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Are You Breathing?

Chances are pretty good you’ll hold your breath sometime while you read this note. Not because it’s alarming or frightening, but just because you and I are communicating through a screen.

It’s called “screen apnea” and it’s a stress response. There’s nothing stressful about our exchange here. But screen apnea happens when we do, well, almost anything in front of a screen.

When you think about how much time we spend on a computer or tablet or phone, that can add up to a lot of missing breaths! I don’t know about you, but I’m surprised every week when my iPhone tells me how many hours I’ve spent staring at it.

Maybe it’s a waste of time, but why would that be stressful?

Because our bodies just aren’t designed for constant stimulation. UNC psychiatrist Stephen Porges told The New York Times any of those stimuli send us off looking for signals to show us whether they’re a threat.

That takes mental effort. And the effort starts a string of physiological changes including shallower breathing and a slower heart rate to “quiet” your body and divert resources to help you focus.

Think about a cat stalking a bird or a mouse. Right before they attack, that cat will often freeze and their breathing will become shallow. Dr. Porges says that’s pretty much what’s happening to you when you get a text, email, or Slack message.

First, you freeze. Then you read it. And then you come up with a plan of action.

Doesn’t hurt if that happens once in a while. But when those reflexes are switched on and off all day every day, it puts “the nervous system into a chronic state of threat.”

And all those hours of shallow breathing can leave us exhausted by the end of the day, even if our work isn’t all that stressful and some of that screen time was entirely separate from work. (I’m thinking about my NYT “Spelling Bee” habit.)

So, what do we do about screen apnea?

You might set an alert—a gentle bell, not a harsh buzzer—to remind you it’s time to check in on your breathing. Most of the time when our breath stops, we’re not even aware of it.

If your mouth is open, close it. We tend to breathe more shallowly through our mouths than through our noses.

If you notice that you’re breathing shallowly or not at all, try an audible sigh.

Studies at Stanford’s Center on Stress and Health found that sighing out loud can be a quick and easy way to reset your breathing patterns. And you might experiment with what they call cyclic sighing. When your exhale lasts longer than your inhale it’s especially effective for improving your mood.

Try switching from your phone to your laptop. Looking at a larger screen is less mentally taxing. When you narrow the visual field, your nervous system has to work harder to exclude everything outside of it. And that focus uses energy.

Take a break. And make it a real break.

We all know we should step away from our computers once in a while. But think about how often you leave your desk … and then you wind up responding to a text or an email on your phone. That’s not a break!

Instead, try carving out a little time to do something that doesn’t take much mental effort, like listening to some music. That lets your nervous system switch from a focused, vigilant state to a relaxed one. And that helps, even if it doesn’t last long.

Better yet, add some physical activity to your breaks. A quick walk outside—sometimes I just go out the door and down the steps to sit on my deck for a few minutes—it’s another way to restore some balance. Easy as it is, that shift can still help our bodies work better.

And now that you’re finished reading …

How about writing a reply?

What are you going to do to cut back on your screen apnea? Tell us in a comment below!