Is yawning really contagious?

Question

I mean that it is quite understandable that you can easily contract others disease.But why do we yawn when the person in front of us yawns?Is there any science behind it?

Answer 1

Pandiculation (yawning) is contagious.

The contagion may have evolved to coordinate the behavior of a group of animals. It's more efficient for a nomadic group if everyone (or most) sleep at the same time.

Aloha

Answer 2

See think of it in a larger perspective-

You are in a room say boardroom with 20 other people around you, you get bored or disinterested, u r sitting of course (can't do anything about it, can you) then u se someone yawning, instinctively you will also yawn, its NOT because it is contagious it is simply because the other peson's act has made u less inhibited

ok point two u r talking or rather asking about contagious yawning in a room aren't you, everybody in a room is subject to same surroundings/circumstances/mental status. Like in a bus or train it is same for everybody so when one yawns the other may yawn or probably the other was already yawning and you just noticed it after you yawned labelling it contagious.

YAWWWNNN.. Time to sleep goodnight

Answer 3

About 95% people yawn after seeing someone yawning within 5 minutes.

Answer 4

Interesting answers. I watched an episode of Myth Busters on Discovery Channel where they "busted" the myth. They set up several experiments, and found that if a person sees another person yawn, they will only yawn back less than 50% of the time.

Answer 5

Yes. In class when somebody yawns...in 5 minutes the whole class is yawning!

Answer 6

When someone yawns, the atmospheric pressure outside the body increases. To keep the atmospheric pressure balanced, other people yawn ;-)

Answer 7

from what i heard when we yawn we draw in larger amounts of oxygen n release carbon dioxide. The amount of oxygen around you decreases. people around u then starts to yawn too as their brains sense lower amount of oxygen being sent to it; a yawn helps to take in more oxygen.

then again if that's the case weren't we be continously yawning when we r exercising? ;p

Answer 8

yes it is really contagius
look at a person yawning and surely in the nxt 2 mins. u will be yawning!!!!

Answer 9

although they can't explain why, research has found that yawning IS contagious. Possible explanation is it is psychological that when we sees other yawn, we yawn back.

Answer 10

yup it is....its called suggestion effect...if uve noticed sumtimes when ur with someone else and u see something tht scares u and u scream the other person without even knowin y uve screamt also screams...and sometimes u even laugh even when u knw why the other persons laughing...this is called "suggestion effect"...