--- title: Study: Yawning May Be A Brain Cooling Mechanism description: A new study shows that yawning might be a way of regulating the temperature of your brain canonical: https://time.com/90742/yawning-study-brain-hot/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-07T14:51:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:41:55.971Z article:section: Health og:title: Study: Yawning May Be A Brain Cooling Mechanism og:description: A new study shows that yawning might be a way of regulating the temperature of your brain og:url: https://time.com/90742/yawning-study-brain-hot/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Study: Yawning May Be A Brain Cooling Mechanism twitter:description: A new study shows that yawning might be a way of regulating the temperature of your brain twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Why Did You Just Yawn? Perhaps Your Brain's Too Hot > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell May 7, 2014 2:51 PM UTC by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell May 7, 2014 2:51 PM UTC Chances are you read this sentence about yawning and you yawned. Right? Well, a new study suggests that you may not really be yawning because it’s contagious, or you’re bored or tired. You’re actually yawning because your brain is too hot. [A group of researchers at the University of Vienna](http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0031938414001784/1-s2.0-S0031938414001784-main.pdf?%5Ftid=abe2f7c0-d5ee-11e3-99be-00000aab0f6c&acdnat=1399470861%5F260361c0900ea18253efe4ee1a6ef89c) tested subjects in Austria and Arizona and tracked their activity, finding that that the only significant predicator of yawning was temperature: subjects were much more likely to yawn at higher temperatures. Other factors like sex, season, age, humidity, time spent outside, and hours of sleep the night before did not have a significant effect on the likelihood of a subject’s yawning. Ultimately, it appears that yawning is related to regulating brain temperature and creating a state where arousal in a yawner can be achieved. The idea is that if it’s hot, but still cool enough so that a large intake of air will bring your body temperature down, you’re in perfect storm territory for yawns. The study builds on research that shows that in both rats and humans, yawns are preceded by intermittent rises in brain temperatures, and that brain temperature decreases immediately afterward. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/90742/yawning-study-brain-hot/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/90742/yawning-study-brain-hot/"},"headline":"Why Did You Just Yawn? Perhaps Your Brain's Too Hot","datePublished":"2014-05-07T14:51:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:41:55.971Z","description":"A new study suggests people might yawn because their brains are too hot, not because they’re bored or tired. 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