You’re right, a lot of people get tears when they yawn. When you yawn, you actually use lot of muscles in your face. Maybe you can feel the stretch in your jaw, cheeks and eyes.
As the muscles in your face contract, they can put a lot of pressure on the plumbing system that is in charge of making your tears.
That’s what I found out from my friend Karin Biggs, an adjunct professor of biology at Washington State University.
“When we yawn we are contracting all the muscles in our face,” Biggs said. “We are just squeezing the tears out of the gland and out of the tubes because we have squeezed all of our face at once.”
Whether your tears come from crying, sneezing, laughing or yawning, they are often a good sign your body is taking care of you and that your eyes are working well.