In one of the best series yet on technology and how our bodies and minds are taxed by our current habits, Manoush Zomorodi, interviews a variety of experts. Manoush kicks off the series with a challenge to NPR listeners to join a Columbia University/NPR study. Participants are tasked with getting up and moving for five minutes for every thirty minutes of time in front of a screen. Twenty thousand listeners accept the challenge and Manoush checks in with participants and with exercise physiologist, Keith Diaz on findings.
No surprises here! Everyone reports feeling better with consistent movement breaks.
Most of us don’t move nearly as much as our bodies would prefer. Our vision, posture, strength, and mental health all improve when we intentionally add more movement, and more break time into our day.
In 2007, I noticed that when I sat down in front of my computer screen, I would breathe more shallowly or hold my breath for extended periods. I called it email apnea or screen apnea, did informal dining room table research, and did a lot of wandering around, observing, and noticing to see if others were doing what I was doing. Screen apnea is easy to observe because one’s posture is compromised in a way that makes it nearly impossible to breathe optimally.
In 2008, I wrote about email apnea for the Huffington Post. This is still being discussed today, 16 years later!
The advice is the same in the wonderful NPR Body Electric Series, as it was in 2008. I’d like to add two activities that I hadn’t considered 16 years ago. The first is ballroom dancing. It’s great for posture, great for a sense of rhythm, and as an added bonus, brain health improves.
Another, newer activity, for me, especially now that so many people work from home, is playing a kazoo! When you get up to take a movement break, as you walk around, play a kazoo. The act of humming is great for calming the nervous system, it vibrates the bone structure in the face and head and stimulates the vestibular system, involves deeper breathing, and playing the kazoo works abdominal muscles. As an added bonus, it’s silly and fun.
Linda Stone 