Writing Healthy

The days of the hollow-eyed, death-pale writer cringing at the sunlight or the feverish genius subsisting on a diet of cigarettes, alcohol and drugs are past. Nowadays, there is nothing romantic or laudable about jeopardizing your health in pursuit of your art. Nowadays, we have writers like Murakami who run marathons and swim and go to bed at 9 pm on a working day.

The brilliant writers we’ve grown up reading who fell into the addiction-addled, neck-or-nothing lifestyle – Poe, Hemmingway, Sartre, Burroughs, to name a few – imploded, their lives unable to sustain the grueling demands they made on their bodies and psyche. In appreciating the beautiful prose or poetry they created out of their eccentricities and excesses, we must not forget that most of it was born out of the pain and depression the writers themselves tried to claw their way out off. It was a response to the circumstances in which they found themselves and became the fuel for their writing. Now if a writer wastes away in serving their art, it is considered posturing.

The demands writers make on themselves, mentally and physically can take a huge toll over time. More and more writers are recognizing the need to strike a balance between the butt-in-chair writing and a more active lifestyle. Some have started initiatives like The Healthy Writer’s Club: (http://www.shalleemcarthur.com/2012/09/the-healthy-writers-club.html#more) that encourages writers to pursue a healthier lifestyle and share their wellness tips and exercise quota for the week. Still other writers invest in treadmill desks that enable them to work and exercise at the same time.

Here’s some Scribe’s Tips to help you commit to a healthy writing lifestyle:

Posture
I think this is one of the most important and at the same time, neglected things in a writer’s life. We slouch at desks, we contort in chairs, we lie half-slumped in beds, we drape ourselves on couches. And that too for extended periods of time. When you write make sure your back is well-supported and you are not placing pressure on your spine or tailbone and your arms and elbows are at the right level for typing or writing. If you feel your body is sunk on itself or your shoulders are hunched, take a moment to throw back your shoulders, lift the ribcage, lengthen your torso.

Diet
This is a no-brainer: Understand your metabolism. Eat the right food at the right times, so your body can burn excess calories effectively. A lot of health advocates warn against bad sugar and bad carbs and bad fat and villify food groups. The idea is to enjoy all food by understanding your system, having a healthy diet psychology and good eating habits. Avoid binge-eating at your desk. Honore de Balzac was so addicted to his coffee that at one point, he was having 50 cups a day and moved on to directly eating fresh coffee grounds, not even bothering to brew. Balzac was an extreme case but many writers are unable to function without a steady stream of caffeine pouring through their system ALL DAY. Beyond a morning cuppa or two, have fresh juice instead. And water. Lots of water. Manage your nutrition.

Exercise
A sedentary writing lifestyle can lead to dullness, poor quality sleep and weight gain. Writers have to balance the intense mental nature of their work with focused physical activity. Lack of exercise can lead not only to physical deterioration but affect you psychologically as well. Get a gym membership, play a sport that requires movement and intensity. Have a regimen at home. Get that heartrate up.

Sleep
I’m a mess if I don’t get proper sleep. I’m cranky, listless, unmotivated and approach my writing with the enthusiasm of a person about to get a colonoscopy. You need sleep to recharge your batteries. To let that active mind and body get much-needed rest so it can live to write another day. If you’re like me, even in bed you may be thinking off how to resolve a verse or which character should be committed to a mental asylum. At some point, you have to switch off and slip into uninterrupted zzzzzzzs. It is important if you want to come to your writing fresh, invigorated and sharp. I support naps during the day too.

Stress
Stress can keep you awake at night and manifest in physical ways as pain and achiness in your body. It can produce migraines, tension in your neck and shoulders, tired eyes. It can mess with your emotional balance and impair judgement. I know writers who pride themselves on working better under the pressure of a deadline. In the short term their bodies rise to the immediate challenge and gets them through an all-night writing session or cranking out a full-length article in two hours, but sustaining that ‘blitz-writing’ lifestyle over time can be detrimental to their health. We all face stressful situations, it’s part of living. It is how we respond to those situations that makes the difference. Approach your writing, as much as you can, from a position of calm. Plan towards your deadlines. Be organized. Honour your mental well-being.

Write in good health. Until next week!