Tech users warned of emails 'stopping you breathing' - and how to avoid it

A health expert has raised concerns about 'screen apnea', a term first introduced by former Microsoft executive Linda Stone, who observed a concerning pattern in her own and others' health due to screen usage. She's calling on people to be aware of their breathing when using technology before it leads to serious health issues.

Linda Stone discussed the phenomenon on NPR's Body Electric podcast with Manoush Zomorodi, where she described her personal experience: "Once I got to my computer I was either holding my breath for long periods of time or breathing shallowly. As the emails would stream in I would inhale, because we inhale in anticipation, but I wouldn't exhale because so many emails would be streaming in."

Stone conducted an informal study to test her theory, which involved volunteers wearing monitors checking their heart rate and breathing while they used their computers. The results showed that almost all participants experienced irregular breathing patterns during screen time, except for those accustomed to high-pressure environments like military pilots, athletes, and performers.

Linda highlighted that these were "people who had learned to breathe and do something at the same time as part of their training" and coined the term screen apnea because she "wanted to communicate is that there was disturbed breathing when we are in front of our screens".

She observed that posture plays a significant role, noting how we "melt" into our devices during prolonged use, and underscored the "steady stream of interruptions" from screens that disrupt our regular breathing pattern.

According to Linda's research, improper breathing can lead to numerous health issues: "The body becomes acidic, the kidneys begin to reabsorb sodium and our whole biochemistry is thrown off. All of these chronic diseases that have been on the rise and probably follow the same trajectory as our adoption of personal technology, I began to see that it was probably related."

Finding a solution is "not that easy", as Linda discovered while trying to learn an instrument and dance, striving to find a way to engage "to an object while I was maintaining posture and breathing".

James Nestor, author of 'Breath', suggests a technique to combat screen apnea: "Take your hand and place it around where your belly button is, just lightly, and as you inhale you want to feel that slight expansion of that abdominal region and as you continue breathing lift that breath to your chest area. Start low and work it up a little higher."

"Then if you slow that down, breathing in and out of your nose at a rate of five to six seconds in, five to six seconds out, you'll start to notice your shoulders relaxing. You'll start to notice the muscles in your face relaxing, you'll feel your heart rate lower, if you're looking at your blood pressure most people see a drop because this is your body re-entering its natural a state. A state in which it was designed to be in that we are so divorced from today.[".

He admitted that mastering this technique will require some serious focus and dedication initially, but encouraged individuals to commit to this proper breathing method for just two minutes daily. He asserted that within a few weeks, they would eventually "be doing this unconsciously".