watching someone yawning makes you do the same .....why....???

I don't think there is a known answer to that question. This is the one that I heard, that to me makes the most sense. When you yawn it means there is a lack of oxygen somewhere in your body. Maybe because of low amounts of oxygen in the air. So you yawn, so that your body can balance out the oxygen intake, and the co2 output. When this is done it means there's even less oxygen in the air, so other people around need to do this too. Of course this is one question on my mind now. Do people need to see or hear you yawn to yawn, or can they just be near you. Like if you yawn, will a deaf+blind person yawn?

hi himan, since you've had two discussions of the same kind,the other one had been deleted. which made my response got deleted of course!so here i am trying to respond again! hoping it will not be deleted in a way! well,yawning is really hard to control and it's like a chain/epidemic when one starts to yawn,most people who've seen it will also yawn! it's really hard to control it specially when you're not sleepy but still you yawn! i don't know why! Yawning is an involuntary action that causes us to open our mouths wide and breathe in deeply. We know it's involuntary because we do it even before we are born. Everybody yawns — from unborn babies to the oldest great-grandparent. Animals do it,too. But why, exactly, do people and animals yawn? No one knows for sure!

Hi, himan. Yawning send signals that alerts someone else that it is time to rest. It is kind of like a reflex. I yawn when someone else will yawn too.

I don't know why it happens but I used to have so much fun with that many years ago when I was a telephone operator and was bored. We worked in front of a long switchboard and, when there was a slow period, I would yawn...long and loudly. I would always catch he11 from my coworkers...as they tried as hard as they could not to yawn and then had to anyway.

It's similar to itches. When a person told me that his hand/leg..etc is itchy, I would feel the same. I think it's a psychological effect. Something must me meddling our brainwaves..Happy mylotting!!! Cheers.

Hi friend, Yes i have seen and heard many people feeling the same way.I think it is contagious. In a scientific way,it is related with the lake of oxygen around.That's why one person yawns,other follows. Well,nice day.

its still a mystery why if we see people yawning we also tend to yawn, its like a communication or a simulation reaction where you can also feel what that person feel like his sleepy and his yawning, and then you also yawn as your trying to tell that your also sleepy or tired, sometimes if we started yawning then we keep on yawning too as we tend to tell that we are tired and sleepy though may not in words but in verbal way thats why we need to work our mind to wake it up or give a little nap to rest.

I think that's purely psychological. When you start yawning, you send signal to the person in front of you that the moment, that the situation is sleepy. Then he start thinking "it's so sleepy". Or, the environment around has something do with it. I mean the temperature. The climate. Or, if you are watching something, like a show or a movie, maybe they're so sleepy. That's how I see it.

Because yawning is contagious when we saw someone is yawning also. We yawn because we are sleepy and yet we are fighting to stay alert and vigilant. Maybe there is an automatic reaction in our brain that when somebody yawn, we yawn also. It's so contagious! hammmmmmmmmm!