It’s a staple of cartoons and sitcoms alike: that telltale tic that signals a character is right on the very edge of sanity, so stressed out that their body is forced to betray them via a tiny but uncontrollable twitch of the eyelid. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

Of course, we all know not to take medical advice from cartoons – but in this case, they’ve actually got it right. Many of us have indeed experienced this annoying twitch before, and as annoying as it feels, it usually just comes down to being stressed or tired.

Technically called “myokymia”, these stress twitches are “fairly common,” confirms Healthline , “and are rarely a sign of a serious problem.” They’re not usually painful, and may happen many time

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