unable to yawn or sleep

I am in my mid thirties and have always considered my myself to be in excellent health.  I exercise at least 2 hours a day 4 or 5 times a week, eat properly, and drink mostly water.  However, for the past 18 months I have been unable to take a complete breath or yawn correctly.  This seems to have begun at the time when I went back to school so it might be related to that, but I am no longer in school. It is like I can only yawn about 50-75% of what I'm supposed to.  It's so frustrating, because I then can't get to sleep.  My average nightly sleep is about 4 hours per night; sometimes it is virtually zero.  I went to one doctor who said it was anxiety and I tried everything he suggested, including hypnosis, meditation,and continuing my exercise routine.  However, this activities would either not help or only help temporarily for a couple of days or so.  I can't get rid of this slight (but constant) pressure in my chest.  I just wish I could yawn like I used to and be able to sleep.  Has anyone been through this?  What can I do other than take medications?  At this point, what kind of medications might help me to yawn again?

[Steven Y Park, MD]

This sounds more like a sleep hygiene issue. You might want to consider asking Dr. Jacobs in the insomnia forum.

[sly1000]

A related discussion, can get full breaths but can complete yawn so makes me feel outta breath was started.