CONTAGIOUS But not Dangerous!

So that's what they call it! Sympathetic yawning. I used to do alot of that at work. Experienced it alot. Fatigue is the culprit. Animals are so cute doing it. I have sleeping problems and I find I yawn when I am actually getting tired and know I can sleep soon. Bizarre?

I hate when this happens to me! Every time anyone else yawns I do it too. I just want to not have to yawn just because someone else does. Lol. It drives me crazy.

Hehe..you have a good sight on this i don't understand why it happens too is there any research about this i am curious to know

I have heard of this, and I believe it happens . . . but strangely, I hardly ever yawn these days (as tired as I am with my two little ones - ha ha). I also hear that yawning can be due to lack of oxygen in your system . . . I do a lot of breathing exercises when I think of it (otherwise I get bad migraine headaches during a certain time of the month) . . so maybe that's why I don't yawn so much?

i ma so sorry but i do not know what sympathetic yawning. i heard from a friend that people will yawn if you will yawn this is related to oxygenation.

Even reading this discussion, I want to yawn! Yes, I have witnessed this and usually I'm the first start this trend.

I have "caught" yawns from my dogs. I don't know what causes this phenomenon but it happens all the time. I know that researchers still don't understand it completely. At one time, I tried to find the answer but it simply does not exist. It's one of those human quirks that we just have to accept and not question, apparently. Maybe, one day researchers will find the exact cause of sympathetic yawns but, for now, we just have to accept that we don't have much control over them. When my sister and I were teenagers, we'd sometimes play a prank on our mother while she was doing something quiet like reading a book or watching TV. We'd both pretend to yawn, over and over again, while sitting close to our mother. We'd do this until she "caught" the yawns and began yawning herself, then we'd laugh, causing her to laugh and cut off her yawn. Of course, once your brain is set on yawning, it usually won't give up until you get that yawn out so she kept having to yawn and we'd laugh each time. When she finally told us to stop, we would, allowing her to finally get that yawn out. It was fun because she had a good sense of humor about it and knew were were just teasing.

I don't know if yawning is infectious or maybe I'm not observant. But it is a normal response when we feel sleepy, tired or weary. The involuntary opening of our mouth while taking a long deep breath of air. Haven't heard of sympathetic yawning though but it could be true as a normal reflex.

Yeah, i think i read it on a magazine, K-zone, in their trivia part that yawning is very powerful, since even reading the world will make yu yawn and seeing people yawn will make you yawn too.. it is true, i just prevented myself from yawning when i read your post.

I agree with you, yawning is contagious and I just knew sympathetic yawning from your discussion. Can you explain how it happened to be called so?

Yes, it's very contagious. I have experienced yawning infront of the my professor before while talking to her and she yawned too after me, we both laughing after that yawning incident. Now I am yawning because im little bit sleepy.

Hello mikyung I have experienced this sympathetic yawning phenonmenon. I have also read that yawning at a dog has a calming affect on the dog and the dog feels less threatened when someone yawns at it. I have tried this but can't really tell any difference. I have also tried yawning to see if my dog will yawn. Peace