E-mail apnea – a temporary absence or suspension of breathing, or shallow breathing, while doing e-mail (Linda Stone, February 2008).
I love it when people coin creative phrases that 100 percent describe a part of my personality that I haven’t quite yet found a way to put words to! Thank you Linda Stone for writing this article and helping me discover that I am a victim of e-mail apnea. In the field of PR, we are absolutely dependent on e-mail as a primary means of communication. Many times, and especially when pitching a story to a reporter, e-mail is the first impression you make on a person. So ensuring that it’s flawless (grammar, punctuation, information) is enough to make a semi-OCD person such as myself go blue in the face. I’m really glad to know that I’m not the only person in this world who holds their breath before sending off and uber-important e-mail that could make or break a potential relationship or media placement.
Research conducted at the National Institute of Health proves that holding your breath can contribute to stress-related diseases and disturbs our bodies balance of oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitric oxide. Who would have thought? Linda goes more in-depth about the medical stuff that goes right over my head, but I find it fascinating that someone was creative and clever enough to coin a term like “e-mail apnea.”
So as Linda suggests, make sure to breath when writing e-mail! Although, it might be interesting to try and tell a client that I didn’t respond to an e-mail because I passed out from holding my breath due to chronic e-mail apnea. Now that’s creative! 🙂