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Yawning

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Yawning 

a unique involuntary respiratory movement that consists of a deep, lingering inhalation, during which the mouth, pharynx, and glottis open wide, followed by a rapid, energetic exhalation. An unconditioned reflex adaptive act, yawning is only found in mammals and is directed at improving the oxygen supply to organs when there is an accumulation of CO., in the blood. It occurs when there is fatigue, a prolonged stay in stuffy smoky premises, muscular inactivity, or drowsiness. It arises readily as an imitative act (infectiousness of yawning). Prolonged, painful, or spasmodic yawning may be a symptom of oxygen starvation of the brain (for example, during heavy blood loss) or other pathological conditions that require immediate medical attention.



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With this speech he commenced a second fit of yawning and again howled like a wolf, as he had at first.
The surmise of my maturer years is that, bored by her interminable life, the venerable antiquity was simply yawning with ennui at every seam.
All three were equally new, but numbers one and two were curtained and sedate, with a human, sociable look to them; while number three, with yawning door and unkempt garden, had apparently only just received its furniture and made itself ready for its occupants.
 
 
 
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