Yawning and Anxiety

Why does anxiety cause frequent or excessive yawning?

Why we yawn.

Yawning is a complex and not fully understood phenomenon. While it is commonly associated with sleepiness and boredom, the exact reason why we yawn is still debated among scientists.

Some proposed theories include the idea that yawning helps regulate brain temperature, increases oxygen circulation in the brain, stretches the lungs and lung tissue, is a protective reflex to redistribute a substance that keeps the lungs lubricated, or to stimulate the vagus nerve. However, none of these theories have been proven conclusively, and the true purpose of yawning remains a mystery.

Why Anxiety Causes Yawning (frequent or excessive).

Based on the various theories, there are many ways anxiety can cause yawning (frequent or excessive). For instance:

1. The stress response

Anxious behavior activates the stress response, which secretes stress hormones into the bloodstream, where they travel to targeted locations to bring about specific physiological, psychological, and emotional changes that enhance the body’s ability to deal with a threat – to either fight or flee.

This survival reaction is often referred to as:[1][2]

• The fight or flight response.
• The freeze response(some people become so frightened that they freeze with fear like a “deer caught in headlights”). This response is thought to be a survival mechanism that allows the person to blend in with their surroundings and avoid detection by a predator.
• The faint response (some people faint when afraid). This response is thought to be a last resort for survival in situations where fighting or fleeing is not possible or likely to be successful.
• The submit response (some people easily surrender to their threats when afraid). This response is thought to be a way of avoiding further harm or injury and may be seen in situations where the person feels powerless or overwhelmed.
• The appease response(some people attempt to calm or placate the threat to avoid harm or conflict). This response is thought to be a way of avoiding or reducing the severity of the threat.

Some of the stress response changes include:

• Quickly converts the body’s energy reserves into “fuel” (blood sugar) to boost of energy.
• Increases heart rate, respiration, and metabolism due to the boost in energy.
• Stimulates the nervous system, increasing nervous system activity to be more sensitive and reactive to danger.
• Suppresses the vagus nerve (unless a person freezes).
• Shunts blood to parts of the body more vital to survival, such as the brain, arms, legs, and vital organs, and away from parts less vital for survival, such as the stomach, digestive system, and skin. It accomplishes this by constricting blood vessels in certain parts of the body and dilating them in others.
• It suppresses digestion so most of the body’s resources are available for emergency action.
• It causes muscles, including the chest and abdomen, to tighten, making the body more resilient to injury,.
• Increases respiration to accommodate the increase in heart rate.

To name a few.

For complete information about the many body-wide changes, visit our “Stress Response” article.

The degree of stress response is proportional to the degree of anxious behavior. For instance, the higher the degree of anxiety, the more dramatic the stress response.

Since stress responses push the body beyond its internal balance (equilibrium), stress responses stress the body. As such, anxiety stresses the body.

Therefore, anxiety symptoms are symptoms of stress. They are called anxiety symptoms because anxious behavior is the main source of the stress that stresses the body, causing symptoms.

Regarding yawning, acute anxiety can cause yawning in several ways:

• Research shows a link between yawning and stressful or emotional situations, such as tension and anxiety.[3][4][8]
• Elevated cortisol has been linked to an increase in yawning.[5][8] An anxiety-triggered stress response increases circulating cortisol.
• Sudden blood flow to the brain can increase brain temperature, requiring cooling via yawning.[6][7]
• Research has shown that yawning could be due to amygdalar activation, such as from emotional behavior.[8][9][10]
• Increased heart rate and respiration can cause sudden shortness of breath (dyspnea), requiring deeper breaths to correct, such as via yawning.[11]
• Tight chest and abdominal muscles can make breathing labored, requiring deeper breaths, such as yawning, which expands the lungs.[11]
• Some people over-breathe (hyperventilate) when anxious, changing the CO2 balance in the blood that requires yawning to correct.[12]
• Some people hold their breath (hypo ventilate) when anxious, also changing the CO2 balance in the blood, requiring yawning to correct.[12]
• Some people freeze when anxious, also causing hypoventilation, requiring yawning to correct.[12]
• Fatigue after the stress response has ended can also cause yawning.[6]
• Yawning has also been linked to switching between arousal and rest states.[13]
• Yawning can also be a way to stimulate the vagus nerve after the stress response ends.[13]

And so on.

Again, while the exact cause of yawning is not known, these and many other anxiety scenarios can lead to yawning or excessive yawning as an anxiety symptom.

2. Hyperstimulation

When stress responses occur infrequently, the body can recover relatively quickly from the physiological, psychological, and emotional changes brought about by the stress response.

However, when stress responses occur too frequently, such as from overly anxious behavior, the body can’t complete recovery. Incomplete recovery can cause the body to remain in a state of semi-stress-response readiness, which we call “stress-response hyperstimulation” since stress hormones are powerful stimulants.

Hyperstimulation is also often referred to as “hyperarousal,” “HPA axis dysfunction,” or “nervous system dysregulation.”[14][15]

Visit our “Hyperstimulation” article for more information about the many ways hyperstimulation can affect the body.

Hyperstimulation can cause the changes of an active stress response even though a stress response hasn’t been activated.

Many of the factors previously mentioned can occur when the body becomes hyperstimulated, causing chronic anxiety symptoms, including frequent or excessive yawning.

Moreover, sleep disruption and chronic fatigue are common symptoms of hyperstimulation. Yawning is a common symptom of sleepiness and fatigue.

Furthermore, hyperstimulation can cause low blood sugar and mute the effects of the stress response, leading to fatigue and sleepiness, also causing yawning.

Other Factors

Other factors can create stress and cause anxiety-like symptoms, as well as aggravate existing anxiety symptoms, including:

• Medication
• Recreational drugs
• Stimulants
• Sleep deprivation
• Fatigue
• Hyper and hypoventilation
• Low blood sugar
• Nutritional deficiencies
• Dehydration
• Hormone changes
• Pain

Select the relevant link for more information.

No matter the reason, if you’re anxious and you’ve been yawning a lot, frequent and excessive yawning is a common anxiety symptom.

I (Jim Folk) had many episodes of frequent and excessive yawning during my 12-year struggle with anxiety disorder. So have many of my clients and Recovery Support members.