Pandiculation is the act of stretching and/or yawning.
A person who pandiculates is a pandiculator. The word originates from the Latin pandere which means "to spread out" or "stretch oneself".
Why do we yawn? Why is yawning contagious? Why does it feel so good to stretch when we wake up in the morning? And do animals yawn?
To learn more about the science of pandiculation, read on, and try not to yawn while you're reading. The strange thing is that once you start thinking about yawning, you're likely to want to yawn. Why?
Interesting Facts About Pandiculation
 The average duration of a yawn is about 6 seconds.
Yawns become contagious to people between the first and second years of life.
A part of the brain that plays an important role in yawning is the hypothalamus.
In big words.......
" Pandiculation is the name given to an action pattern that occurs generally throughout the vertebrate kingdom. It is a sensory-motor action used by animals to arouse the voluntary cortex by making a strong voluntary muscle contraction in order to feed back an equally strong sensory stimulation to the motor neurons. It is a way of "waking up" the sensory-motor cortex."
When you see a dog or cat wake up, it will pandiculate; namely, it will strongly contract the large extensor muscles of the back that are essential for running. Then it may pandiculate in reverse, by contracting the anterior muscles into a flexed posture.
Upon awakening, human beings also pandiculate: they extend their backs, legs, arms, and jaws in a typical stretch. Young humans stretch their limbs in much the same way as other mammals. In every case, it is directly linked with awakening -- it is an ancient sensory-motor pattern of cortical arousal."
And why is pandiculate the word of the week on thebabywebsite? What's the relevance?
Well, In humans, the earliest occurrence of a yawn happens at about 11 weeks after conception -that's BEFORE the baby is born!
Pregnant women report regular 'pandiculation' - not only "kicking" of their foetus but also slow extension which distends their bellies.
So there you have it.
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July 14 2006
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