Saturday Morning Pandiculation

Ok, you know that feeling you get stretching and yawning at the same time? It actually has a name: Pandiculation. And it's a marvellous feeling. But what does it actually do?

Well, when you pandiculate, you are actually 'waking up' your brain's sensory-motor cortex, setting things in motion (which is why you typically find yourself doing this yawn-and-stretch thing upon awakening). It is a sort of passive stretching of the muscles, and also increases heart rate and blood pressure. This makes you feel more alert and ready for the day. It is an instinctive motion that most of us don't even give a passing thought. 

There are some people who believe that one can harness this type of stretching movement to attain some pain relief, and that it would be more beneficial than more "active" type of stretching aka stretches before running, etc.

You can read about that here. There is also some information about it here. I don't know what to think. I suppose it makes sense - doing something that is based on instinct would be easy to adopt, and if it provides ease of pain or helps with stress, it's worth investigating.

And now you can put a name to that lovely thing you do when you wake up.