Yawning is good for you, apparently. It can help you relax, which maybe isn’t so surprising. But it can also increase compassion, social awareness and empathy, and even increase self-awareness in ways similar to yogic breathing.

Andrew Newburg, director of Penn’s Center for Spirituality and the Mind, reckons yawning is one of the best-kept secrets in neuroscience.

In an essay published in the online Penn Gazette, he writes:

Even my colleagues who are researching meditation, relaxation, and stress reduction at other universities have overlooked this powerful neural-enhancing tool.

But yawning doesn’t just relax you – it quickly brings you into a heightened state of cognitive awareness….  it rids the brain of sleepiness, thus helping you stay focused on important concepts and ideas. It regulates consciousness and our sense of self, and helps us become more introspective and self-aware.

My first response on hearing this was an element of suspicion. I remember hearing many theories on why people yawn over the years, all with explanations that could apply only to human beings. But most animals yawn. Certainly most mammals do. I remember seeing a snake in a zoo doing a most extravagent yawn, with its entire jaw hinged back.

Yawning is so widespread in animals, it is madness to think that dogs would yawn for one reason, but humans for an entirely different reason.

Newburg doesn’t seem to be falling into the human-centric trap, though:

Dogs yawn before attacking, Olympic athletes yawn before performing, and fish yawn before they change activities. Evidence even exists that yawning helps individuals on military assignment perform their tasks with greater accuracy and ease. Indeed, yawning may be one of the most important mechanisms for regulating the survival-related behaviors in mammals. So if you want to maintain an optimally healthy brain, it is essential that you yawn.

His advice is to yawn as many times a day as possible. He advises yawning when you wake, when you have problems to solve, before you sleep, and whenever you feel angry, anxious or stressed.

He recommends forcing yourself to yawn, doing it deliberately and consciously, and doing it at least ten to 12 times in a row.

Your eyes may start watering and your nose may begin to run, but you’ll also feel utterly present, incredibly relaxed, and highly alert. Not bad for something that takes less than a minute to do.

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