staying healthy while sitting on your bum all day

[Anne Frasier]

writing is an unhealthy occupation. when i'm deep in a project i don't eat right or exercise, and now years of neglect are catching up with me. I know a writer who started ordering meals from seattle sutton. he lost weight and felt better. i've also heard of people setting a timer so that they have to get up and move around every hour. anybody else have any tips?

[norby]

Anne I don't know what your beverage of choice is but try drinking more water. Number one-it's healthier, plus, personally, for some reason it's much more difficult to ignore the call of nature when you've been drinking water than other liquids.

An ergonomic chair is a great idea if you don't already have one. I've been in physical therapy multiple times now because of my rotten posture and I'm only thirty-five. I do notice a difference when I make an effort to sit properly as opposed to slouching. The uncomfortableness Simon mentions just comes from having to get used to your back being forced into the proper position.

The timer is a great idea, and give yourself as many reasons as possible to have to get up and walk around as possible. Need something from the kitchen? Go get it now rather than waiting in case you need something else later, every little bit helps. Stock up on veggies for snacks-they crunch and they're healthy. And of course, any exercise you can do, especially if it raises your heart rate for a while, is good.

The hubby and I have had to change our lifestyles a little lately-can you tell?

[Vincent Holland-Keen]

This is one of the reasons I'm glad I don't write full time. I'm naturally predisposed to sitting in front of a computer all day, though not naturally predisposed to spending all that time writing. Instead I've got a job that gets me out of the house and... into an office where I sit at a computer all day. Except for lunchtimes. I'm lucky enough to have a sports centre on my doorstep, so I'm usually playing 5-a-side football (soccer) or badminton or working out in the gym. It keeps me fit, but only because I enjoy playing sport. If I had to exercise just using a treadmill or stationary bike I'd be a sedentary vegetable in a matter of weeks.

[Christa Faust]

I tend to break my day into two writing sessions with a visit to the gym in the middle. That kinda tricks my brain into resetting for session two and also lets me work out during the least crowded time of the day so I don't have to fight twenty bodybuilders to get on the Smith machine. I also box and grapple for variety, usually in the evenings, and I have dogs, which gets me at least out in the yard several times a day and often on a longer walk.

The cooking issue is trickier. I love to cook, but it's the last thing you want to do when you're on deadline. Cooking a big mess of something healthy at the beginning of the week that I can portion out into easy, no-brainer meals usually works pretty well.

What I really want is a robot wife. I live alone and like it that way, so I don't want an actual human around the house, but a robotic June Cleaver that would cook, clean and do laundry would be ideal. Can someone please get on inventing that right away. Thanks.

[Keith Snyder]

If you write at Starbucks, choose one five miles away and bicycle to it.

[Carol Davis Luce]

I've been setting the stove timer for an hour. It's amazing how quickly an hour zips by. While up, I do two minutes of climbing up and down the stairs (2min 6 X a day is supposed to be equivalent to a 30min walk). With a history or back and neck problems, it's essential I move. My posture at the computer is atrocious.

[Bill Mehlman]

This, I'm afraid, is one of those "do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do" things, but I try to keep myself on a three-day per week regimen of chi kung. It doesn't take the place of daily exercise, but the form I do (http://www.taichichuancenter.org/TCCC/aboutES.html) is too demanding to do more frequently than that until you've been at it steadily for months. Of Interest: tai chi burns as many calories/hour as surfing, almost as many as downhill skiing.
What it does accomplish is to stretch out the kinks and knots in my back, neck and arms. I haven't done enough to be able to document whether the extraordinary health claims for the art are credible. But I do feel a ton better for hours afterward.

[Anne Frasier]

my brother swears by tai chi. he says it also really helps with depression.

[norby]

Actually I've been told by my therapist and my doctor that any excerise you can do will help with depression. My therapist would probably say that it has more to do with the idea that it gets you up and doing something rather than just sitting and feeling bad. He's big on keeping moving when depression hits.

[Laura Benedict]

Reading about everyone else's exercise is making me feel very lazy! I heard from that wise old Paul Harvey the other day that regular, vigorous exercise is the most effective cure/preventative for depression. (Which I suffer from.) I think it's true for writer's behind, as well.

Since we moved onto 12 acres, I've gotten lazy about dog walks since Hrothgar can actually exercise himself. But even he's looking a little paunchy.

What is it about writing that it goes so well with chips, salty nuts and chocolate? Does Seattle Sutton deliver to Southern Illinois? Will they feed my family, too? Seriously, Anne--timers are great. I use them for everything else. Trying it for forty-five minutes of writing, fifteen minutes of movement sounds like a good thing!

[norby]

Paul Harvey is a genius and a storyteller for the ages!! My grandparents always listened to him and got me hooked on him.

[Anne Frasier]

I had an uncle addicted to paul harvey. he owned a bar and the beer delivery guys often came at noon. my uncle would come raging out of his trailer, shouting and flailing his arms. "Get the hell out of here!!! Paul Harvey is on!"

[Tamara Siler Jones]

We have four kids. Sitting still and quiet is a rare endulgence! I do try to walk every night for 30 min or so after they've gone to bed and before I really settle in to work. We also go to an indoor pool often. As for diet, that's always been a problem so I've recently started keeping careful track of what I eat and try to have about 6 min-meals (200-300 healthy calories each) a day. It's helped a lot.