Is Face Twitching a Symptom of Stress?

Stress can impact our bodies in many different ways, including involuntary muscle spasms. Read on to learn if face twitching is a symptom of stress.

January 17, 2025 · 5 min · 946 words · Tina Hanson

Table of Contents

Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsIs Face Twitching a Symptom of Stress?When Is Face Twitching More Than Stress?How Does Stress Impact Our Bodies?How to Decrease Your Stress LevelsA Word From Verywell

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

Is Face Twitching a Symptom of Stress?

When Is Face Twitching More Than Stress?

How Does Stress Impact Our Bodies?

How to Decrease Your Stress Levels

A Word From Verywell

Close

Unfortunately,stressis a normalized experience in our culture. From thehustle-mentalitymany have adopted as a way of meeting theirbasic needsto the lasting effects of the pandemic, individuals have grappled with adapting to the stress in their daily life.

Unfortunately, stress doesn’t only impact one’s mental health—it can affect your physical health too. The results can be overwhelming, fromspiked cholesteroland blood pressure to lackluster sleep. However, other physical indicators you’re experiencing may leave you wondering if stress is the culprit. Face twitching may be one of those things.

This article will explore if face twitching is a symptom of stress, how stress impacts our bodies, and ways todecrease stress levels.

Stress, fatigue, anxiety, and depression can all be factors causing these twitches. While some doctors may recommend botox injections as a form of treatment, treatment protocols will typically address the psychological issues first to resolve stress-induced twitching.

Consider this scenario: You’re extremelyoverwhelmeddue to intense work deadlines and discord in your family system around the holidays. You’re drinking more caffeine than usual and may skip meals or overeat.

You find that yoursleepis less restful, and you’re generally more agitated than normal. You also notice that you’re experiencing facial twitches occasionally, sometimes in your eye. This experience is all too common and can be dialed down to the fact that face twitching can signify stress.

An Overview of Stress Management

Sometimes face twitching is a sign of a neuromuscular disorder rather than a sign of feelinganxious.

It Could Be SpasmsThis disorder is called hemifacial spasm and features involuntary twitching on one side of the face. It is commonly seen in middle-aged to older women and typically begins with an occasional eyelid twitching. The twitching is powerful enough to make the eyelid close completely. This twitching will progress until all muscles on one side of the face are involuntarily spasming.

It Could Be Spasms

This disorder is called hemifacial spasm and features involuntary twitching on one side of the face. It is commonly seen in middle-aged to older women and typically begins with an occasional eyelid twitching. The twitching is powerful enough to make the eyelid close completely. This twitching will progress until all muscles on one side of the face are involuntarily spasming.

Unlike psychogenic facial spasms, the recommended treatment for hemifacial spasms is botox injections into the impacted areas. Botox will relax the muscle, thus eradicating the spasms.

Understanding Caffeine Side Effects

There’s no other way to put it: Stress is toxic. However, not all stress is the same.Acute stress, which occurs in response to a rare event, can trigger the body to develop a strongerresilienceto stress.

Occasional events where acute stress may arise are when you’re involved in an accident or notice you lost your wallet. Your body will release stress hormones, your heart rate will increase, and you might notice you react to the issues at hand rather intuitively. This is your body’s way of naturally adapting to the issue at hand so you can safely resolve it.

Chronic stressis prolonged and can cause many health ailments, including facial twitching. Chronic stress is the type of stress that is ongoing, like caregiving for someone with a terminal illness, working in a toxic environment, or living inpoverty.This stress can lead to spiked cholesterol, triggering further health issues.It can also result in a smaller brain mass and diminishedmemory.

It may feel overwhelming to hear how stress can begin to attack your physical health. But don’t lose hope—there are ways to decrease stress levels.

Can Alzheimer’s Disease Be Prevented?

It is ideal to be able to remove stressful situations from your life, but that isn’t realistic for most of us. However, there are still ways to avoid the physical effects of stress that aren’t expensive or time-consuming.

Deep Breathing

Meditation

Meditationis another form of relaxation that is free and relatively quick. Similar to deep breathing, it can also lower cortisol and blood pressure. Plus, it can be practiced with the whole family. If you’re unsure where to start, check out thisloving-kindness meditation.

Yoga

Above all, try to cultivate a sense of kindness towards yourself. You are trying your best every day, which shouldn’t be overlooked. If you’re feeling called to explore your healing journey further, consider joining asupport groupor reaching out to alicensed therapist.

8 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Tan EK, Jankovic J.Psychogenic hemifacial spasm.JNP. 2001;13(3):380-384. doi: 10.1176/jnp.13.3.380

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.Hemifacial Spasm.

Hammen C, Kim EY, Eberhart NK, Brennan PA.Chronic and acute stress and the prediction of major depression in women.Depress Anxiety. 2009;26(8):718-723. doi: 10.1002/da.20571

Muldoon MF, Bachen EA, Manuck SB, Waldstein SR, Bricker PL, Bennett JA.Acute cholesterol responses to mental stress and change in posture.Arch Intern Med. 1992;152(4):775-780. PMID: 1558435.

Yaribeygi H, Panahi Y, Sahraei H, Johnston TP, Sahebkar A.The impact of stress on body function: A review.EXCLI J. 2017;16:1057-1072. Doi: 10.17179/excli2017-480

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.Stress.

Meet Our Review Board

Share Feedback

Was this page helpful?Thanks for your feedback!What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit

Was this page helpful?

Thanks for your feedback!

What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit

What is your feedback?