Caught My Yawn? Aren't You Sweet

Other coping mechanisms do more harm than good: research

(NEWSER) - Humankind has developed plenty of coping mechanisms over the centuries, from long walks to hard drugs. While many of these methods have endured, not all of them are in our brains’ best interests, writes Alice Walton at Forbes . Smoking and drinking, for example, can lead to a vicious cycle of craving. Meditation, on the other hand, has long helped us get away from ourselves—and now there’s hard data showing it works. More»

Tendency to 'catch' yawns doesn't occur until age five, study shows

(NEWSER) - Yawning is contagious—unless you're a baby. Children are immune to the phenomenon until the age of five, a new study shows. Dogs and chimpanzees also "catch" yawns, even from people, but human youngsters only yawn spontaneously, psychologists found after studying 22 children. They showed each videos of other children, adults, animals, and even their mothers yawning to determine the results, published in the Biological Letters journal. More»

And finds that daydreaming is tied to bad moods

(NEWSER) - Turns out the all-powerful iPhone can also moonlight as your personal therapist, by way of the "Track Your Happiness" app. The app pings users at random times during the day, asking how they're feeling and what they're doing. Researchers looked at the responses of 2,250 adults and found a link between daydreaming and unhappiness: Responders said they were daydreaming almost 47% of the time, and the daydreamers were more likely to say they felt down in the dumps, Mashable reports. More»

Studies suggest we don't seek solace in the familiar

(NEWSER) - Conventional wisdom has it that when we face big changes, we look to the familiar to get us through—whether it’s comfort food or music we’ve loved for years. But new studies suggest the opposite is true, that “change begets change,” in the words of one researcher. For example, subjects offered familiar or exotic food were more likely to try the latter if their lives were changing, reports Time. More»

(NEWSER) - Make sure you've had a good night's sleep before going to court in Illinois. Clifton Williams, 33, went to support his cousin during a hearing on a felony drugs charge, but during the sentencing he stretched his arms and let out a loud, distracting yawn. His cousin got just two years' probation, but the yawning got Williams six months in the clink for contempt of court. More»