Do you have EMAIL APNOEA? 80% of people stop breathing properly when typing - and it could be damaging our health

Email apnea occurs when body goes into 'fight or flight' mode while typing

It can cause excessive sweating, an increased heart rate and dilated pupils

Linda Stone, who coined the phrase, believes 80% of us suffer from it



Do you find yourself getting lightheaded when writing an email?

That might be because you’re so engrossed in your words that you’ve stopped breathing.

It might sound strange, but apparently 80 per cent of us have picked up this habit – and it could be seriously damaging our health.

It is thought that around 80 per cent of us have email apnoea which occurs when your body goes into 'fight or flight mode' while typing

Apnoea is more commonly associated with sleeping. It is characterised by sudden pause in breathing and is most common in adults who are overweight.

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE BODY WHEN IT GOES IN 'FIGHT OR FLIGHT' MODE?

Like other parts of the nervous system, the sympathetic nervous system operates through a series of interconnected neurons.

Breath-holding, shallow breathing and hyperventilating can all trigger something called the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). When activated, the SNS – among other things - can cause pupils to dilate, increases heart palpitations, enables opens up blood vessels in the face and can lead to restless legs and excessive sweating.

It also helps in feeling sensations like cold, heat, and pain. Its job is to protect the body when it’s facing physical danger.

During an episode, lack of oxygen causes a sufferer to come out of deep sleep and into a lighter state of sleep, or a brief period of wakefulness, to restore normal breathing.



Symptoms of the condition include tiredness, waking up with a sore or dry throat, poor memory and concentration, headaches, irritability, anxiety, depression, low libido and impotence.

However a variant of sleep apnoea could be caused by the simple process of writing an email.



Writing in Gizmodo, blogger Adam Clark Estes, noticed he became lightheaded when he was concentrating on a particularly challenging paragraph.

‘I must've slipped a little too deeply into the zone,’ he said. ‘A head shake and a couple breaths later, and I was back at it.

‘Within minutes, the same light-headed feeling was back. I'd stopped breathing, again.’

After some research, Mr Clark Estes diagnosed himself as having something called ‘email apnoea’.

The term, first introduced by former Apple executive, Linda Stone, describes what happens when you go into ‘fight or flight’ mode.

Breath-holding, shallow breathing and hyperventilating can all trigger something called the sympathetic nervous system (SNS).

In the comfort of an office, email apnea can cause undue stress to both the body and the mind

When activated, the SNS – among other things - can cause pupils to dilate, increases heart palpitations, dilates our blood vessels in the face and can lead to restless legs and excessive sweating.

Its job is to protect the body when it’s facing physical danger.

But in the comfort of an office, the unnecessary reaction can cause undue stress to both the body and the mind.

‘Are we more obese and diabetic because of a combination of holding our breath off and on all day and then failing to move when our bodies have prepared us to do so?’ asked Ms Stone, writing in the Huffington Post.

Ms Stone offers some advice to deal with email apnoea, including monitoring breathing, trying to become better aware of anxious feelings and even using a heart-rate monitor.