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I have been working extremely hard recently. I have been holed up in my cave creating, rewriting, and editing, only popping out to eat, sleep and oh yes, the day job! All writers have these times. The creative streak that carves its own niche in our lives. Nothing else matters until the work is done.
Now my work is done and I have emerged to find that I haven't done any decent exercise for about 6 weeks and my body hurts! I have been favouring my mind over my body for too long. Hence this post. I'd like to hear whether you get caught in these periods too?
These are some of the physical problems I have been having.
- Repetitive Strain Injury in my right wrist.
- Headaches, neck pain and eye strain
- Coccyx inflammation
- Lower Back Pain
I am fully expecting to get into this zone again when I tackle the next big project (NaNoWriMo anyone?!), so what can I do to prevent all this next time?
How to avoid all these problems:
- Preventing RSI includes good desk posture, a decent chair that supports your body, a correctly set up work station, proper technique for typing and mouse use including keeping your wrists straight – plus take more breaks! All of these also prevent eye strain, neck pain and headaches.
- Stretching – in doorways and against walls so you don't need to leave the room! Here's an essential 2 minute stretch.
- Get some exercise. Convince your writer brain of this. Exercise provides new, improved, oxygenated blood flow to the brain which gives your creativity a boost!
- Take more breaks. I know this is obvious. But how to actually achieve this? Try temperature as a way to force breaks. If you are working in a cold climate, don't put the heater on and you have to get up to get warm now and then. If you work in a warm climate, put the air con on in another room and only go through to cool down for breaks.
- The sore coccyx is a result of sitting down for too long, in the same position, in a half decent chair! So all the above apply to solve that problem!
So I went to the gym yesterday and today my body is grateful. I should pay it more attention!
Do you get so caught up in your creative work that you ignore your body for too long? How do you cope with that?
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View Comments (3)
Thanks for this post. It's so true - it's really hard to stop when you're in the zone! I have the same physical reactions as you - plus the jutting forward head computer position. It seems to lead to mental stress and tiredness too - which is not great for writing, and pretty disastrous for editing. Perhaps we need to set a little (pleasant-sounding) alarm to remind us to check our position and do a stretch? It also feels great to take a notebook (or print-out your own work or editing - on scrap paper, of course) and walk down to the local cafe or park. Really freshens the brain and body, but keeps you in touch with your work (if you don't want to totally lose touch). It's hard to do this, especially when on a deadline, but I find it leads to better output anyway. I just have to remember to do it!
I'm at my computer for at least eight hours every day, so I try to implement several habits that force to me get up and move around. I take the dog for a quick walk every few hours, and I leave my water glass upstairs (my office is downstairs), so I have to run upstairs every hour or so to get a drink. I also work out for half an hour every morning to make sure I keep my cardio in shape.
As for my weak wrists... I heard recently about a new mouse that's supposed to shift the angle of your hand every fifteen minutes or so - thus relieving the stress. Can't remember the brand off the top of my head, but I intend to get one as soon as I can.
I break my writing down into small sessions. I get up at the crack of dawn. I write in my journal (morning pages) to release all the chatter. Then I do my morning exercises, then I hit the computer. Then it is off to the full time desk job. I stretch a lot and interrupt my tasks with computer, then filing or reading, editing, then back to the computer. Once home again, I break the computer activities up. This works for me but it also has taken years to develop this into a habit. It seemed unnatural at first, but it is like anything else, breaking it into small steps still gets the job accomplished.