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What happens to our breath when we type, tap, scroll
- evanletz 2y agoCaught myself holding in my breath while reading that headline!
- Self-Perfection 2y agoWhy I was dabbling in capoeira my trainer pointed multiple times, that my mediocre stamina during train sessions was due my holding my breath. I did not quite believe her, but still I wonder how often this is an issue in sport activities.
- 2-3-7-43-1807 2y ago> Stone, the former Microsoft executive ... is there a name for this reverential referring to a former job? ... stereotypical example would be the investment banker turned oyster diver.
- cableshaft 2y agoI've noticed myself doing this myself. I thought it was just because I also have sleep apnea, so what's causing me to stop breathing when I sleep is also happening when I'm waking and engaged on the computer. Didn't consider that it might be as widespread as the article is suggesting.
- kevindamm 2y agoI remember reading about this effect of holding your breath during email about a decade or so ago, I started noticing whenever others around me sighed heavily as they closed their laptop or turned to talk to someone. My anecdata agrees that it is an extremely widespread phenomenon and probably takes deliberate training to avoid.
- tombert 2y agoI was thinking about as well. I also have sleep apnea, and I have weird habits of holding my breath throughout the day for reasons I never fully understood. When I got the apnea diagnosis I assumed that that was just further manifestation. I should probably work on my posture and try breathing exercises.
- 3523582908 2y agoWhen I started meditating, one of the first things I noticed was how I would stop breathing the moment I got on a computer. Kind of mindblowing that this issue is effecting many people!
- zeroxfe 2y agoOne of the things you quickly discover when you start meditating is how deeply your breath is connected to your mind and body. You can literally detect a thought forming before it does simply by sensing subtle changes in your breathing. You'll also notice how the most trivial thoughts also have a physical manifestation in your body, e.g., mild tension in your eyelids, or a tingling in your abdomen, etc.
- eleveriven 2y agoA lot of people in my life who love to meditate teel me that meditation indeed offers a unique perspective on the connection between the mind, body and breath.
- skilled 2y agoSo learn it. It is one of life’s greatest secrets. What the original commenter said is correct, meditation helps you see how thoughts arise in the moment, and with practice you can get to a point where there is very little noise and instead you have a broader view of ideas and your life in general. It is also calming, for your entire system. Learning to monitor and control your breathing consciously is a serious mental workout. If you have never sat down to practice it, you might surprise yourself as to how much is going on in your own mind and how the wheels and cogs just keep turning.
- boredemployee 2y agoDo you feel like your professional life is also impacted/improved by it? I know the question is broad but I mean things like level of anxiety, success, financial, etc. Or does it improve your "personal life only"?
- skilled 2y agoIt improves you. For example, being able to handle stress better isn’t useful just in personal life but also professional. In my experience, complete introvert, it helped me enormously with anxiety. But it did take some work, such as working through emotions that I had bottled up. If you stick to your practice then you will work through it.
- _neil 2y agoAre there any reliable breathing monitors? Apple Watch/Oura ring have some respiratory metrics but only while sleeping (afaict). A quick google search showed me Oxa [0] but I have no clue if it's reliable, much less while sitting/working. [0] https://www.oxalife.com/ https://www.oxalife.com/ Edit: maybe a pulse ox ear clip would work. Bonus points if it could shock me into breathing again when it detects low values.
- profsummergig 2y agoThis kind of Biofeedback is also useful in monitoring one's meditation practice. Definitely would want recommendations on something like this.
- profsummergig 2y agoI also want a wearable and app that can alert me when I'm not breathing deeply and rhythmically. And I'm not talking pulse oximeter here. I'm talking my chest expanding enough with each inhale.
- yeeeloit 2y agoCheck my other comment above this.
- yeeeloit 2y agohttps://github.com/kieranabrennan/every-breath-you-take https://github.com/kieranabrennan/every-breath-you-take Paired with the polar h10 strap is a good place to start. I used it for a little while, and quickly found that I could only breathe properly and consistently whilst I was watching/aware of my breath. As soon as I started 'working' my breathing went back to terrible.
- janci 2y agoIs it specific to screens tho? How does it compare to reading a book, writing a letter by hand, sewing, cutting vegetables for lunch, curiously disassenbling an alarm clock or any other activity that requires focus and concentration?
- lm28469 2y agoOne of the main issue is sitting for extended periods of time with no physical activity whatsoever. This is one of the worst position for breathing (compared to laying down or standing up at least). Unless you're consciously reminding yourself to breathe normally you will default to shallow breathing. Virtually nobody sits 8+ hours a day reading books, writing letter, sewing or cutting veggies
- crazygringo 2y agoI don't think it's very specific to screens, but it is specific to situations where you've got incoming stressful content and especially a time deadline. Which perfectly describes when you're trying to deal with all your e-mails before 10 am and a lot of the situations don't have easy resolutions, or you're trying to debug something that just won't work and you have no idea why and it's going to mess up the entire rest of your day if you don't get it fixed in the next 30 minutes. So just a lot of our time-pressure stress situations happen via our screens now. The situations you're describing seem very much the opposite of stressful.
- janci 2y agoOh, I never considered e-mail as generally stressful. Certainly there are e-mails that can raise my blood pressure, but that usually happens after reading them. I see e-mail mostly as a letter, that I open when I see fit and answer when I can. The red dot indicating a direct message on Teams or Slack is much more stressful.
- RheingoldRiver 2y agoI used to have a really big problem with holding my breath when I played League of Legends. I'd routinely get dizzy after long teamfights and I was completely unable to communicate with my teammates over voice chat during fights/skirmishes because I couldn't make myself expel air (which is worse may depend on your point of view).
- eleveriven 2y agoFor me it is intense focus or stress and they could cause me to hold my breath.
- asynchronous 2y agoIn the anime Demon Slayer, breath control (and specifically breathing while moving) is the primary method of performing spectacular feats in battle which is cool
- Sym3tri 2y agoFocus and awareness of the breath is exactly why I created my iOS Breathwork App. www.breathwork-timer.com
- jiveturkey 2y ago> "Poor breathing is what you see when you look at 90% of the population," science journalist James Nestor told Zomorodi. "It includes breathing through the mouth, hmm
- kjkjadksj 2y agoComputers are like these magic devices to get us into potentially a fight or flight response with zero physical danger. People’s heart rates rise when they get an email from work. I can’t imagine its good for the health, mating these mental responses that are designed to go along with a physical response with just sedentary behavior instead. And doing it every day all your working life no less. What does this mean in terms of the underlying chemistry, are there neuortransmitters or hormones perhaps that aren’t getting processed or turned over by the physical response when they ought to? Maybe we should experiment running to the hills when we get an email from the boss and see if that changes things.
- roughly 2y agoObligatory SMBC: https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/lions https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/lions
- ykonstant 2y agoDamn.. I wish I could feel good when jogging. At best it is excruciating, at worst one time in Bristol I could not take it anymore and started punching a tree from the frustration until I bled. I love walking, but it does not do anything significant for my cardiovascular health :(
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- jxy 2y agoWhen an email drops, do some squats; when you start to stray, pushups all the way.
- an_aparallel 2y agoEmail apnea - was an article linked here a while ago. It's a big problem - the ridiculousness of the proposition makes it most likely less talked about...
- averageRoyalty 2y ago
- LordGrey 2y agoIf I try to concentrate on my breathing I always feel like I'm not getting enough air. If I persist, I honestly start panicking a little bit. Related: I can't snorkel for the same reason, except I panic A LOT.
- gavmor 2y agoI've never been more conscious of my breath while computing than when I was playing Subnautica[0], which proffers a (notoriously tense) game loop significantly involving running out of air and coming up for breath. Additionally, I would take swigs of water when my character was getting thirsty. A surprisingly embodied video game. 0. https://unknownworlds.com/subnautica/ https://unknownworlds.com/subnautica/
- easeout 2y agoThere's a moment early in Resident Evil 7 VR where you're up to your neck in water in a tight space. You completely fool yourself, you feel the mass of water on your chest, and you start breathing like you're in a pool.
- TeMPOraL 2y agoWhen I was playing Subnautica for the first time, several years ago, I got immersed to the point that 1) I really felt like being underwater - my mind was recalling feelings from various swimming pool experiences; and 2) it changed my relationship with water. I found myself having a desire to swim, a kind of pull I don't think I experienced before. Didn't get that when I picked up Subnautica: Below Zero a few weeks above. I'm guessing it's because I'm now used to the beautiful vistas and underwater gameplay, so the game wasn't such a full-sensory shock to me anymore.
- philote 2y agoI started playing for the first time a few days ago, and in VR. I've never really looked at any information about the game, so I pretty much went in blind. I'm having an absolute blast. Just this morning I got to watch my rescue ship get blown up, and enjoyed every second of it.
- chrisweekly 2y ago> "a few weeks above" Guessing you mean "a few weeks later", right?
- 2y ago
- junto 2y agoDoes anyone track their stress levels whilst programming? Anecdotally and non-scientifically I’ve noticed that my health (stress related illness) has vastly reduced since moving from being a staff engineer to engineering management. It’s not that I’m less stressed but the stress is a different pattern. Whilst programming I noticed that my day was a series of spikes of frustration and stress and then a severe drop off once I solved a problem. Essentially a dopamine - serotonin feedback loop all day every day. My stress now is generally a more flat and smooth line. I often thought it would have been interesting to actually track it using a medical device but was unsure if anything like that even exists.
- jaypeejay 2y agoInteresting. Anecdotally agree. I’ve been trying to improve my mindset when coding. I find myself worrying about solving the problem correctly, and I’m trying to change that so my focus is more on slow, correct practice. Easier said than done, but the idea is that it will be less stressful and reduce the frustration peaks you mentioned
- cph123 2y agoThis is something I have been thinking about a lot since moving from programming into management. Some sort of device to measure the data on this would be really interesting, if only just to see that other people in the same position experience the same thing.
- njovin 2y agoI had the opposite experience. Frustrations whilst coding could be severe but were mostly things within my control. Sure, we had major failures and outages which spiked stress, but these were rare and we learned and grew from them. As a manager, I was constantly dealing with things way outside my control with much more severe consequences: other people's emotions, people quitting, budget cuts, layoffs, political posturing. At one point I was told to layoff an entire team of very talented, very productive Ukrainian engineers because Russia had decided to invade their country and my company didn't want to deal with the _possibility_ that they'd become unproductive. I know it's entirely dependent on the type of work and the organization, but from a stress-reduction standpoint I'll take staff engineer over people manager every time.
- giraffe333 2y agoAlso don’t forget to blink while you are at it. https://uihc.org/health-topics/computer-vision-syndrome https://uihc.org/health-topics/computer-vision-syndrome
- HumblyTossed 2y agoI hold my breath when I code. Just always thought it was some quirk of mine.
- Synaesthesia 2y agoI did it when performing guitar.
- amadeuspagel 2y agoAre there any good web apps for breathing?
- j7ake 2y agoAny musician knows that controlling the breath controls the sound that comes out, even for non wind instruments like violin and piano. This suggests the breath is a connection between our emotional state to the outside world.
- recursive 2y agoI've been a piano player for more than 30 years. I'm not a pro by any means, but I perform regularly. I'm not saying I'm a great player, just that I have some experience with the instrument. I've never heard of the breath thing.
- j7ake 2y agoHere is Maxim Vengerov discussing about breathing in music in his masterclass: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWDK5aUW4-Q&ab_channel=MaximVengerovOfficial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWDK5aUW4-Q&ab_channel=Maxim...
- recursive 2y agoThe given examples seem all be using pieces where the tempo moves around a lot. It makes some sense to me in that context. Although I don't personally play much music like that.
- luqtas 2y agoi remeber making my friends and other students @ school "mad" because from time to time (during hours) i said in loud voice: "remember that you breathe" & everyone changed from automatic to manual mode :D later on, i built an assist robot for some breathe exercises: https://codeberg.org/luqtas/Zid https://codeberg.org/luqtas/Zid
- gumby 2y agoSeems like a good application for the Apple Watch to remind you to breathe. Serious comment, not a joke. Although it seems like your body will automatically trigger a breath when the blood pH gets low enough. Otherwise we'd hear about phone users keeling over.
- anArbitraryOne 2y agoSomeone write a program that blacks out my screen every time my webcam senses I'm not breathing deeply enough
- bbor 2y agoSay that someone was measuring their own brain data at home using an EEG headset. What DIY/low-cost clinical solution might be able to provide biomarkers (AKA data that you've timestamp-synced to brain data to help a multimodal model) for breath rate/depth? Anyone familiar with the research or relevant companies, or have a wacky MacGyver proposal to get it done on the cheap? My first guesses: 1. Wearing a sticker on the chest seems right out, but a fannypack/messenger-bag like device that fits under a shirt could work. Could also be a good addition to an overall mobile-monitoring setup for EEG data -- you could even move the batteries and bluetooth components from your head/belt to the square of your back. This would obviously only work over a shirt though, which seems like it would make getting high quality breath data harder. 2. I mean... dare I just ignore the physical sciences and aim a high quality camera at myself? To what extent is a microphone in your glasses + footage of your chest rising and falling enough? Sorta doubting anyone here has experience here but you never know! 3. I vaguely know that people measure things with lasers -- this could be enough for measuring breathing while seated at a desk perhaps! And surely the most accurate by far, disregarding noise from clothing. If I ever get to this point, I look forward to trying all these before hitting up google scholar for the boring easy answer...
- fellerts 2y agoFor what purpose? If you just want to know your respiratory rate, respiration belts are simple and very effective. You should be able to MacGyver your own with limited electronics skills: https://www.instructables.com/Quick-and-dirty-Respiration-Sensor/ https://www.instructables.com/Quick-and-dirty-Respiration-Se.... > To what extent is a microphone in your glasses + footage of your chest rising and falling enough? I'm sure a skilled computer vision engineer could make this work, but I'd argue it's the wrong approach. Lasers might work as well, but I think your best bet is radar. I know there are companies making doppler radar-based systems for tracking respiratory rate. Can't dig for them at the moment but here's an article about the method: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10172641/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10172641/. By the way, heart-rate variability correlates strongly with respiratory rate. As far as I understand, this is because inhalation raises your blood pressure which increases your heart rate. Using a pulse oxymeter, you should be able to extract respiratory rate from the raw PPG data. Should be effective if you're otherwise healthy and reasonably young. HRV decreases with age and illness. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34024811/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34024811/
- tyronee 2y ago[flagged]
- sva_ 2y agoInteresting. I often find that I get good ideas when I'm hiking or biking, which gets me into a real good breathing pattern. Makes me wonder if it has more to do with the breathing than with the exercise.
- dash2 2y agoCan I suggest one extra piece of advice? Take up singing! It's a great way to learn to breathe and strengthen those muscles. Plus, it is one of the most fun and bonding things to do in a group.