{"id":326,"date":"2014-06-17T16:08:41","date_gmt":"2014-06-17T16:08:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/?p=326"},"modified":"2022-08-11T11:10:09","modified_gmt":"2022-08-11T16:10:09","slug":"yawning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2014\/06\/17\/yawning\/","title":{"rendered":"Yawning…What Does it Do?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a phenomenon that we still haven\u2019t fully figured out. No it\u2019s not string theory<\/a> or quantum gravity<\/a>. In fact it\u2019s so mundane, so common that even animals do it. It is of course, pandiculation<\/a>. Or if you don\u2019t want me to sound condescending: yawning.<\/p>\n

Yawning<\/a> as a contagion is not a myth; far from it. Being in the presence of someone yawning, hearing someone yawn, and even just reading about the act can induce it.\u00a0At first this may seem strange. There\u2019s nothing chemically contagious about it, unlike a cold. But just think about laughter, crying and smiling. They\u2019re all contagious in the same way. It\u2019s a social mechanism, a way of bonding and conveying empathy.<\/p>\n

Yawning in Other Animals<\/h2>\n

Our primate relatives use it to communicate too. Studies on mangabeys<\/a> and macaques<\/a>\u00a0showed their patterns of yawning are nearly identical to ours. Interestingly, it also showed males were more prone to yawning than females. I wonder if this is true for humans, or if men just get bored more often.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not limited to primates. Reptiles yawn. You’ve definitely seen your cat or dog yawn. In fact dogs will yawn in response to seeing or hearing a human yawn. In all cases though, it seems to be highly infectious. One of the few contagions to spread seamlessly between species.<\/p>\n

What Yawning’s Purpose?<\/h2>\n

The role it serves on our body, however, is a bit elusive. Sure there are theories, but nothing concrete. There were older hypotheses suggesting yawning served as a way to increase oxygen levels. That idea is largely debunked.\u00a0We know that we yawn when we\u2019re tired, especially between rest and waking. We also do it when we\u2019re bored. A humorous study conducted in the 1980s compared students who watched 30 minutes of a rock music video versus 30 minutes of changing colors. Obviously, the latter caused more yawns.<\/p>\n

There is one very interesting theory: yawning as a temperature regulator<\/a>. Seems weird right? The idea here is that yawning draws cool air into the sinuses, cooling the brain. It has been shown that yawning occurs more in the winter than the summer, which would support this. Also, I’ve noticed a restorative feeling in my head, like a reboot, whenever I yawn\u2026so there might be something to this.<\/p>\n

While its physiological purpose escapes us, yawning could serve a diagnostic role. Yawning is observed in children from their earliest years (actually earlier because fetuses yawn in the womb). The ability to \u201ccatch\u201d yawns\u2014get infected by another\u2019s\u2014is also seen in children and increases with age. By the time you\u2019re an adult, the chances of catching a yawn is 40-60%.\u00a0When a child doesn’t develop this, it could very well be a sign of autism<\/a>, unfortunately. Autistic children are half as likely to catch yawns; if their condition is more severe, usually not at all. It\u2019s symptomatic of autism\u2019s inability to connect with others, but it’s one that is observable before many other signs.<\/p>\n

Dr. Potts is a gentle, caring dentist who uses the most advanced materials and procedures available. He practices comfortable, health-centered dentistry, with a strong emphasis on getting to know each patient. In addition to his technical proficiency, Dr. Potts is a careful listener. He makes sure to understand what you want and will explain beforehand what treatment is best for your individual needs, along with all options available to you. Check out our Twitter, Facebook page, and website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a phenomenon that we still haven\u2019t fully figured out. No it\u2019s not string theory or quantum gravity. In fact it\u2019s so mundane, so common that even animals do it. It is of course, pandiculation. Or if you don\u2019t want me to sound condescending: yawning. Yawning as a contagion is not a myth; far from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[285,284,287,43,446,10,244,18,16,17,288,283,286,282],"class_list":{"0":"post-326","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-dentistry","7":"tag-animals","8":"tag-biology","9":"tag-communication","10":"tag-dental-health","11":"tag-dentistry","12":"tag-dr-potts","13":"tag-health-2","14":"tag-lake-county-dental","15":"tag-libertyville","16":"tag-libertyville-dentist","17":"tag-meaning","18":"tag-purpose","19":"tag-social","20":"tag-yawning","21":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nYawning...What Does it Do? - Plotting with Dr. Potts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Yawning...it's something we all do, but never talk about. Well that's all changed with this week's blog entry.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2014\/06\/17\/yawning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Yawning...What Does it Do? - Plotting with Dr. Potts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yawning...it's something we all do, but never talk about. Well that's all changed with this week's blog entry.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2014\/06\/17\/yawning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Plotting with Dr. Potts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-17T16:08:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-11T16:10:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lake County Dental Care\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lake County Dental Care\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Yawning...What Does it Do? - Plotting with Dr. Potts","description":"Yawning...it's something we all do, but never talk about. Well that's all changed with this week's blog entry.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2014\/06\/17\/yawning\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Yawning...What Does it Do? - Plotting with Dr. Potts","og_description":"Yawning...it's something we all do, but never talk about. Well that's all changed with this week's blog entry.","og_url":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2014\/06\/17\/yawning\/","og_site_name":"Plotting with Dr. Potts","article_published_time":"2014-06-17T16:08:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-08-11T16:10:09+00:00","author":"Lake County Dental Care","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lake County Dental Care","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2014\/06\/17\/yawning\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2014\/06\/17\/yawning\/"},"author":{"name":"Lake County Dental Care","@id":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/#\/schema\/person\/0ecc43fd67ddfab999695d7fff11b5b5"},"headline":"Yawning…What Does it Do?","datePublished":"2014-06-17T16:08:41+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-11T16:10:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2014\/06\/17\/yawning\/"},"wordCount":597,"commentCount":0,"keywords":["animals","biology","communication","dental health","Dentistry","Dr. Potts","health","lake county dental","libertyville","libertyville dentist","meaning","purpose","social","yawning"],"articleSection":["Dentistry"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2014\/06\/17\/yawning\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2014\/06\/17\/yawning\/","url":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2014\/06\/17\/yawning\/","name":"Yawning...What Does it Do? - Plotting with Dr. Potts","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-06-17T16:08:41+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-11T16:10:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/#\/schema\/person\/0ecc43fd67ddfab999695d7fff11b5b5"},"description":"Yawning...it's something we all do, but never talk about. Well that's all changed with this week's blog entry.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2014\/06\/17\/yawning\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2014\/06\/17\/yawning\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2014\/06\/17\/yawning\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Yawning…What Does it Do?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/#website","url":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/","name":"Plotting with Dr. Potts","description":"A Passionate Libertyville Dentist","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/#\/schema\/person\/0ecc43fd67ddfab999695d7fff11b5b5","name":"Lake County Dental Care","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/896858addc0f9e9032d1824128d62e5c54d45be142e521d80cd60165b3e7e46d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/896858addc0f9e9032d1824128d62e5c54d45be142e521d80cd60165b3e7e46d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/896858addc0f9e9032d1824128d62e5c54d45be142e521d80cd60165b3e7e46d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lake County Dental Care"},"url":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/author\/socialblog\/"}]}},"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1536,"href":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326\/revisions\/1536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}