Excessive yawning is often a symptom of generalized anxiety. Over the past several weeks, I received dozens of e-mails about breathing difficulties and excessive yawning, and in a way, it’s strange that I would receive so many e-mails from people suffering with these problems, because I too once had the excessive yawning symptoms.In my case, I would feel like I could not get a deep enough breath, and consequently, would continue trying to you yawn and take in more and more air. Like many people that e-mail me, I felt that I was probably the only person in the world with this strange anxiety symptom. Obviously, now I know much better…
I have heard from so many different people from all parts of the world with this type of anxiety symptom, so these days it is very clear to me that I was not alone. If you or someone you care about is dealing with this uncomfortable yawning-type anxiety, or feel like you cannot get a deep enough breath, the first thing to do is to see your doctor. But if your doctor gives you a clean bill of health — as mine did after many, many tests — then you may very well be dealing with the same type of anxiety symptom that I had.
In my case, I saw several doctors about the excessive yawning, and in fact, I was almost sure that I had asthma or some other breathing difficulty. But after being given every test in the book, the doctors assured me that there was no physical cause for my breathing difficulty, and in fact, I was “as healthy as a horse.”
This was difficult for me to accept at that time, but today I am well aware that anxiety and panic attacks can cause very real physical symptoms, and even very real physical pain. The fact is, chronic, generalized anxiety can build up over time, causing a person to constantly tighten up the muscles in their upper body, stomach and other areas. Often people are not even aware that they are tightening up these muscles, but over time it will create soreness and even a “tightness” in the chest that can seem very much like a breathing problem.
The way to deal with this type of chronic stress is by using the day-to-day strategies, such as those included in the EasyCalm video series for anxiety. Because yawning and breathing symptoms build up over a long period of time, they require a steady and consistent use of certain relaxation techniques, and other cognitive exercises to bring relief.
If you have had the excessive yawning type of anxiety, or feelings like you cannot breathe properly or take a deep breath, the first thing to do is to see your doctor. But if the doctors can find no physical reason for this, it is very likely you are dealing with chronic build up of general anxiety in your life. Check out the EasyCalm series from more on taking back control over these anxiety symptoms, and living a normal life again. Excessive yawning is no different from any other anxiety problem, and you CAN overcome it, just as I did.
Take care,
Jon
Jon Mercer, MA
Personal Development Coach
http://www.easycalm.com/
http://www.easycalm.com/social.htm
http://www.cafepress.com/socialskills.81169853
Managing Director, Youniverse LLC
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I received an email today that referred to anxiety attacks as “a series of very unfortunate head games.” I believe that’s about as good a description of of anxiety attacks and their symptoms as I’ve ever heard, because, in the end, they are in fact “all in your head.”
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