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What happens to our breath when we type, tap, scroll

Do you have "screen apnea"? Former Microsoft executive Linda Stone coined this term around 2007 after noticing she'd developed an unhealthy habit while answering emails: She held her breath. On this episode, she tells host Manoush Zomorodi how she tested her friends and colleagues for screen apnea and what she has done since.Then, Manoush talks to the bestselling author of Breath, science writer James Nestor, who explains how shallow breathing impacts our physical and mental health. He takes us through a simple exercise to "reset" our breath and relieve screen time stress.Binge the whole Body Electric series here.Sign up for the Body Electric Challenge and our newsletter here.Talk to us on Instagram @manoushz, or record a voice memo and email it to us at BodyElectric@npr.org.

"I would inhale in anticipation, but I wouldn't exhale because so many emails would be streaming in," Stone told Manoush Zomorodi in an interview for NPR's Body Electric. The 20% of participants who did not show signs of screen apnea included a former military test pilot, a triathlete, dancers, singers and a cellist — people who had trained to breathe and perform a task or skill simultaneously. He explained that over the course of hundreds of years, humans have lost touch with natural breathing patterns as our posture has declined and we spend much of the day hunched over our screens and devices.

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