Breathe Easy: Recognizing and Combatting ‘Email Apnea’

Email isn’t just a digital trade or chore; it may be affecting your breathing. Known as “email apnea,” this phenomenon involves altering breathing patterns while engaging with emails, often without realizing it.

David Perls, a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction instructor, states in a GQ article that email apnea can escalate anxiety levels and impair decision-making.

Psychiatrist Jasmine Sawhne adds that heightened focus on email tasks triggers a stress response, impacting breathing and oxygen intake. Despite its subtle nature, email apnea can disrupt well-being.

Fortunately, mindfulness techniques and conscious breathing exercises can mitigate its effects, ensuring a healthier relationship with your inbox.

So, if you find your inbox overflowing with unwanted messages, take control with tools like unsubscribing or reporting spam or even create a filter to automatically delete those emails by selecting ‘Delete It’ when creating the filter for each sender, have not gotten the message that you only engage with them once every 3 years.