Screen Apnea damaging your health
There's something you are doing at this very moment that could be bad for your health. Creating this sense of anticipation in the first sentence may have made it even worse. I'll put you out of your misery right now by telling you that you were probably holding your breath.
Studies have shown that around 80% of us might be holding our breath or shallow breathing whilst looking at a screen. Its been termed "screen apnea, or for those spending large amounts of time in email, "email apnea".
Apnea is the technical term for the suspension of external breathing. This can happen during sleep, so you may have come across the term "sleep apnea". You may voluntarily be holding your breath when asleep. This can lead to problems such as tiredness, lack of concentration, and mood swings.
Holding your breath
Why might you hold your breath whilst watching a screen? Firstly, poor posture doesn't help. Being hunched over your laptop or phone makes it hard to fully breathe. Plus when viewing screen you frequently have moments of anticipation. Like when watching a suspense movie, you get a feeling that something bad is about to happen.
Your nervous system is in that "fight or flight" mode. Your primitive monkey brain is preparing to defend itself or run away. So you hold our breath and don’t move. Then when the danger is over you have a sense of relief, and remember to exhale.
Losing your body
A similar thing happens when working on screens. As you read incoming messages you may hold our breath. Once read, you may forget to exhale. You carry on, solving the problem revealed in the message, or jump straight onto the next message. Breathing starts to become shallower. You are so wrapped up in your screen, that you become unaware of your body
If you are doing this day after day it's going to have both a short and long term effect on our health. Body chemistry is thrown off. A change in the balance of oxygen, CO2, and nitrate oxide. Weakening the immune system, and affecting learning, memory, and sleep.
Spotting the problem
Preventing this apnea is not easy. When your mind is so engaged with a problem, it’s going to have trouble spotting that the body is forgetting to breathe. It just won't notice it. I only started to notice it when I regularly felt my chest to be tight, along with large amounts of tension in my body.
I learned to take regular breaks from my email inbox, message apps, and social media. Getting up from my desk at least every half hour, to reengage with my body, even if it’s just for a minute or two. Breathing techniques are very helpful too, they help you relax by allowing you to spot any tension in your body.
By working at this over time, you'll hopefully become less stressed, increase your emotional wellbeing, and work effectiveness.