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Excessive yawning

To frequently and involuntarily open the mouth for a long deep breath of air. Excessive yawning usually means that the person is not getting enough sleep. Increasing the amount of sleep one gets at night can also help to decrease the frequent yawning. Another possible cause of frequent yawning is sleep apnea, which is a disorder in which the person does not breath for periods of time while sleeping. This can usually be treated with oxygen at night or surgery to remove any blockage of the airway passages. Frequent yawning can be a side effect of certain medications. It can also be due to a heart problem, such as a sudden heart attack.

Another cause of frequent yawning is narcolepsy, a disorder in which people experience sudden attacks of sleepiness, muscle weakness, and visual or auditory hallucinations. A hallucination is a strong sensory perception that one has of an object or event while awake, when no such object or event exists. Visual hallucinations are seen whereas auditory hallucinations are heard. Your doctor can refer you to a sleep disorders clinic if you and your doctor feel that this would be useful. Keeping a log of how often you yawn will usually be important for an evaluation at a sleep disorders clinic.

To prevent problems at work due to the frequent yawning, it usually helps to cover one's mouth when yawning and to inform others in the workplace that the yawning is involuntary. It usually helps to let coworkers know that you are not yawning so much because you are bored with them.