title: Yawning, sleep, and symptom relief in patients with multiple sclerosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) suffer from thermoregulatory dysfunction, and repetitive yawning and sleep problems are symptoms of MS. Because yawning and sleep are involved in thermoregulation, we investigated the association between yawning, sleep, and symptom relief in patients with MS.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty patients filled out a questionnaire about how often they yawned, whether yawning provided relief of MS symptoms, and how sleep affected these symptoms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results showed that over one in three patients reported that their MS symptoms improved following a yawn, and of those experiencing relief, nearly half reported that it lasted for several minutes or longer. Not getting a good night's sleep often made MS symptoms worse, while napping during the day provided symptom relief.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first study showing that yawning provides symptom relief in patients with multiple sclerosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA. a.c.gallup@gmail.com
authors.forename: Andrew C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Gallup
authors.forename: Gordon G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Gallup
authors.forename: Concetta
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Feo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D015000:Yawning / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult