Screen (E-mail) Apnea

When we’re sedentary, our skeletal muscles, especially in our lower limbs, do not contract, thus requiring less fuel. I would further postulate that lymph and blood are more stagnant. Which is why standing and treadmill desks, and looking for opportunities to stand or walk during the course of the day, can contribute to supporting a healthier digital lifestyle.

But the negative impact of sitting is just the tip of the iceberg. Screen time also feeds into a vicious cycle of chronic stress in a way that most of us don’t realize.

In February 2008, after seven months of research, I wrote about a phenomenon I call e-mail apnea or screen apnea. Screen apnea is the temporary cessation of breath or shallow breathing while sitting in front of a screen, whether a computer, a mobile device, or a television.

To find out how widespread screen apnea was, I observed over two hundred people using computers and smartphones in offices, homes, and cafes. The vast majority of them were holding their breath, or breathing very shallowly, especially when responding to e-mail. What’s more, their posture while seated at a computer was often compromised, which only further contributed to restricted breathing.

“To explore the impact of this behavior, I called Dr. Margaret Chesney and Dr. David Anderson, then of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Research conducted by Chesney and Anderson demonstrated that breath-holding contributed significantly to stress-related diseases. The body becomes acidic; the kidneys begin to reabsorb sodium; and the oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitric oxide balance is undetermined, which throws off our biochemistry.

“It turns out that nitric oxide, not to be confused with the nitrous oxide used in dental offices, plays an important role in our health. In a briefing document prepared for the Royal Society and Association of British Science writers, Pierce Wright writes, “The immune system uses nitric oxide in fighting viral, bacterial, and parasitic infections, and tumors. Nitric oxide transmits messages between nerve cells and is associated with the processes of learning, memory, sleeping, feeling pain, and, probably, depression.” It is also a mediator in inflammation, which is a contributor to obesity.

“As I researched the literature and spoke with physicians and researchers about breath-holding, a relationship to the vagus nerve also emerged. The vagus nerve is one of the major cranial nerves, whose primary job is to mediate the autonomic nervous system, which includes the sympathetic (“fight-or-flight”) and parasympathetic (“rest-and-digest”) nervous systems.

Deep and regular breathing, also referred to as diaphragmatic breathing, helps to quiet the sympathetic nervous system and allows the parasympathetic nervous system — which governs our sense of hunger and satiety, the relaxation response, and many aspects of healthy organ function — to become more dominant.

Conversely, shallow breathing, breath-holding, and hyperventilating trigger the sympathetic nervous system toward a fight-or-flight state. In this state, our heart rate increases, our sense of satiety is compromised, and our bodies gear up for the physical activity that, historically, accompanied a fight-or-flight response. But when the only physical activity is sitting and responding to e-mail, we’re sort of “all dressed up with nowhere to go.

Our bodies are tuned to be impulsive and compulsive when we’re in fight-or-flight. We also become tuned to over-consume. In this state, we’re less aware of when we’re hungry and when we’re sated. We reach for every available resource, from food to information, as if it’s our last opportunity — pulling out our smartphones again and again to check for e-mail, texts, and messages.

Research from the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute in Portugal suggests a possible explanation: sustained stress causes us to fall back on familiar routines. The part of our brain associated with decision-making and goal-directed behaviors shrinks and the brain regions associated with habit formation grow when we’re under chronic stress.

Keep in mind: it’s not the “what,” the technology, that is the core issue here. It’s the “how” — how are we using that technology?

A beginning musician is awkward with an instrument and doesn’t yet know how to properly breathe, sit, or stand while playing. An experienced musician has learned how to use breath and posture to properly control the instrument. During my investigations in 2008, I noticed that musicians, dancers, athletes, and military test pilots — those who had learned breathing techniques for performance — did not have screen apnea.

Source: from the book "Manage your Day to Day", by Linda Stone