A few weeks ago, I decided to take a much-needed break away from my computer. I'd spent the past year writing a family memoir, and, now that it was published, I was feeling mixed emotions at the accomplishment: elation and emotional exhaustion. As I reflected upon the year, I realized that, while concentrating in front of my laptop, not only did I often cry a bucket of salty tears, but it sometimes also felt as if I was gasping for air. Type type, cry cry, gasp gasp.
I was suffering from a classic case of "email apnea," and I would soon learn that it was bad for my health.
That quirky term was coined by American technology researcher Linda Stone. Similar to sleep apnea, when some people stop breathing during sleep, email apnea describes a temporary absence or suspension of breathing or shallow breathing while concentrating in front of a computer monitor. Stone, who has worked for Apple for many years on special projects, is renowned for looking at the relationship between technology and people.
Stone wrote about email apnea in February 2008 when she first noticed it in herself. She realized that, as she sifted through her inbox and as her active brain whirled, her breathing was very shallow or she stopped breathing all together.
She then noticed other people apparently doing the same thing, sitting in front of their computers hyperventilating or not breathing at all!
She interviewed several scientists to learn more about the impact of irregular breathing on human health and was disconcerted to learn that holding your breath, breathing shallowly and hyperventilating can all have negative health effects, especially long-term. In the short term, disrupted breathing can increase feelings of stress. Breathing is linked with the vagus nerve, part of the "animal brain" that oversees the basic fight-or-flight response. By breathing irregularly, the body triggers a nervous response, tensing up, dumping chemicals into the nervous system and confusing the body.
For a society obsessed with dieting and the growing numbers of overweight adults and children, it is interesting to learn that email apnea may be linked to weight gain. According to Stone, since the vagus nerve is also involved in determination of satiety, by not breathing in the morning as you check your email, you may interfere with your lunchtime appetite.
The activated sympathetic nervous system, whose general action is to mobilize the body's resources under stress, causes the liver to dump glucose and cholesterol into our blood, our heart rate to increase, our sense of satiety to be compromised and our bodies to anticipate physical activity that historically accompanied running away from a charging mastodon. When the only physical activity is sitting and responding to emails, Linda Stone describes us as "all dressed up with nowhere to go."
I was weary of fight or flight; I needed three days to rest and digest. So I visited a friend in Sechelt on BC's Sunshine Coast who conducts healing retreats at a beautiful lodge. She served organic vegetable broths three times a day and salads and steamed veggies for dinner. Yoga and stretching took up most of each morning and a remarkable exercise called holotropic breath work occupied the afternoon. By the end of the three days I felt rejuvenated.
Breathing is something we take for granted, yet our breath is our life. Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote, "He lives most life whoever breathes most air." Somehow we have lost that simple lesson, especially trying to live and work at the relentless pace of this frazzled mechanized world. Modern technology has made some aspects of life easier and more fun, but it comes at a price. So turn off your computer, get outside and breathe.
Roxanne Davies is author of Orchards, Crossroads and Dreams, A Ukrainian Memoir. She is still breathing. masterfulconsulting@telus.net