Why yawn?

Scientists now understand that yawning

• banishes drowsiness by activating muscles that increase your heart rate, and
• seems to cool the brain, which increases attentiveness

And it is “contagious” – you will probably yawn if you see others yawning. Evolutionary logic suggests that yawns trigger an empathy reflex that can trace to the need for a group level of increased state of alertness, to be on the lookout for predators.

If you want the effect of yawning without the social gaff of displaying your open mouth, breathe deeply through your nose: it will cool down your brain.

[Studies reported in U.S. News and World Report, January 7, 2008]

Why smell the roses?

Not just to pause and enjoy life, although that’s a good reason too.

1. The same part of the brain that processes messages received via the sense of smell (olfaction) also directly relates to our emotional responses. Scents and memory, linked, therefore have uniquely emotional power; and therefore may actually be retained more firmly than memories not linked to smell. REASON to smell the roses: help your ability to retrieve something you want to remember.
2. Olfactory input also triggers changes in
   1. Mood
   2. Heartbeat
   3. Breathing
   4. Behavior

[See # 6, below.] REASON to smell the roses: consider your olfactory nerve your personalized and invisible biofeedback machine!

3. Some women, not necessarily consciously, choose a mate more according to an attraction to the partner’s unique smell than to appearance. Similarly, scents subliminally judged “good” or “bad” influence how folks’ determine their unique “likability” factor in the faces of people they meet. REASON to smell the roses: heighten your ability to find a sexual partner!
4. An impaired olfactory sense can indicate early-onset Alzheimer’s. [Obvious REASON to boost and maintain the sense of smell]
5. Anosmia (medical term for the lost sense of smell) may lead to depression. See all the above reasons, if it’s not apparent why/how that might happen!
6. Certain smells are associated with observed responses:
   1. Peppermint: increases alertness
   2. Lavender: soothes anxiety
   3. Vanilla: helps control food cravings

What if you don’t have a particularly sensitive nose? Just inhale! Notice, pay attention, focus consciously on the scents around you: doing so will actually improve your sense of smell. And harness that link to memory: collect “scent mementos” such as the shampoo you discovered in the hotel on your honeymoon; prepare aromatic “comfort foods” from childhood in your mother’s kitchen; etc.

[Studies reported in U.S. News and World Report, January 7, 2008]

Why does the brain have so many folds and creases?

The size of your skull limits how large your brain can be. By indenting and convoluting, the cortex of the brain adds surface area for the multiple uses you want to add to its capacity. Rather like building a high-rise condo on the same amount of land as might have been used for one beach cottage! Bottom line: you want those wrinkles; better inside the skull than outside, hm?

[This photo is aligned in the reverse of what most images show: the front is on the right and the back (the cerebellum) is to the left.]