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Excessive Yawning
Excessive yawning is frequent and involuntarily opening
of 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.
FEATURED BOOK: Curious Behavior: Yawning, Laughing, Hiccuping, and Beyond
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 for
further evaluation. 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.
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