When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Products or services may be offered by an affiliated entity. Learn more.
Excessive Yawning
- Yawning is normal, but frequent or excessive yawning can be caused by sleep deprivation, sleep disorders like narcolepsy or sleep apnea, and certain medications.
- Neurological conditions can also increase yawning in some people, though these causes are less common.
- Treatment depends on the underlying cause, so persistent excessive yawning is worth discussing with a doctor, especially when it occurs with fatigue, drowsiness, or other symptoms.
We yawn for a variety of reasons. Yawning is a natural involuntary response to feeling tired or bored. Yawns can also be “contagious.” We yawn when we see, hear, or even think about yawns.
However, if you find yourself constantly yawning, it may be a symptom of a sleep disorder or other medical concern. People who yawn excessively tend to have an underlying issue causing the yawns. Knowing the signs of excessive yawning can help you identify and treat the root cause.
Your best sleep starts with the right mattress.
Our expert testing team tried 300+ mattresses to find the top ones for every sleeping style. See our favorite mattresses of 2026 here.
- In-depth ratings and comparisons
- Regularly updated with new products and testing data
- Options for all types of sleepers
What Is a Yawn?
A yawn is a natural reflex that all vertebrate animals experience, including birds, fish, reptiles, and mammals. Yawning is observed throughout almost all stages of life, from fetus to older age.
When you yawn, you open your mouth, deeply inhale through your mouth and nose, and exhale slowly. Sometimes you might stretch your arms and tilt your head back as you yawn. Typically, a yawn lasts between five and 10 seconds.
Why Do We Yawn?
Scientists have identified a number of possible reasons that we yawn:
- Sleepiness or Drowsiness: We commonly yawn when we’re drowsy or excessively sleepy. Yawning occurs both after waking up and before bedtime. Yawns are part of your body’s process of staying awake. The stretching you do when you yawn also helps prevent you from falling asleep.
- Boredom: Yawning is also commonly associated with boredom. If your environment isn’t stimulating, you’ll feel drowsy. A yawn may signal to others around us that we’re bored or tired.
- Regulating Brain Temperature: Your yawns might help cool down your overheating brain. In animal studies, the brain temperatures of rats and parakeets were cooler after yawning. One small human study found that people yawn significantly more in summer than in winter.
- Ear Pressure: If you’ve been on an airplane before, you may have experienced uncomfortable ear pressure due to a change in altitude. Although not a primary purpose of yawning, a yawn can relieve pressure in your ears.
- Empathy: Some researchers believe that yawns are part of an empathetic response. In human and animal studies, yawns from one animal have been shown to trigger yawns in other animals of the same species. However, research is limited, so the relationship between yawning and empathy requires further study.
Normal Yawning vs. Excessive Yawning
On average, humans yawn five to 10 times a day. However, people who experience excessive yawning tend to yawn many more times each day. In some case studies, people who yawn excessively reported yawning up to 100 times in a day.
Excessive yawning is often associated with factors other than sleepiness or boredom, such as medication use. However, given that yawning is perceived as disrespectful in many cultures, constant yawning may negatively impact a person’s social life. Excessive yawning can also be a symptom of an underlying disorder.
Causes of Excessive Yawning
Excessive yawning causes include:
- Drowsiness or Excessive Sleepiness: Frequent yawning is often caused by sleep debt. Sleep debt, or the amount of sleep a person is deprived of over time, can lead to drowsiness or excessive sleepiness. Yawning and excessive sleepiness may be a symptom of other sleep disorders, such as narcolepsy and sleep apnea.
- Side Effects of Medication: Several case studies have shown that alterations in medication can cause excessive yawning. Excessive yawning is a common side effect of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which are used to treat depression and anxiety disorders.
- Neurological Disorders: Many neurological disorders can increase yawning frequency. People who suffer from migraines, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, stroke, and head trauma may feel a temporary relief of their symptoms when they yawn.
Diagnosing Excessive Yawning
To diagnose excessive yawning, your doctor needs to eliminate possible sleep habits or disorders causing the yawning. If necessary, your doctor may have you take a diagnostic test called an electroencephalography (EEG). An EEG measures brain waves, or the electric activity in your brain. An EEG can help your doctor diagnose neurological disorders that may be triggering your excessive yawning.
Treatments for Excessive Yawning
Treatment for excessive yawning requires identifying the cause of the yawning. When the underlying cause is treated, the symptom of excessive yawning goes away. For example, when patients reduced or stopped the use of an SSRI, their excessive yawning lessened or went away entirely.
When to Talk to Your Doctor
If you feel that you’re experiencing excessive yawning, talk to your doctor. Keep track of other symptoms you experience in addition to the yawning, such as drowsiness or fatigue. Share these with your doctor, so that they have a better understanding of your current health. Together, you and your doctor can determine the cause of your excessive yawning and develop a treatment plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is excessive yawning bad?
Usually, excessive yawning isn’t a cause for concern. It’s often caused by drowsiness, weariness, or boredom and resolves on its own. It may also be caused by certain medications.
However, in some cases, it can be the result of a more serious condition involving the heart or nervous system. If you experience excessive yawning without a clear cause that doesn’t resolve or if you experience other symptoms like dizziness or trouble breathing, you should talk to your doctor
.
What is considered excessive yawning?
There’s no agreed-upon clinical definition for excessive yawning. The National Library of Medicine describes it as yawning that happens more than expected. The average person yawns 10 times a day
, though this may vary.
If you notice yourself yawning far more than you think is normal, talk to your doctor. You may consider trying to keep track of how often you yawn each day, as the doctor will probably ask for this information, as well as your medical history and when the excessive yawning began.
Why do I yawn excessively when working out?
Research suggests that excessive yawning is common during workouts because yawning is a way of regulating the brain’s temperature
. Numerous studies have shown that brain and body temperature decreases just after you yawn, which suggests that the act serves to cool the brain.
When you exercise, your body temperature rises
, including your brain’s temperature, so yawning is a method your body uses to get your temperature back to baseline.
Can stress cause excessive yawning?
Stress may cause excessive yawning because of the way that stress affects body temperature. Studies have shown that high stress can raise your body’s temperature . Meanwhile, research strongly suggests that yawning is a way of cooling the brain when it gets too hot . Therefore, if your stress causes a steady rise in body temperature, you may yawn more often as a way of regulating the brain’s temperature.
Still have questions? Ask our community!
Join our Sleep Care Community — a trusted hub of sleep health professionals, product specialists, and people just like you. Whether you need expert sleep advice for your insomnia or you’re searching for the perfect mattress, we’ve got you covered. Get personalized guidance from the experts who know sleep best.
Jay Vera Summer is a writer, editor, and wellness coach. She holds a Bachelor's of Science in psychology and Master's degrees in both writing and public policy.
Dr. Abhinav Singh, board certified in Sleep Medicine and Internal Medicine, is the Medical Director of the Indiana Sleep Center, which is accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. He is also a Clinical Assistant Professor at Marian University College of Medicine in Indianapolis, where he developed and teaches a Sleep Medicine rotation.
Learn more about our medical advisory boardReferences16 Sources
Simonds A. K. (1999). Curbside consult: Why do people yawn?. The Western Journal of Medicine, 170(5), 283.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18751145/Walusinski, O. (2009). Yawning in diseases. European Neurology, 62(3), 180–187.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19602891/Teive, H. A. G., Munhoz, R. P., Camargo, C. H. F., & Walusinski, O. (2018). Yawning in neurology: A review. Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria, 76(7), 473–480.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30066799/Guggisberg, A. G., Mathis, J., Schnider, A., & Hess, C. W. (2010). Why do we yawn? Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 34(8), 1267–1276.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20382180/Massen, J. J., Dusch, K., Eldakar, O. T., & Gallup, A. C. (2014). A thermal window for yawning in humans: Yawning as a brain cooling mechanism. Physiology & Behavior, 130, 145–148.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24721675/Walusinski, O. (2010). Popular knowledge and beliefs. In Walusinski, O. (Ed.), Mystery of yawning in physiology and disease. Karger Publishers.
https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/307071Beale, M. D., & Murphree, T. M. (2000). Excessive yawning and SSRI therapy. The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, 3(3), 275–276.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11343604/Gutiérrez-Álvarez, M. (2007). Do your patients suffer from excessive yawning? Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 115(1), 80–81.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17201870/Walusinski, O. (2010). Associated diseases. In Walusinski, O. (Ed.), Mystery of yawning in physiology and disease. Karger Publishers.
https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/307098Schwab, R. J. (2020, June). Insomnia and excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS). Merck Manual Consumer Version., Retrieved June 29, 2021, from
https://www.merckmanuals.com/home/brain,-spinal-cord,-and-nerve-disorders/sleep-disorders/insomnia-and-excessive-daytime-sleepiness-edsNicotra, A., Khalil, N. M., Owbridge, P., Hakda, M., & Beitverda, Y. (2012). Pathological yawning as an ictal seizure manifestation in the elderly. BMJ Case Reports, 2012, bcr0120125618.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23076687/A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia. (2021, January 16). Yawning – excessive. MedlinePlus.
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/003096.htmGallup AC, Eldakar OT. The thermoregulatory theory of yawning: what we know from over 5 years of research. Front Neurosci. 2013;6:188. Published 2013 Jan 2. doi:10.3389/fnins.2012.00188
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23293583/Damatto RL, Cezar MDM, Santos PPD. Control of Body Temperature during Physical Exercise. Arq Bras Cardiol. 2019;112(5):543-544. Published 2019 Jun 6. doi:10.5935/abc.20190081
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31188960/Adriaan Bouwknecht J, Olivier B, Paylor RE. The stress-induced hyperthermia paradigm as a physiological animal model for anxiety: a review of pharmacological and genetic studies in the mouse. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2007;31(1):41-59. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2006.02.002
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16618509/Gallup AC. A thermoregulatory behavior. Front Neurol Neurosci. 2010;28:84-89. doi:10.1159/000307084
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20357466/
