9 Everyday Habits That Keep Your Body Stuck in Stress Mode (And How to Switch It Off)

2. Breathing Shallowly (or Holding Your Breath) Without Noticing

Have you ever noticed that you barely breathe while answering emails or scrolling your phone? You’re not imagining it. Writer Linda Stone gave this a name years ago: “email apnea”, the habit of breathing shallowly or briefly holding your breath while using a screen. When you breathe quickly and high in your chest, your body reads it as a sign that something is wrong, which keeps the stress response active.

Slow, deliberate breathing does the opposite. When you breathe out slowly, your heart rate naturally slows a little, and this is partly controlled by the vagus nerve, a long nerve that connects your brain to your heart and gut. Studies have found that slow breathing practices, at around six breaths a minute, can help reduce stress and improve heart rate variability, a marker of how flexibly your body handles stress.

What to do instead: Try this simple pattern: breathe in through your nose for 4 seconds, then breathe out slowly through your mouth for 6 to 8 seconds. Repeat for two minutes. The longer exhale is the key. In yoga, you’ll find similar techniques in pranayama, like Nadi Shodhana (alternate nostril breathing) or simply long, slow belly breathing.