ARE YOU SUBCONSCIOUSLY HOLDING YOUR

BREATH?
2017

INTENSE CONCENTRATION AT THE OFFICE CAN

LEAD TO SOMETHING CALLED “EMAIL APNEA,”
WHERE YOU ACTUALLY STOP BREATHING AS YOU
WORK. HERE'S HOW TO NOTICE AND FIX THE
PROBLEM SO YOU CAN BREATHE EASY AGAIN.
Stressed, seated, and staring at a screen. Sound familiar? If this is you right now
—as well as most people you know—then you’ll want to keep reading. While last
year’s standing desk craze may have alerted you to the dangers of sitting all day,
every day, we have some more news for you: Being sendentary isn’t the worst of
it.

You know that stress is unhealthy, sitting wreaks havoc on your posture, and the
bright screen light can disrupt your sleep. None of this is good, but possibly even
more serious is the sensation that you sometimes get at your desk when it feels
like your head is underwater. Why do you feel like you’re drowning? Because, in
a sense, you are.

“Email apnea” is a term credited to former Apple exec Linda Stone. Just like it’s
better-known bedtime counterpart, sleep apnea, the term describes prolonged
periods where you go without breathing—you hold your breath without realizing
it—while at your desk or at work. And just as sleep apnea is under-diagnosed,
email apnea may be a lot more prevalent than you think.

In fact, Belisa Vranich, Ph.D., says that in nearly every office setting that she has
encountered, three out of every 10 people are breath-holders. Vranich
teaches breathing classes in person and online for everyone from corporate office
types to tactical military operators. She likens the focused-to-the-point-of-
breathlessness that we feel at our computers to being in a “modern predatory
state.”

“Think about shooting at a range, or if you were an animal stalking something,”

says Vranich, who is also the author of Breathe: The Simple, Revolutionary 14-
Day Program to Improve Your Mental and Physical Health. “You would
naturally hold your breath so that you won’t make an errant movement.”
Obviously, bringing that level of intensity to your inter-office “reply all” is
overkill. You wouldn’t choose to do it. The problem is that, unless you’ve
actually caught yourself holding your breath as you type or read, you probably
aren’t aware that it’s happening. Here’s how to tune into your body as you go
about your day and notice whether it is happening to you.

Two Types of Breathers: Which One Are You?

Let’s start with how you breathe. Believe it or not, people respire in many
different ways when you consider the pace at which they inhale, what muscles
they use to pull the air in, and so on. But Vranich says you can simplify things by
separating people into two broad categories: vertical breathers and horizontal
breathers.

Vertical breathing describes how most people breathe. When you do it, your
shoulders move up on inhales and down on exhales. You may even feel as if
you’re getting taller when you breathe in and shorter when you breathe out. If you
were to put one hand on your belly and another on your chest when you breathe,
the hand on your chest would move more.

In horizontal breathing, your shoulders and neck stay completely still as you
breathe. Only your midsection drives the inhalation and exhalation. Rather than
growing taller and shorter, you feel as if you’re moving outward, then
contracting.

Horizontal breathers, who are in the minority, breathe by properly using their
diaphragms. For vertical breathers (a.k.a., the rest of us), muscles in our back,
shoulders, neck, and even face work to help “pull” the air into our bodies. This
not only causes us to expend more energy than we need to, it also tightens up all
of those compensatory muscles, and still provides a lousier dose of air than does
lower body breathing. Why is quality compromised? Because so many of our
lung’s alveoli (the air sacs that allow for the exchange of oxygen into the
bloodstream) lie in the lower portions of the tissues.

Making matters worse, vertical breathers are more likely to also be subconscious
breath holders, Vranich warns. But the good news is that you can do the old “two
birds with one stone” and fix both problems by learning how to breathe better
with your lower body.

Stop Needlessly Drowning at Your Desk

To change your breathing pattern from vertical to horizontal, Vranich says you
need to think differently about how you breathe. Rather than concentrate on
pulling air into your lungs, imagine your breathing starts at your hips. A drill you
can use to help learn better lower body breathing is something Vranich calls
“Rock and Roll.”
In Rock and Roll, you start in a seated position. You can be in a chair or cross-
legged on the floor. On your inhale, expand your belly and lean forward. The
extra lithe among us may have to actively push their belly out to achieve what
we’re going for here. Your goal is to achieve a sensation akin to having your
belly land in your lap. Then when you exhale, lean over as if you were slumping
down into a comfy cushioned loveseat. Contract your belly fully, exhaling until
you are completely empty. Do this 20 times (an inhale and exhale equals one rep).
“When you move your breath toward the bottom part of your body, you’ll
actually feel relieved,” Vranich says. “Not only because you’re taking a breath
that helps your parasympathetic system, which controls your “rest and digest”
response, but also because you won’t have to recruit your shoulders to do the
work of breathing for you. You’ll be breathing more into your anatomical center,
and that will actually make you feel more centered.”

Vranich offers two other tips for noticing and correcting your breathing as you go
about your workday. First, occasionally breathe through your mouth so you can
hear it—yes, you can ujjayi breathe at work. Second, remind yourself to exhale.
People rarely hold their breath on an exhale, Vranich says, but often do on an
inhale.
Take Your Breathing to New Heights with a Balloon

Advanced breathers who want to take respiration a step further can try balloon
breathing to improve exhalation, the very important underdog. Here’s how
Vranich teaches it: Place the balloon between your lips. Take a big belly breath
in. Then on the exhale, blow into the balloon while you squeeze the air out with
your ab and core muscles. The first exhale may be difficult, especially if you’re
using a new balloon.

Once you’ve fully exhaled, keep the balloon in your mouth without letting the air
escape. Inhale through your nose and repeat, filling the balloon even more. Do
this for up to four breaths, or until the balloon seems “about to pop” full. Then
pinch the balloon with your fingers, remove it from your lips, and let the air out.

By Brian Sabin
Published on April 14, 2017