brain.

Woah, hold up. Cognitive capacity? It basically means the amount of information our brains are able to absorb and remember at any point in time.

The longer your yawns, the higher your cognitive capacity. So yes, you’re damn smart if you’re able to out-yawn your friends.

The study of yawning

You might think this is lame but the researchers take their jobs seriously. Studying over 205 yawns over 177 individuals across 24 species, and the findings they presented are pretty intriguing as well.

It was found that us humans have the longest yawn, followed by the African elephant.

Animals like mice, rats and rabbits have the shorted yawns while primates like us tend to have longer yawns by up to 50%.

The second longest yawner, the African Elephant, has more cortical neurons than primates.

The size of the mammal does not play a part in the duration of the yawn as gorillas, camels and lions all have shorter yawns than humans.

The differences in yawn duration appear to be specifically linked to interspecies variation in brain size and complexity, with cortical neuron number being the most significant factor.’ – Dr Andrew Gallup, a psychologist at the State University of New York at Oneonta

The purpose of yawning

Yawning brings tears to your eyes and you’ll feel more relaxed after a good, long yawn but no one could agree on the purpose behind yawning.

Researchers of the study deduced that yawning serves to cool down your brain and helps control the activities running within.

It was even suggested that a person facing a particularly difficult task might yawn longer than someone whose simply relaxing on the sofa.

So the next time you yawn at work or in class, and you’re called out on it, just let them know the real reason why you’re yawning: because you’re seriously listening or working.