Yawning

Okay, when I awoke this morning and looked down at my also awakening cat and she let out a HUGE yawn.  I thought you know how odd that we share the oddity of yawning with animals, I've read that cats, dogs and even fish yawn.  It is said that even 11 week-old fetuses yawn ... now I haven't seen any personally yawn, so I'll take the word of experts.

The chain reaction that is yawning - as I was reading up on the subject, one article said you will probably yawn before the end of this article, I thought "yeah right" ... by the end of the article I yawned ... "WOW"

It is said that even a blind person just hearing yawn will more in likely yawn within the next five minutes - yet what does a yawn do for us - no one really knows - lots of theory:  Yawning is an involuntary action that
causes us to open our mouths wide and breathe in deeply. BUT why the heck does the body do it?

• Physiological Theory -- Our bodies induce yawning to drawn in more oxygen or remove a build-up of carbon dioxide. This theory helps explain why we yawn in groups. Larger groups produce more carbon dioxide, which means our bodies would act to draw in more oxygen and get rid of the excess carbon dioxide.  However, Giving people additional oxygen didn't decrease yawning and decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide in a subject's environment also didn't prevent yawning.
• Evolution Theory -- Some think that yawning is something that began with our ancestors, who used yawning to show their teeth and intimidate others
• Boredom Theory -- In the dictionary, yawning is said to be caused by boredom, fatigue or drowsiness. Although we do tend to yawn when bored or tired, this theory doesn't explain why Olympic athletes yawn right before they compete in their event.

Interesting Yawning Facts:

• The average yawn lasts about six seconds.
• Your heart rate can rise as much as 30 percent during a yawn.
• 55 percent of people will yawn within five minutes of seeing someone else yawn.
• Blind people yawn more after hearing an audio tape of people yawning.
• Reading about yawning will make you yawn.
• Olympic athletes often yawn before competition.

So what up with that?!  Not really an original blog, but it was an eye-opening question .. this morning :-) most of my "stuff" isn't original and I looked it up from Discovery Health but what'ev I was in the mood to blog regardless of the two glasses of wine I've had to rest my brain from rehearsals ... so does it make sense or not - I'll go with not ... hopefully you will be amused AND YES, I myself have yawned typing this blog about the wonders of yawning ... so you decide boring blog or contagious yawn??

Great Day to You Buddies!

PS .. not my cat: