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Excessive Yawning
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Anyone else experience long periods of yawning. For about the last 18 months I find myself yawning a lot more then previously. FWIW I am 48 year old male, in good condition, generally sleep well at least 8 hours, moderate training 5 - 10 hours per week. Blood test done and everything normal except for low red blood cell count which is fairly common for me ferritin with normal range, taking synthroid for low thyroid, have noticed the last 2 years that I no longer experience "morning wood" testosterone within normal range.
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Re: Excessive Yawning [pokey] [ In reply to ]
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Do you yawn when changing a physiological state?

When I was in the Army, I used to yawn like crazy right before a parachute jump or movement to a raid. People thought I was tired, bored, or nuts to show calm because most people associate a yawn with tiredness. The unit psychologist told me that its a subliminal action when the brain is transitioning feelings or emotions.
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Re: Excessive Yawning [pokey] [ In reply to ]
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Yawning can be a sign of stress/anxiety... first learned about it re dogs stress yawning, but apparently it applies to humans too. Are you carrying any unusually high level of either mental of physical stress? Think about training load, work situation, personal situation over last 18 months. Does it potentially add up to stress/anxiety?
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Re: Excessive Yawning [pokey] [ In reply to ]
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You may not be sleeping as well as you think. For years I had similar symptoms, all of which cleared up after diagnosis of sleep apnea and going on BIPAP therapy.
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Re: Excessive Yawning [mike s] [ In reply to ]
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mike s wrote:
Do you yawn when changing a physiological state?

When I was in the Army, I used to yawn like crazy right before a parachute jump or movement to a raid. People thought I was tired, bored, or nuts to show calm because most people associate a yawn with tiredness. The unit psychologist told me that its a subliminal action when the brain is transitioning feelings or emotions.

I can't find any pattern for it, although I tend to notice it more at work before lunch. I have almost no stress work wise, financially or emotionally. I just started training more the last month and actually noticed I have more energy but still experience periods of yawing. Oddly enough I notice it more when I am bored.
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Re: Excessive Yawning [Mudge] [ In reply to ]
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Mudge wrote:
You may not be sleeping as well as you think. For years I had similar symptoms, all of which cleared up after diagnosis of sleep apnea and going on BIPAP therapy.

Interesting, as mentioned I feel like I get a solid sleep, falling asleep fairly quickly and rarely waking up, spouse and I have gone to sleeping separately as our youngest likes to sleep with her and 3 too many in the bed, so no distractions at night. I do notice I am still tired in morning even after 8-9 hours sleep< i have been getting up to swim 3 times a week at 6am and actually feeling better then sleeping into 8am. I will look into BIPAP therapy, thanks!
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Re: Excessive Yawning [pokey] [ In reply to ]
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pokey wrote:
Mudge wrote:
You may not be sleeping as well as you think. For years I had similar symptoms, all of which cleared up after diagnosis of sleep apnea and going on BIPAP therapy.


Interesting, as mentioned I feel like I get a solid sleep, falling asleep fairly quickly and rarely waking up, spouse and I have gone to sleeping separately as our youngest likes to sleep with her and 3 too many in the bed, so no distractions at night. I do notice I am still tired in morning even after 8-9 hours sleep< i have been getting up to swim 3 times a week at 6am and actually feeling better then sleeping into 8am. I will look into BIPAP therapy, thanks!

Ask your wife if you snore, or if she’s ever noticed you apparently holding your breath while sleeping. If so, especially the breath holding, talk to a sleep specialist immediately.
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Re: Excessive Yawning [Mudge] [ In reply to ]
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Mudge wrote:
pokey wrote:
Mudge wrote:
You may not be sleeping as well as you think. For years I had similar symptoms, all of which cleared up after diagnosis of sleep apnea and going on BIPAP therapy.


Interesting, as mentioned I feel like I get a solid sleep, falling asleep fairly quickly and rarely waking up, spouse and I have gone to sleeping separately as our youngest likes to sleep with her and 3 too many in the bed, so no distractions at night. I do notice I am still tired in morning even after 8-9 hours sleep< i have been getting up to swim 3 times a week at 6am and actually feeling better then sleeping into 8am. I will look into BIPAP therapy, thanks!

Ask your wife if you snore, or if she’s ever noticed you apparently holding your breath while sleeping. If so, especially the breath holding, talk to a sleep specialist immediately.

No one has ever accused me of snoring, I would assume if I was holding my breath it would cause me to wake up at times?
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Re: Excessive Yawning [pokey] [ In reply to ]
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pokey wrote:
Mudge wrote:
pokey wrote:
Mudge wrote:
You may not be sleeping as well as you think. For years I had similar symptoms, all of which cleared up after diagnosis of sleep apnea and going on BIPAP therapy.


Interesting, as mentioned I feel like I get a solid sleep, falling asleep fairly quickly and rarely waking up, spouse and I have gone to sleeping separately as our youngest likes to sleep with her and 3 too many in the bed, so no distractions at night. I do notice I am still tired in morning even after 8-9 hours sleep< i have been getting up to swim 3 times a week at 6am and actually feeling better then sleeping into 8am. I will look into BIPAP therapy, thanks!


Ask your wife if you snore, or if she’s ever noticed you apparently holding your breath while sleeping. If so, especially the breath holding, talk to a sleep specialist immediately.


No one has ever accused me of snoring, I would assume if I was holding my breath it would cause me to wake up at times?

Not necessarily. I’ve had sleep apnea for years, can count the number of times it’s woken me up on one hand. Anyway, it was just a suggestion for something to consider.
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Re: Excessive Yawning [pokey] [ In reply to ]
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Kelly Starrett from MobilityWod had mentioned in one of his videos yawning as a way for the body to hunt for stability. The video was about forward neck / weak neck muscles from sitting. Cannot find the video right now, but might be another lead.

Strava
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Re: Excessive Yawning [Mudge] [ In reply to ]
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Mudge wrote:
You may not be sleeping as well as you think. For years I had similar symptoms, all of which cleared up after diagnosis of sleep apnea and going on BIPAP therapy.

Agree with this.

clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com
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Re: Excessive Yawning [Strobes27] [ In reply to ]
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nerves in T1 - C4 spinal areas are part of the initiation of the yawn sequence.

Anne Barnes
ABBikefit, Ltd
FIST/SICI/FIST DOWN DEEP
X/Y Coordinator
abbikefit@gmail.com
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Re: Excessive Yawning [pokey] [ In reply to ]
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Is your weight stable? Any reason to think you are not meeting your energy needs with sufficient calories? You list a couple of very specific things that may be normal for you/your age, but that are also criteria I use to determine if athletes are eating enough. Just a thought.

http://www.extramilenutrition.com
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Re: Excessive Yawning [greenjp] [ In reply to ]
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greenjp wrote:
Is your weight stable? Any reason to think you are not meeting your energy needs with sufficient calories? You list a couple of very specific things that may be normal for you/your age, but that are also criteria I use to determine if athletes are eating enough. Just a thought.

Good advice. I seemed to have a yanwing problem when I upped my activity and not calories/macro nutrients. I was sleeping 8+ hours but still yawned a lot. I made sure I was meeting my estimated requirements which was probably about 400-500 calories more than I was eating per day and the yawning seemed to go away.

2019 T-Rex Tri Series
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Re: Excessive Yawning [pokey] [ In reply to ]
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While I was running one morning, I totally got busted for yawning while waiting for a stoplight

The dude in the work truck who caught me, actually handed his Wawa cup out the window, as if to ask "You need this?" It wasn't quite 6AM, after all

I smiled and politely waved him off "I'm good, thanks"

"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin
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Re: Excessive Yawning [pokey] [ In reply to ]
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pokey wrote:
Anyone else experience long periods of yawning. For about the last 18 months I find myself yawning a lot more then previously. FWIW I am 48 year old male, in good condition, generally sleep well at least 8 hours, moderate training 5 - 10 hours per week. Blood test done and everything normal except for low red blood cell count which is fairly common for me ferritin with normal range, taking synthroid for low thyroid, have noticed the last 2 years that I no longer experience "morning wood" testosterone within normal range.

Your docs should know best, but please forgive the long distance virtual doc suggestions—since you asked.
I am assuming you are generally sleeping and resting adequately with your moderate training load.
1) Strong likelihood this is completely benign, given you have no other major complaints.
2) Yawning might indicate hyothroidism—may have deeper dive into your thyroid function tests on synthroid. Potential support for this include: persistently low RBC (consistent with hypothyroidism), and lack of “morning wood” with normal testosterone.
3) Yawning might indicate subclinical cardiovascular disease. Are you feeling light headed when yawning? Does your heart rate dip when yawning? Might suggest vagal process. Lack of “morning wood” with normal testosterone might also be cardiovascular in nature.
4) While I raised organic causes of losing “morning wood” with normal testosterone, it can commonly be caused by your saddle with cycling.
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Re: Excessive Yawning [pokey] [ In reply to ]
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Is this really a thing? And what is the threshold for excessive? If yawning is your issue I think you are okay.
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Re: Excessive Yawning [Jae K] [ In reply to ]
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Your docs should know best, but please forgive the long distance virtual doc suggestions—since you asked.
I am assuming you are generally sleeping and resting adequately with your moderate training load.
1) Strong likelihood this is completely benign, given you have no other major complaints

Hopefully, but you always hear of these people that run into a big problem medically and they said "well I was experiencing X symptom but I ignored it"

2) Yawning might indicate hyothroidism—may have deeper dive into your thyroid function tests on synthroid. Potential support for this include: persistently low RBC (consistent with hypothyroidism), and lack of “morning wood” with normal testosterone.


I get my TSH, T4 Free and T3 Free done regularly and they are well within normal range. MY RBC has Hemoglobin and Hematocrit have always been below normal with Hemoglobin as low as 120 g/L but usually closer to 130 which below normal range, Dr who is into running just says its normal for endurance athletes, Hematocrit .38-.39. I have made a few jokes over the years that I really should be on EPO to improve this


3) Yawning might indicate subclinical cardiovascular disease. Are you feeling light headed when yawning? Does your heart rate dip when yawning? Might suggest vagal process. Lack of “morning wood” with normal testosterone might also be cardiovascular in nature.

No light headedness, I juts assumed that lack of no "morning wood" was a symptom of around 50 years of age, maybe we should have poll on this (get it :). Seriously do most people around 50 really still have "morning wood", I have no other problems with arousal or performing


4) While I raised organic causes of losing “morning wood” with normal testosterone, it can commonly be caused by your saddle with cycling.[/quote]

I have this problem even with taking months off bike.
Last edited by: pokey: Oct 19, 20 19:19
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Re: Excessive Yawning [Dinsky11] [ In reply to ]
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Dinsky11 wrote:
Is this really a thing? And what is the threshold for excessive? If yawning is your issue I think you are okay.

Hopefully your not in the medical profession
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Re: Excessive Yawning [mknight84] [ In reply to ]
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mknight84 wrote:
greenjp wrote:
Is your weight stable? Any reason to think you are not meeting your energy needs with sufficient calories? You list a couple of very specific things that may be normal for you/your age, but that are also criteria I use to determine if athletes are eating enough. Just a thought.

Good advice. I seemed to have a yanwing problem when I upped my activity and not calories/macro nutrients. I was sleeping 8+ hours but still yawned a lot. I made sure I was meeting my estimated requirements which was probably about 400-500 calories more than I was eating per day and the yawning seemed to go away.

Thanks, I will take this into account and monitor, I just heard a podcast with Ryan Hall who says the same thing that most runners dont eat enough
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