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Is “Social Media Apnea” eroding your health?
Breathe and read…
What is “apnea”? Meriam-Webster defines “apnea” as “transient cessation of respiration.”
You may have heard of “Sleep Apnea” — where that cessation occurs unconsciously during sleep. Sleep apnea, over time, has been attributed to eroding various elements of your health.
In 2008, Linda Stone (writer, consultant, former exec. at Microsoft and Apple), coined the phrase “Email Apnea.” It is defined as “a temporary absence or suspension of breathing, or shallow breathing, while doing email.”
Stone concluded that 80% of people experience email apnea.
Further, a 2009 study by Erik Peper (San Fran State U.) showed similar impact in college kids who were texting:
“At the onset of receiving the text message, they held their breath and then continued to breathe shallowly and rapidly. When sending text messages, breathing became shallow and rapid, heart rate, SC [skin conductance], and SEMG [surface electromyography] increased.”
