CONTAGIOUS YAWNING: A SYMPTOM OF A SPREADING DISEASE

Charlene Deanne Bassig

I had a gruelling 7 o clock in the morning Math 1 class last semester, which meant that I
had to leave my house at around 6 oclock to get to class on time. One day on my way to school,
I rode the Q-mart jeepney that was full of passengers. I sat at the back of the driver which almost
gave me a full view of the entire jeepney. There was a relatively young man who wore a yellow
short-sleeved polo, black socks, and black leather shoes. He looked like an employee of some
high-end company who suddenly widely opened his mouth and yawned; a deep and loud yawn.
The woman in front of him copied him and let out a yawn, and then there was me watching the
whole event also let out a big yawn. This wasnt an isolated case. Over the course of the
semester, I experienced or observed similar cases not only on my way to school or at home, but
basically everywhere. Now this leads me to ask Why are yawns so contagious?
Is it because yawning is like the common cold, a contagious non threatening disease?
Highly unlikely. Is it psychologically ingrained in our brains? Not necessarily, although there
have been studies. Or is it because contagious yawning is a symptom of a growing and spreading
illness of the society?
Experts say that yawning is an evolutionary old pattern observed in many animals. Its a
curious behavioural phenomenon that is contagious even across species. According to WebMD,
there are a lot of theories revolving around the reason we yawn. One such theory proposed by
Dr. Andrew C. Gallup from Princeton University; stated that a series of experiments suggest a
surprising reason for yawning which is the cooling of the brain. The basic idea is that when you
start to yawn, powerful stretching of the jaw increases blood flow in the neck, face and head. The
deep intake of breath during a yawn forces the downward flow of spinal fluid and blood from the
brain. Cool air now breathed into the mouth is cooling these fluids. Gallup describes it as a
radiator, removing [too hot] blood from the brain while introducing cooler blood from the lungs
and extremities, thereby cooling [brain] surfaces.
Another proposed theory is made by Adrian G. Guggisberg, a physician from the
University of Geneva. He believes that yawning is not a physiological cause rather yawning is
more for a social benefit. Other explanations stress communicative functions of yawns such as

interpreting them as social cues that synchronize group behaviour. Looking at this social theory,
does the contagiousness of yawning communicate a more serious problem of the society? A
social cue that communicates synchronized group behaviour of exhaustion and fatigue.
Ideally students and workers alike work around seven to eight hours. Eight hours are the
ideal number of productive hours in certain environments, but very far from reality. Some
workers, however, work far longer. According to a study Sun Life Financial Asia conducted,
Filipinos are among a generation of people called Generation O. A generation that is
overworked, overweight and overwhelmed in Asia, which proves to be no surprise as you find
people yawning more and more while resting less and less. 4
My brother works at a known telecommunication company as tech support and software
developer. According to the Labor Code in Article 83, the normal hours of work of any
employee shall not exceed eight (8) hours a day with an extra hour for meal time (lunch). So he
should only work for eight hours if he arrived at 9:30 a.m. at his office then he goes home at
around 6:30 pm since he has an hour of lunch break. Ideally, he arrives at home 8:30 pm. But he
does not. Most of the time, he arrives at home when I am already asleep. Because of his hectic
work schedule, I only see him when I wake up and I mean just literally see him. No interaction
whatsoever since he is asleep. There are even numerous occasions that the only time I get to talk
to him is during the weekends. Ironically, we just live in the same house, sleep in the same room,
but have never seen each other until the week is over or even on weekends he works. So
naturally he is overtaxed and sleep deprived like many people in our society.
Aside from the overwhelming hours of work, the real environment and condition of the
working time are also a major problem. Near the Far Eastern University Manila, theres a food
stall there called Rice in a Box or RBX for short. I, my brother and my friends frequent the stall
because of the affordable price. And because we are regular customers, we know the cook
(ironically we never asked for her name but she also knows us by face). Once I was alone when I
went to the stall to buy food, I managed to gossip with the cook about her life. She is also
required to work for eight hours starting at 9 in the morning. She had a husband who works at the
University of Santo Tomas as a night guard. She expressed her wish to start a family since they
still dont have any children of their own. However, there is a conflict in the couples working

time. Once shes done with her work, she only goes home to cook dinner for her husband and
prepare some snacks for him and then he leaves for work after their dinner. Her own schedule,
she said, is very hectic because shes standing and cooking all day long and when she gets home
after tending to her husband all she wants to do is sleep. During the course of our conversation,
she really looked exhausted and frustrated of her situation. 2
Usually, when I see the contagion Im usually at a public transport, the jeepneys, the
buses and the trains. Even if I travel using those vehicles in the morning everyone looks like they
already want the day to end because of the overwhelming traffic situation. Although traffic is
something very common in our society, it still pisses us off and adds to the building exhaustion
as a collective group.
When CNN Philippines conducted an online poll regarding the leading reason for stress
for the Filipinos, it garnered 200 respondents. 23% said that they are stressed because of work
and a large number of that 23% said also specified their boss being the main reason and because
there are a huge amount of job demands and deadlines to follow. Almost 15%, then cited traffic
as their main reason for stress. So aside from work, traffic is also a leading reason why people
get the less amount of sleep than required, hence they are more susceptible to yawns.
According to Battling Congestion, Manila is one of the Asian mega cities suffering from
the many ills of excessive street traffic. The urban density of Manila, the capital of the
Philippines, is one the highest in world and the rate of motorization far exceeds the street
capacity to handle traffic. In several news articles, Manila has also been tagged as
Uninhabitable in four years if the traffic situation isnt resolved.
Ideally, it should only take me forty-five minutes to get to school from my house. But
because of the traffic, it takes me around an hour and thirty minutes. In that one hour and thirty
minutes, I could have ordered a pizza three times, brushed my teeth 45 times or watch 3 episodes
of my favourite anime or even an episode from Big Bang Theory. Its especially worse when I
come home which takes me almost two hours. If you subtract the ideal time from that two hours,
I could have an hour and fifteen minutes of sleep instead.
Aside from stress, sleep time gets lessened when you get home late especially when you
have a class until 7 oclock in the evening which I had three semesters ago. I stayed up late

because of the amount of work I have to do. But then I also had to wake up early because I have
an early class. So you can see me in my classes yawning a lot because Im sleep deprived.
Sleep deprivation occurs when an individual fails to get enough sleep. The amount of
sleep that a person needs varies from one person to another, but on the average, most adults need
about seven to eight hours of sleep each night to feel alert and well rested. Since Im deprived,
my performance in school was negatively affected. Fortunately, UP has only four days of school
in a week, so if Im not paying attention in class, I can instead self-study or do a better job with
other requirements such as papers, reports etc. According to a study, it affects not only alertness
but mood and performance. Sleep deprivation causes delayed reaction time to the individual.
Their thinking process and physical reaction to things around them are slower than normal. Also,
the less sleep you have the crankier and moodier you get. You can easily get irritated, anxious
and even depressed. It affects your performance by reducing motivation and concentration. You
are easily distracted. Youre tired, restless and uncoordinated. In other words, you are all over
the place. Everything that you do is half-baked and sloppy, which is not good as an employee or
a student. But even with these poor or mediocre results, we still put a premium on people who
are always stressed and overworked as if that is such a good thing. In a 2008 Harvard Business
School surveyed a thousand professionals and found that ninety-four per cent worked fifty
hours or more a week, and almost half worked in excess of sixty-five hours a week. Overwork
has become a credential of prosperity. Several studies have proven the negative effects of long
hours of work and yet we seem to never get rid of this cult of overwork.
Apparently the society is money oriented and has always been this way. Even in the
beginning of our societies, money played an important role. From bartering goods, we have
learned that good products can only be bartered with equally good products and then it evolved
with using the so called money which has the same concept. The higher the value of things, the
higher is its equivalent in money. Some people even exaggerate and say the money can buy
everything including happiness and because of this people overwork to gain more money.
In an article in The Huffington Post, it was mentioned there that two main metrics for successes
are money and power. It drives people to work longer hours which would pay more money. With
money, you can buy anything you want and ever need. With money, greener pasture is possible

and achievable. It is also a good motivation to work as well. However I do acknowledge the fact
that it really isnt just about money. It is not that simple. Many other reasons can be attributed as
to how the glorification of the overworked came about. We could say that this glorification and
cult are shared by all cultures; but primarily it boils down to individualistic traits and is affected
by how society perceives the individuals value.
We wear our overworked and busy status as a badge of honour forgetting the fact that it
is not. We have this notion that when one is busy and overworked then an individual is important
or in other words an asset. For example in a company, when one is busy, people immediately
think that he is given more responsibility and work because hes good at what he is doing; even
the person who is overworking thinks highly of themselves. We can assume that this is one
reason why there is such a trait in the society; to feel that you matter and busyness or
overworking serves as a kind of existential reassurance for these people. As Eric Hoffer said
The majority prove their worth by keeping busy. It also serves as an achievement status.
Sometimes people overwork themselves because they feel that they got nothing better to do or
they feel that not being busy is such a complete waste of time and resources. They feel guilty
even and scared of their idleness.
According to several articles, the glorification of the overworked are linked to a
generation, particularly Generation Y or the so-called Millennials. In the corporate world,
according to a clinical psychologist millennials use the concept of first-in and last-out as
motivation to quickly climb up the corporate ladder. Again the feeling of achievement and
self-satisfaction comes into play. Simply put, it feels good to be needed.
Technology also is a factor of this glorification for the Millennials. Communication is
more efficient. You can reach anyone at any time of the day everywhere. The lines between
workplace and social life become blurred by this ease and efficiency. Instead of chatting about
things other than work, social media are not avenues for communication about work. A good
example is my brother. They have their own Facebook group and messenger that allow them to
contact each other about work. Sure this is very helpful but if someone is calling him in the
middle of the night and you two share the same room. Its pretty annoying. No more Ill handle
it come morning kind of thing, everything is immediately resolved. Its too bad for those people

who want to contact him because if my brother doesnt wake up with the chat call then I usually
silence his phone.
There is also the so-called humble-brag trait of the Millennials. This occurs when you
often complain but it is actually just making it a subtle brag about how you are invaluable and
good at whatever you are doing. However the Millennials are not exactly doing it right. Instead
of appearing as competent, they are most likely viewed as incompetent or complainers by other
generations.
Aside from the glorification being an existential reassurance, overworking to some
people chases away the social anxiety of being alone. After all, you wont think of it that much if
you overwork yourself. An article said that the Millennials are using overworking as
compensation to fill the void of loneliness that were made by their choices because it looks like
the Millennials are choosing to stay single longer or probably they are more career-oriented as
some people describe them to be.
3

May it be a generational trait or a cultural or even an individual trait, one thing is for

sure, everyone wants in. Overworking is the new black. Busyness is the norm. It is far from
healthy. Contagious yawning is only a symptom of this growing and spreading disease, the
glorification of the overworked and busy. However, this disease is a choice and many have
chosen to be stricken with it. Whatever reasons they have, one must remember that busy and
productive are too different things. We must remember to never get too busy making a living
that you forget to make a life. Being busy and overworked is only a fraction of your life. Do not
make it your whole life. Learn to live, love and enjoy your life outside your busyness.

References
American Academy of Sleep Medicine. "Sleep Deprivation." 2008. American Academy of Sleep
Medicine. 30 June 2016
<http://www.aasmnet.org/resources/factsheets/sleepdeprivation.pdf>.
Boquet, Yves. "Battling Congestion in Manila: The Edsa Problem." Transport and
Communications Bulletin for Asia and the Pacific 2013: 45 - 59.
Casserly, Meghan. If Time Is Money, Millennials Are Broke--And They Couldn't Be Happier. 5
September 2012. 14 July 2016

<http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2012/09/05/if-time-is-money-millennialsare-broke-busy-obsessed/#17f5251f173c>.
Cervero, R. " Linking Urban Transport and Land Use in Developing Countries." Journal of
Transport and Land Use (2013): 7-24.
DeNoon, Daniel J. Why we yawn. 23 September 2011. 23 June 2016
<http://www.webmd.com/brain/news/20110923/why-we-yawn>.
Department of Labor and Employment. Labor Code Book III: Conditions of Employment. 7
October 2009. 29 June 2016 <www.dole.gov.ph>.
Kawasaki, Guy. Let's Stop the Glorification of Busy. 23 May 2014. 9 July 2016
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/guy-kawasaki/lets-stop-the-glorification-of-busy_b_501
8712.htmlhere>.
Klinck, Dennis R. "Work and Waste." Environments 1996: 1-14.
Paulie, Nicole. We need to stop the glorification of busy. 20 April 2015. 13 July 2016
<http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/work-life-balance-busy-2058921-Apr2015/>.
Schurmann, Martin, et al. "Yearning to yawn: the neural basis of contagious yawning." Elsevier
(2005): 1060-1064.
Sun Life Financial. Sun Life Asia study reveals Filipinos among the Generation O. 23 October
2014. 29 June 2016 <www.sunlife.com.ph>.
Surowiecki, James. The Cult of Overwork. 27 January 2014. 9 July 2016
<http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/01/27/the-cult-of-overwork>.
Vorvick, Linda J. Learn to Manage Stress. 23 November 2014. 20 June 2016
<https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001942.htm>.
Wehrens, Sophie M. T., et al. "Mood, Alertness, and Performance in Response to Sleep
Deprivation and Recovery Sleep in Experienced Shiftworkers Versus Non-Shiftworkers."
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Summary of "ESSAY (final submission) - Charlene

Deanne Bassig":
Feedback:
Total Feedback Notes: 3
Originality
Reviewer 1:
The idea and presentation of the topic was interesting, but it would benefit from further
research and presentation of new perspectives. ( Note 4)
Execution of Writing Techniques
Reviewer 1:
Adequate use of creative writing techniques that made the piece imaginative and
insightful. (Note 3)
Grammar and Style
Reviewer 1:
The piece is mostly free from grammatical errors and is coherent. (Note 2)
General Comments

Grade:
Originality

32

Execution of Writing Techniques

28

Grammar and Style

20

Total

80