I Had 'Screen Apnoea' For Years Without Realising. Here's What It Means

Person on their phoneWhen I first moved in with my partner, I noticed the same question cropping up while I was working. “Are you alright?” he’d enquire every half-hour or so. I was bemused – but it turns out he thought I’d been emitting regular, exasperated sighs. After watching a (slightly mortifying) video of me at my desk, I realised I’d started holding my breath while looking at my screen, eventually letting the air out in a loud, explosive gasp.This, I recently learned, has been dubbed “screen apnoea” (a play on “sleep apnoea”, which sees sufferers pause their breathing as they kip). And apparently, it could affect as many as 80% of us. What is “screen apnoea”?It involves holding your breath when you’re on your phone, laptop, or tablet. It’s not a medical term, and it’s not a health condition in and of itself – it’s just a term given to how tech seems to affect some people’s short-term breathing. For Linda Stone, the Microsoft worker who first noticed and coined the term, it happened when she looked at her emails. After looking into the phenomenon, she noticed it was common among her peers, too.Stress and the posture changes linked to hunching over a screen might explain “screen apnoea”.But we don’t have any proof that it actually harms your health or significantly alters your breathing pattern in the long run. Unlike the well-researched and medically documented sleep apnoea, there’s absolutely no proof that it’s dangerous. It is not technically an “apnoea” either.‘Screen apnoea’ made me rethink my work habitsThough the breathing change might not actually be dangerous, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that sitting too long in one place may raise the risk of heart disease and cancer.And speaking previously to HuffPost UK, orthopaedic surgeon Dr John Hinson shared that “the persistent habit of staring down at a screen puts excessive stress on the neck, shoulders, and upper back”.Positions that create “tech neck” can have a knock-on effect on your breathing. So, while there’s no proof it’s harmful in and of itself, let “screen apnoea” be a reminder to get up and move as often as you can throughout the working day – and to try, where possible, to keep your posture in check while scrolling or typing.Related...I'm A Surgeon – This Anti-'Tech Neck' Position Actually Makes It WorseI'm A Doctor — This Breathing Technique Can Relieve ConstipationThis Military Breathing Technique Helped Me Complete My First Half Marathon

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