Espie Colin A
Sir Jules Thorn Sleep & Circadian Neuroscience Institute, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
J Sleep Res. 2025 Oct;34(5):e70142. doi: 10.1111/jsr.70142. Epub 2025 Jul 23.
In 1986, Provine, the pioneer of yawning research wrote that 'Yawning may have the dubious distinction of being the least understood, common human behaviour' (p. 120); and so yawning remains some 40 years later, as something of a biological and social curiosity. However, this article examines contemporary scientific understanding of this age-old conundrum, proposing not only that yawning is a universal component of sleep's normal stimulus control paradigm, but that the conditioned yawn reflex might be harnessed to treat insomnia disorder. The core features of yawning as a ubiquitous, involuntary, periodic and conditionable behaviour; its associated actions on arousal, biofeedback and selective attention, as well as thermoregulation and airway patency; and its potential to signal and promote sleep engagement, lead to the proposition that the conditioned yawn reflex as therapy (CYRaT) is a feasible and potentially effective novel therapeutic for sleep-onset and sleep-maintenance insomnia disorder. Much research is required to test this hypothesis, but the article describes preliminary protocols for the administration and testing of CYRaT that might be utilised for this purpose.
1986年，打哈欠研究的先驱普罗文写道：“打哈欠可能有着这样一种可疑的‘殊荣’，即它是人类最不为人所理解的常见行为”（第120页）；大约40年后，打哈欠仍然是一种生物学和社会学上的奇事。然而，本文探讨了当代科学对这个古老谜题的理解，不仅提出打哈欠是睡眠正常刺激控制范式的一个普遍组成部分，而且提出条件性打哈欠反射可能被用于治疗失眠症。打哈欠作为一种普遍存在、不由自主、周期性且可调节的行为的核心特征；它对唤醒、生物反馈和选择性注意以及体温调节和气道通畅的相关作用；以及它发出信号并促进睡眠参与的潜力，导致了这样一种观点，即条件性打哈欠反射疗法（CYRaT）是一种针对入睡和维持睡眠性失眠症的可行且可能有效的新型疗法。需要进行大量研究来验证这一假设，但本文描述了可用于此目的的CYRaT的给药和测试的初步方案。
