Why am I yawning when I workout?

[targetlover]

Hi Cathe,
Here lately ( two weeks), I have been yawning while I workout. I'll stop yawning about 30 to 40 minutes into it. I thought it was because I wasn't breathing properly during sets, but I really have been focusing on it and I am still yawning. I know I am not tired; I make it just fine thru the workout like any other day. Could you give me some suggestions on what it is and how I can fix it? Thank you.

 

[michele1967]

I do this all the time--even when I am not obviously tired.
It also seems to have nothing to do w/the intensity of the workout.

I would love to know if anyone has an asnwer.

 

[tvan_horn]

Just a little bit of trivia here, I am no expert on this subject, but one of my Psychology professors used to encourage us to yawn in class. He said that it is the body's way of helping to get the extra oxygen that it needs to maintain alertness. What he said was that you don't yawn because you are tired, but because your respiratory rate has slowed (as a result of being tired) and your body is trying to compensate and get extra oxygen to combat being tired and thus, keep us awake in class. Remember this came from a Psych instructor, not a MD or Physiologist.

As for exercise and yawning, maybe it is your body's response to needing additional oxygen. I have days when I go through yawning spells during my workouts, but like you it usually only lasts the first 20 minutes.

 

[TracieW]

I read that although "they" have always thought yawning must have something to do with increasing oxygen and decreasing carbon dioxide in the blood, there are plenty of yawns that don't seem to match this cause; for example: unborn babies who don't use their lungs yawn; people who go up into the mountains increase ventilation rate due to low oxygen intake but do not tend to start yawning; yawing is often psychological (Are you yawning now that you are thinking about it?).

I have found absolutely no physiological information explaining this but: I never fail to yawn during exercise when my food intake for the day has been too low. I first noticed this over 10 years ago as an anorexic teenager (got over that thank goodness) playing volleyball and yawning away on the court. Now on occassion when I've skipped morning food for whatever reason, the yawn attacks come. It isn't psychological because the yawns start without me having expected them to do so.

 

[treasaigh]

I always yawn during strength workouts, whether I've eaten recently or not. I just take it as a sign that I'm taxing my body's resources a little, and keep on yawning.