this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2025
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:

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  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. No politics
    • If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
    • A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
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As far as I know, the purpose of yawning isn't really understood, but it's present in nearly all land vertebrae. Maybe it's a universal bug in the breathing animation code.

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[–] FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io 4 points 2 days ago (4 children)

I thought I'd read that yawning is just to help boost your oxygen levels, but I don't have sufficient motivation to actually look it up.

[–] rogermiraki@lemm.ee 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

That's easy to check. I'm currently insanely jet lagged and super tired, yawning every few minutes. My pulse oximeter is indicating 99% saturation, so that's not it.

Edit: on the other hand, I'm a flight attendant, so my body is used to lower oxygen atmospheres, so I usually have >98% O2 levels.

[–] FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Maybe you're at 99% because you've been yawning?

Ok, I am sufficiently caffeinated and bothered to look up a study: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3678674/

According to the above, they suspect it has to do with helping to keep you relative alert/awake but also, possibly to cool the brain and adjust ear pressure.

[–] rogermiraki@lemm.ee 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The thing is that my o2 saturation doesn't drop between yawns, which is what leads me to believe that's not it.

[–] FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io 1 points 1 day ago

Yeah, there doesn't seem to be anything (at least in that study) to suggest it actually impacts blood oxygen levels either.

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