Hello writer! Yes, I’m talking to you, slouching in that squishy armchair in the dimly-lit room with a laptop balanced on your knee. Put the chocolate and wine down for a moment and let’s chat.
I’ve been writing and/or editing for a living for more than 20 years, and I have made every hideous mistake a writer can make in protecting their health.
On a recent run of insane deadlines, 12 hours per day in front of the computer for weeks on end, I decided to actually plan it differently to try to protect my health.
It seems to have worked quite well, so I thought I would:
A. Write it down for my own benefit, so I can remember what I did for next time.
B. Share it with you, on the off-chance it might help you survive your writing career in better shape.
THE DISCLAIMER: I am not a health practitioner of any kind. I’m just sharing with you what I’ve found helpful. We’re all different. Talk to your doctor if you have any health problems. Make your own decisions and be responsible for yourself. 🙂
Sleep
I read so many articles urging writers to get up an hour or two earlier so they can finish their magnum opus. They rarely say we should go to bed an hour or two earlier to make up for the early rises. It can give the impression that chronic exhaustion is the badge of the Serious Writer.
But running a human body without sleep is like running a car without ever changing the oil. It works for a while…
One of my past author-clients, clinical psychologist Dr Pete Stebbins, never let up about the importance of sleep in coping with stress. I edited his books for years and his philosophy has become so ingrained that when I was planning this deadline run, it was like I had his voice in my ear. (Get out of my ear, Dr Pete!)
Check out these articles from Harvard’s Division of Sleep Medicine on the role sleep plays in important things like immune function and metabolism, as well as memory and our ability to learn new things.
I’m always hearing people say, “I’ll have plenty of time to sleep when I’m dead.” Um, yeah… and might we get that chance sooner than later, if we don’t look after our sleep?
What the old me would have done
Work till 3am. Meet deadline. Shout and cheer. Fall in heap. Get flu. Take 6 weeks to recover.
What the new (older and wiser) me did this time
I sacrificed things like television instead of sleep. In bed by 10pm. Up at 6am (even if I hadn’t slept well). Repeat repeat repeat. Meet deadline. Shout and cheer. Feel a bit tired, but generally OK.
Surprisingly, I met my deadlines despite being in bed more hours. Must have been working more effectively in the wake times!
What could you learn from my experience?
I realise if you’ve got babies in your household, you haven’t slept for several years anyway. But despite everything that makes it hard, maybe you could still see sleep as important and figure out a way to schedule it in?
I found the trick for me was to change my toxic mindset whereby sleep was “optional”, begin to see it as “non-negotiable”, and then I did indeed find a way to schedule more of it.
Eating
My “poisons” of choice are potato chips/crisps, and lollies (you might call them candy or sweets) — a cornucopia of trans-fats and processed sugars. What are your favourites?
This article from Deakin university shows some of the reasons we eat unhealthy foods when stressed. This one from UNC talks about the value of good nutrition during stress.
What the old me would have done
Keep junk on my desk and scoff it constantly, to help comfort me through the deadline pressure. Feel sick. Get tired and headachey.
What the new (older and wiser) me did this time
I shopped ahead and planned some decent food, including a fruit n veg smoothie with my muesli each morning, and a good selection of fruit n veg n lean meats for meals. I also planned substantial mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks, things with actual nutritional value rather than just empty calories, to keep the energy up. I deliberately ate more than usual because I knew I was burning more than usual — deadline adrenalin has that affect on me (your mileage may vary).
I still indulged in the odd naughty treat, but managed not to crave them so much. I found I had more energy to do the actual work, and then got to the end of the deadlines in better physical shape than usual.
What could you learn from my experience?
Planning my food seemed to be the key for me. Try actually planning your food when you know you’ve got a heavy time of writing coming up, rather than letting it just happen.
Exercise
“Exer-what?” I hear you say. “You’ll probably be telling me to get a treadmill desk next.”
What the old me would have done
Too busy to exercise. Got to get these deadlines met! I’ll exercise later. Work work work at the desk till my shoulders seize up and I fall off the chair.
What the new (older and wiser) me did this time
“You look like you could do with some exercise. Can I help?”
I set a timer (more on that in a minute) and got up and moved, regularly. Also, I now have a dog who requires lots of walking — rain, hail or 35C. This is a pain in the neck and yet also very handy. The enforced breaks and exercise proved to be good for both the body and the brain, despite the extra could-be-working time they consumed.
I didn’t always get it exactly right, but I was much more intentional about NOT sitting in one position for hours, and I felt the benefits. (It turns out the human body works better when it moves. Who knew.) And I met the deadlines despite “losing time” to exercise.
What could you learn from my experience?
I think that a deliberate decision NOT to sit like a bowl of custard for hours was the key for me. You could also get a dog. 😉 Or, apparently, even a cat (my friend now walks her cat on a leash).
Back care
Let me tell you a tale of woe, in the hope that it might save even one person from following in my footsteps.
I have a “disc bulge” in my spine. It happened 18 months ago. Would you like to guess how it happened?
Q. Did you have a horrible accident? Did you lift an elephant? Did you dig a trench through solid rock with a pickaxe?
A. No, none of those. I sat for too long and with bad posture.
Duh.
Sound crazy? Well, it certainly felt crazy. Weeks of gasp-inducing, eyes-rolling-back-in-the-head, weeping-like-a-small-child pain. Months of interrupted sleep, numbness, tingling, and inability to complete normal tasks. Wondering if I would ever be able to travel again. Wondering if I would ever be able to vacuum the house again. (It’s amazing how much you want to when you can’t!)
I discovered that American novelist Elizabeth Spann Craig had a similar problem with a similar cause — she blogged about it a few months back. My fullest sympathies, Elizabeth!
The anatomy of my own little disaster went something like this:
1. Sat for too long at a time, slouched in an armchair with my feet up and a laptop on my lap, or slumped at my desk with one foot tucked under me, day after day, year after year, till the muscles supporting my spine turned to custard. (They managed to perform this custardisation even though I was walking 30 minutes every day and going to at least one exercise class a week. And I wasn’t overweight. Just in case you were making assumptions that you might be Immune!)
2. One day, I picked up a lightweight pot plant, turning to the side as I stood up.
3. BAM. Snap went the little filaments holding together the shock absorber between two of my vertebrae. And the contents of the disc, which my physiotherapist memorably describes as having the consistency of toothpaste, oozled out sideways to press on a nerve.
18 months later, I still have to do exercises morning and night to continually strengthen my core muscles to help make up for the filaments that will never grow back. When I prune my garden, like I did yesterday, I am in pain for days. I have to think ahead if I go out to dinner: where will I sit? I think twice about travel, because it’s hard to ensure I can get a firm, flat bed. I have to pack VERY light, because I can no longer lift a big suitcase. When I visit friends, I have to say embarrassing things like, “I’m so sorry, I can’t sit in your beautiful armchair. Do you have a hard chair I can sit on instead?”
All because I sat with bad posture, and for too many hours at a time. Sigh.
If that’s not enough, apparently we writers should get danger money for sitting — scientists say it can cause cancer, heart disease, and other nasties. (Check out the video, it’s only 5 minutes long and will knock your socks off.)
So, back to my deadline story…
What the old me would have done
Sit in a variety of unsuitable positions for far too long, because I just had to finish the deadline, and well, that’s just what it takes.
What the new (older and wiser) me did this time
Who says a kitchen is just for cooking??
I knew The Back would be my biggest challenge. So I approached it like I was planning a military campaign:
- I set up a standing workstation in the kitchen with my laptop raised to eye level with the aid of a rather eye-catching cardboard tomato box, and an external keyboard. I rotated between this workstation and my desktop computer in the office.
- I had the files I was working on in my Dropbox, so they would be continually updated to both computers.
- I set a timer on my desktop computer to ensure I didn’t get too engrossed and stay in my chair too long. I used focus@will which plays music that’s designed to help with concentration, and it has a timer function. Every 45 minutes it would *ting* and I would get up and head off to the kitchen laptop. (It didn’t matter if I stayed too long at the standing workstation, so I didn’t need the timer there.)
- I discovered I could even do things like walking on the spot, squats and lunges while standing at my kitchen bench workstation, to keep my back loose and the blood flowing. (Much cheaper than a treadmill desk.)
- I discovered that with the height difference, continually looking down to my keyboard, or to the printout on the bench, and then back up to the screen, was irritating my neck. This turned out to be a blessing because it forced me to resurrect my touch-typing skills, which have been neglected in recent years! (There are touch typing courses online, if you’re interested.)
In the end, I completed that very busy time with minimal back trouble, which was quite exciting for me.
What could you learn from my experience?
Just know this… I always thought, “I like slouching. I’ll worry about my back if it gets bad.” REALLY wish I hadn’t done that.
Writers, what are your experiences with protecting your health while you write those masterpieces?
Featured image via Bigstock/stokkete
Such a timely post! After returning to a desk bound job after a physically active one where I was walking 6km to 10km a day, my back has been suffering. Then I read the book Sit Up! by James A Levine and realised I was slowly killing myself with sitting. Now I try to write while using a treadmill, and try to walk around as much as I can. However, I don’t have a proper system in place so sometimes I forget to do all that. Your story has made me renew my efforts! Thanks again. 🙂
Oh yes, the sleep bit too! I get annoyed by the exhortation that we have to wake an hour early to write. Usually my brain is absolute mush if I do that – my sleep is far too precious to break
Thanks Elizabeth, glad to hear you are looking after yourself. I’ve ditched the kitchen bench now and have a Varidesk, which is a thing that sits on top of my existing desk and raises and lowers so I can cycle between standing and sitting. It’s wonderful. I’m still struggling, however, to get into a good routine of the sit-stand thing. I must apply myself!!! 🙂
One other thing to look out for is armrests on your chair.
About a year ago, I had numbness and serious pain in my wrists and knuckles. This was alarming, given that I program for a living, write when I’m not at my day job, and occasionally play video games for entertainment.
I included a picture of where I felt pain in this blog post, in case you’re feeling something similar:
http://bitlather.com/blog/article/48/treat-your-wrists-well
Turns out the pain was due to placing my elbows on armrests while I typed. I took a break from wrist-intensive activities, tore the armrests off of my chair, and started using a standing desk. The pain went away after a few weeks.
Standing, however, caused knee pain. I used to have a saying: “I stand until my knees hurt then sit until my back hurts.” (I’m 28, by the way).
Visiting a neuromuscular balance chiropractor took care of both the knee and back pain.
Good tip, David, and thanks for sharing your difficult experience — especially at such a young age. It is so very important to take care of our bodies. We think of manual workers needing a strong body, but forget that those of us with desk jobs are at just as much risk of losing our health and livelihood. I now have a Varidesk sit-stand desk, so I cycle between standing and sitting all day. The worst thing about standing is that if I’m extremely tired that day, standing for long can be exhausting. 😉
Thank you or sharing your experiences. I’m rather new at all this and I’ve been making some of the same mistakes! Time to step back, determine what’s necessary, and being more effective working shorter hours. A fall in London last fall has been playing havoc with my back and hip, and I’ve already realized many things are going to have to change. Thank you for making me realize I’m not alone in this struggle.
You are definitely NOT alone, Peggy. The article by Elizabeth Spann Craig that I mentioned above also brought a storm of comments from so many other writers struggling with the damage their writing was doing to their back. Best wishes for finding a good solution that suits your particular needs.
This past year I found out the danger of sitting too long when I collapsed on my stairs after a muscle spasm which sent me to many doctors. Finally an acupuncturist explained to me how I was hurting myself. I have a bulging disc also which causes much pain.
Now, I do twenty minutes of a stretch called Static Back from a book by Pete Egesto. I lie on the floor flat, with my legs up on a kitchen chair. Legs are bent at the knee and the chair is pulled up to the buttocks. Just doing this for twenty minutes a day has made a huge difference and I have had no more trouble with my hip (back) spasm.
I also put my laptop on the kitchen counter, but I like your idea of lifting it with a box.
I also raised my desktop computer/monitor by placing a thick book under it and now I can hold my head erect when I type. No more of the “heavy head over” that puts pressure on the neck. Thanks for this great postl
Thanks for all those tips, Glenda. I know what you mean about the “heavy head” sensation. I find myself stooping again so often and have to remind myself to sit erect and let my eyes do the moving. I think since I got a smartphone that “neck stooping” has increased! I hope your system keeps you writing for years to come.
Well, I blame it on you that I laughed at your pain and misfortune, because you wrote a very funny post! And man, way to shake it up for all of us. I’m going to try the timer. Sitting for too long without moving is definitely one of my bad habits. I’m also just learning all about the psoas muscle — beyond knowing it existed, I wasn’t sure of too much, but apparently this sucker is super long, super important, and often weak and underused. I’ve changed some of my core-building exercises to focus on the psoas in the hopes that it will help me with better posture.
Thanks for this post, Belinda, and congrats on making all these changes. That deserves a pat on your much-healthier back.. And may you be pain-free from now on!
I’m glad my misfortune gave you a chuckle, Laura, because as we know, laughter is the best medicine! 😉 I must look up the psoas. It sounds intriguingly like a dinosaur-era bird. Does it look like one though?? Google will tell me, I’m sure…
Oh Belinda! You were right, the video did knock my socks off and it came at a time when I had started to realise my health is going to hell with working 10 hour days sitting in my office. I, too, suffered physical injury because of lack of exercise combined with stress. For me, it was frozen shoulder and I spent the first 5 months in agony and sleeplessness. Sixteen months later I do daily exercises to get my motion back to normal but have seen an overall change in my body in the past year because this condition has stopped me from doing my usual yoga and aerobics routine. A short walk can leave me breathless and my leg muscles burning these days and I keep hearing my heart beat thumping in my ear if I stand or bend over, or even at night. All very worrying symptoms so I now take short breaks from the desk to walk around my house or the garden .I also take walks outside or just turn on the stereo and dance for 10-15 minutes to get my muscles working and to get the heart racing. Needless to say, I’ve put on weight too so the short and energetic workouts also serve to burn fat. I sympathise with you fully with what happened with your neck and how now you have to compromise and be careful. I have my own neck injury from my youth to deal with and so, I have been there .Really have to work something out with a standing desk too, thanks for the tip!
The internet obviously ate my previous reply to this, Effrosyni. 😉 How awful that you have been through all that with your shoulder. I know a couple of other people who experienced a frozen shoulder. It seems to take such a long time to get better. I’m glad you are starting to improve and I hope you can really get into your exercise properly soon.
It’s so important that we care for our health. We get so busy with our work and writing and caring for others, but we’ll do better at all those things if we place our own health high on the list. Bless you and I hope you are fully well again soon.
This is such an important topic, something all writers need to be aware of. We need to set up our writing environment with the same care and attention that is paid to office workers – desks at the right height, seats at the right height, screens the correct distance away. And breaks. Take lots of breaks, because we need to move.
I attended the Christian Writers Conference near Melbourne last year, and there was an excellent session on looking after our backs (and other body parts) while we write. The co-presenters, Adele Jones and Pamela Heemskerk, will be presenting again at this year’s conference, and I’m looking forward to their session on Stretch-excise. You can also find them posting at Australasian Christian Writers.
Thanks for that tip, Iola. I’ll look up those ladies – sounds like it was a great session to have at a writers conference. It’s so easy to think, especially if we write as a hobby rather than a job, that the normal rules don’t apply. But they do. Even though I have learned that the hard way, I still sometimes slip back into sitting too long. I value being encouraged and reminded by others.
I so agree, Belinda, we are not designed to sit for long periods. I’ve also recently raised my laptop onto two box files so I can stand and even jiggle about. But we don’t always realise the importance of these things until the damage is actually done. Hope your back is recovering.
Well done on your “standing workstation” workaround. I certainly didn’t realise how much it mattered till rather too late, but at least I can keep things in the best possible condition from now on!
Excellent tips here Belinda. I have also revamped my lifestyle to adapt better to my writing. I ran into many of your same woes 2 years ago and cleaned up my own act. I have been noticing a few articles from writers sharing these experiences and it’s a good thing word gets around so we don’t all end up crooked, fat and on pain meds for the rest of our lives. 🙂 Consider this shared!
Well done, Debby! I, too, appreciate hearing it again and again, because I find I forget and slip back into the endless sitting. Sometimes my right foot will go numb to remind me I’ve done this. But ideally I will learn to remember sooner than that! 😉
Exercise is the absolute ‘must’ for me to combat all that slouching. At a minimum I have a half hour walk at lunchtime. Also find Body balance classes are good for posture – they are a mix of yoga, Thi Chi & Pilates. Thanks for sharing your health tips!
Thanks Sally, I walk a lot too. I found the standing workstation tiring at first, but I’m beginning to get used to it. And sometimes I even stand at my desk when I’m reading over something I’ve just been working on.
All so true. Sorry to hear you have been suffering. Before writing I used to have responsibility for IT at work and was told I needed to set a good example on posture and time spent at computers. Even then I had some RSI to my right arm and shoulder and tired eyes. needing proper glasses.
I have a “T” shirt with a sequence showing the human form evolving from cave men and becoming erect only to sink back again sitting in front of a PC!
Sitting is supposed to be as bad for health as smoking and high blood pressure … the video which I have to watch probably confirms this to be the case..
So as a writer one faces the prospect of little return on one’s efforts and an early death. Why do we carry on?. Enjoyment I suppose like other vices.
Hope your recommended routine gives you a better life.
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, .
Thanks Alexander. “Little return and an early death”… ah, the writing life! 😉 I’m working on it, but I do slip back into bad habits constantly. Awareness seems to be the first step.
I’m sorry to hear you’ve been suffering with your back, Belinda. It doesn’t sound at all pleasant. I’m pleased you have worked out some strategies for improving this and your general health. Thank you for sharing your tips. I like the workstation you have set up enabling you to stand while you work. Some of my colleagues at work have done similar things. Others have bought a Varidesk which quickly converts a desk for use in sitting to standing position. I have bought one for my daughter. I’m not sure if she has tried it yet. If she doesn’t soon I might need to reclaim it! 🙂
Thanks Norah, my back is so much better than it was, and I’ve learned to cope with my limitations. But I thought I’d state the difficulties clearly to help people realise what they might be risking. 🙂 That desk of your daughter’s sounds wonderful. What a great idea to try it out for yourself. 😉
This is a situation that has crept up on us slowly with more and more work being computer based these days. So this post is a wake up call for all those who work at a computer day after day. I read a quote recently that SITTING IS THE NEW SMOKING – seems it has been proved quite true. In future I will try and take regular breaks and not feel guilty.
So true, Anne. We tend to think that sitting might make us overweight, but we haven’t been aware of the other issues. Every employer needs to allow for this in the workday.
BRILLIANT! I love the workstation idea, and I am now rooting around in old computer stuff looking for that spare external keyboard I know is there somewhere. I also try to get up every hour, which is no stretch since I have a dog that insists on being escorted in and out of the house at least that often. THANK YOU for this! 🙂
Yay Molly! Go for the standing workstation. And let’s hear it for Frank and Rufus, our workplace health and safety officers. 🙂
Hi Belinda,
Thank you for a very important blog post. I too tend to sit slouched over my computer for hours on end and have recently moved to alternating sitting on my laptop with propping it on the kitchen counter. I find that this not only means I’m not sitting and slouching but also the change of environment helps me to concentrate. Thanks so much for sharing your experiences! You’ve certainly convinced me to take better care of my health!
Yay Kendra! Glad you are taking care of your back. I need to be much more consistent with doing it too. I find it a pain to have the “tomato box” on the kitchen bench, gets in the way, but I think it may need to become a permanent feature if I’m to get on top of this thing.
Wonderful advice. Reminds me of an E.B. White quote, ““Writing is hard work and bad for the health.” I too have back problems and the timer is a great idea. I’m still working on the exercising, sleeping, and eating parts, but these are great reminders!
The timer makes the world of difference to me, DJ… and yet, in writing this blog post today, I have AGAIN spent too much time sitting in one position. I’m a work in progress, that’s for sure! We do need to value our health. It’s a dangerous job. 🙂
Great post! I too suffer from injuries caused by the oh-so-benign looking computer. People think I’m nuts when I issue warnings: “Your computer setup looks like a Worker’s Comp case waiting to happen.” Unwelcome words. I’ve got a blog about it http://MyTOSLife.blogspot.com and was recently featured on The Balanced Writer http://thebalancedwriter.blogspot.com/2015/03/respect-your-limitations-live-your.html?m=1 I’ll share your article with my students. Thanks for writing.
Thanks Marianne. I have become a bit of a “nag” about back health since all this happened to me. It changes your perspective. Best wishes for your endeavours to help us be healthier.