Contagious Yawning More Common Among Family

Posted by NG Kids in News Bites on December 14, 2011
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You may have noticed that if you see someone yawn, you feel an urge to yawn yourself. This is called contagious yawning. But a new study shows that rates of contagious yawning are higher near relatives, followed by close friends. The study suggests that yawning may be a way to empathize with others by showing you are feeling the same way they are feeling.

Read more about this study on National Geographic News.

Make your family tree into a mobile on National Geographic Kids.

Photograph by Lynn Johnson, National Geographic

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Categories: Health and Nutrition

Comments

  1. LabRats1423
    December 17, 2011, 10:51 pm

    i think that families start to yawn alot because their near each other to much so it gets boring after awhile and you feel like the kids want to go and play with their frends , but the parents want to go on their phones and talk to
    their frends.

  2. jakey01210
    December 18, 2011, 6:47 am

    how intresting thank you for telling me that

  3. coolcat24
    January 3, 2012, 8:32 pm

    Can I make my dog yawn?

  4. jamiekid
    January 4, 2012, 12:15 am

    haha I just yawned

  5. ninjanacho
    January 5, 2012, 4:12 pm

    that is true i have experienced it my dogs yawns are contagious

  6. barnowl24601
    January 8, 2012, 7:48 pm

    same happens to me
    my dogs yawns are contagious too!
    actually that is one of scientists recent discoveries

  7. jamiekid
    January 10, 2012, 11:57 pm

    just about anything that yawns is contagious for me lol

  8. victoria9339
    January 14, 2012, 8:46 pm

    wow i didn’t know dogs could yawn! xD i know that its true because when i yawn usually some one else yawns!

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