How to Maintain a Balanced, Healthy Lifestyle as a Busy Writer

Who likes running? Anyone?

*crickets*

Who likes eating carrots and broccoli?

*crickets*

Ok ok ok how ’bout this one: Who likes using up free time to lift weights instead of finishing that final draft of their novels??

🙁 Meh. Still no one, eh?

As writers, our protein powder and the size of our muscles may not be *top* priority on our to-do list.

But here’s the thing: you don’t have to be a bodybuilder to maintain a healthy (mental, emotional and physical) lifestyle as a busy writer!

Here’s a fact you need to grasp if you have plans of becoming a published author:

• The hours are long and tough
• You sit a lot
• Because of high demands to get that amazing sequel written, you won’t have much time to do *other* things
• You sit a lot
• You may be prone to eat whatever is in front of you and drink ungodly amounts of coffee
• You sit a lot
• You may not see the light of day and will work very late night shifts too.
• You sit a lot
• Family and friends will get less of your attention
• Did I mention you sit alot???

This life does not lend itself to the most healthy activity. In fact, if you’re not careful, you can become dreadfully imbalanced mentally, emotionally and physically in a short period of time.

So how do you maintain a healthy lifestyle that fits into your routine and is totally not overwhelming?

You hone the art of self-discipline.

Now I know, the last thing you want to do is crack the whip on yourself when your parents, your teachers, your other mentors, and coaches already do enough of that for you.

But you have to want this as much as you want to get good grades, enter a good college, and become state champ at (enter sport here).

So that means if you truly want to become a self-published or traditionally published author, you have to maintain a routine that will funnel you toward that goal.

Does that mean you have to sacrifice a lot of hours from stuff you like to do and replace it with stuff you don’t want to do?

No. This means finding the little spaces and filling it in with healthy alternatives.

So let’s talk 3 areas of your life that require a healthy balance and how you can strike that balance:

Writing is therapeutic and a healthy way to release anxiety, dispel depression, and even offer a better night’s rest.

Diane Dreher Ph.D. talks about the effects of writing on the brain at Psychology Today:

Diane says, “Texas psychologist James Pennebaker has found that writing about problems can…relieve our emotional pain and improve our mental and physical health… He advises us to take time to write about our problems, expressing our deepest feelings, just letting the words flow.”

So, when you sit down to write, don’t tell yourself that you’d better write a best-selling novel or else. Why not? Because writing should be loved for what it is, not what it should be. 

If you find that your work of fiction has weighed you down lately, step away from it.

Switch things up: start a side project, sit outside and enjoy a bit of creation while you write. Write with a pen and paper instead of staring at a glaring computer screen. Tell yourself that you will share what you’re about to write with you and only you.

Mental strain happens when we aren’t getting enough rest either. Night owls beware!: writing late into the night can drastically affect your body. And according to healthline.com, “Stimulants like caffeine aren’t enough to override your body’s profound need for sleep.”

In fact, on the subject of sleep, healthline.com adds, “A lack of sleep can negatively affect both long-term and short-term memory. Your concentration, creativity, and problem-solving skills aren’t up to par when you don’t get enough rest.”

So here’s the goal: instead of going to bed when your grandparents go to bed, try going to bed just a half hour earlier than you normally would. Turn off your phone and computer screens the moment you get into bed and truly commit to making that extra half hour count.

What if you had bad rest the night before or perhaps suffer from insomnia? Don’t be afraid to take a ten-minute nap during your day. 

According to David DiSalvo on Forbes.com, “Researchers tested four nap time spans: 5, 10, 20 and 30 minutes (and a control group that didn’t nap). They then tested participants across several benefits for three hours after the nap. Here’s a summary of the results:

The 10-minute nap produced immediate improvements in all outcome measures (including sleep latency, subjective sleepiness, fatigue, vigor, and cognitive performance), with some of these benefits maintained for as long as 155 minutes.”

So don’t view napping as laziness, boo! And don’t shrug off the power of a good ten-minute power nap. You’ll do your brain a world of good, and in turn, your writing!

Key Take Away: Writing is therapeutic. Write for the love of writing. Switch up your writing routine. Go to bed a half hour earlier than usual and take ten-minute naps.

When we’ve experienced emotional trauma, our first instinct might be to lock ourselves in our room and write for days on end.

Writing is a healthy way to process emotional trauma. It can clear our minds and help us figure out what we truly think or feel about a situation.

On the other end of that spectrum, however, focusing for hours on end on our emotional trauma can dig us into an unhealthy ditch. We can unintentionally lick our wounds until they have no chance to heal. So as much as you might want to, don’t just sit in a dark room glued to your notebook or computer, writing for days on end.

Too much of one activity can start to stress us out further or prevent us from emotionally healing. And yes, that includes writing. 

So to counteract our pattern, take just five minutes to stand outside and take a few deep breaths.

Now, this is the second time I’ve suggested connecting with nature, so where’s the science to back that up? It’s right here, precious petunia:

According to Dr. Mercola of Mercola.com, “Among children with ADHD, spending time in nature leads to improvements in focus and higher scores on concentration tests.”

Dr. Mercola even says that a walk in nature can help boost creativity! “One study found walking increased 81 percent of participants’ creativity, but walking outside produced “the most novel and highest quality analogies.”

Now, what if you live deep in the heart of a city? What if the closest natural setting is M I L E S away and you can’t just drive yourself to a park when you face a problem?

Dr. Mercola says, “Other research has shown that even viewing images of natural scenery activates brain areas associated with empathy and altruism.”

Lastly, try to take time to help others. Stepping away from our writing desks and focusing on helping those in need through volunteer work can greatly improve our mental and emotional health. Helping others can put our own issues into perspective and give us a greater sense of purpose. Even just helping a friend or family for a day can do a great deal to help keep us emotionally stable.

According to createthegood.org, “Volunteering with and for others increases social interaction and helps build a support system based on common commitment and interests—both of which have been shown to decrease depression. A study released by Johns Hopkins University in 2009 revealed that volunteers actually increased their brain functioning.”

Key Take Away: Writing can help you heal emotionally but don’t use it as a barrier between you and the rest of the world. Five-minute walks in nature can help boost creativity. Participating in volunteer work decreases depression. 

Aight. If you’re like me, you’re just not motivated to work out. It takes a lot of personal cheerleading to even get my stretchy pants on, nevermind lift a dumbbell:

But our beautiful unicorn bodies will take the hardest hit from our writing routine if we aren’t careful. We don’t have to be Arnold Schwarzenegger in order to keep our bodies from turning into bread pudding either.

There are three areas we have to balance if we want to stay healthy:

1. What we eat
2. What we drink
3. How we exercise 

When we’re on a tight writing routine, we become scavengers. We don’t hunt, we don’t prepare meals, we simply sniff around for the next closest thing that looks like food, shove it in our mouths, and keep typing.

But think ahead about your snacking options. Take an afternoon to get snack options just for you and keep them by your table for quick food-to-face fueling.

And sadly, yes, this means forgoing that bag of Doritos for a bag of baby carrots and hummus instead. Even if edamame or broccoli isn’t your thing, here’s a list of healthy, savory snack food alternatives that will keep your body happy:

• Popcorn
• Seaweed snacks
• Veggie Stix
• Almonds, cashews, walnuts
• Rice crackers
• hard boiled eggs
• Dried Fruit
• Organic Beef Jerky

These guys are affordable, easy to keep by your writing desk and totally won’t make you gag.

Now, let’s talk about our liquid fuel of choice:

Coffee? Tea? Soda? 

All in good measure, friend, but did you know there’s a miracle liquid that has no calories, replenishes your body and even helps improve brain function and encourage weight loss? So what is it??

Water. Yep. Water.

Water is hands down the best liquid fuel we need to keep us physically happy as writers. So where’s the proof that you should be drinking at least eight 8 oz. glasses a day?:

According to mindbodygreen.com, “Since your brain is mostly water, drinking it helps you think, focus, concentrate better and be more alert. Water raises your metabolism and has zero calories so it’s helps you lose weight. It helps relieve and prevent headaches (migraines & back pains too) which are commonly caused by dehydration.”

In fact, avoiding juice, soda, and other drinks are all around better for your health!

Renowned nutritionist Dr. Walter Willett, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health says, “High levels of sugar have adverse metabolic effects, and the amounts we get in beverages today is so huge that it is one of our major health issues… Even energy drinks and vitamin waters are loaded with sugar.”

So drink plenty of water to keep your brain function active and your creativity flowing.

Lastly, let’s discuss physical activity.

Unfortunately sitting long hours leads to adverse effects on our body. A 2008 study by Vanderbilt University revealed that on average, most people sit 7.7 hours per day- and that’s the average person! Not a writer like you or me who sits for even longer periods of time. What can all this sitting do to our bodies?

The study continues, “When you are sedentary, the heart – just like any other muscle – is not being challenged or pumping blood as vigorously. This can affect endurance, metabolism, blood pressure, cholesterol levels and other cardiovascular health factors. Inactivity from sitting lowers the metabolism and the body’s ability to metabolize fat. Sitting can increase depression, anxiety and lower mental well-being.”

So how do we counteract all this activity? If you can’t do a cardio workout for an hour a day, then try doing workout sets in bursts. This is what I do to keep my blood pumping and my creative wheels turning, in fact! I set a timer for every two hours, and when the buzzer goes off, no matter what I’m doing I have to do a 10-minute workout. It can be light arm reps, standing abs, or a ten minute run on my elliptical machine. 5 intervals of this and I will have done an hour workout for the day!

It becomes less intimidating when we face physical activity in spurts! Besides a little physical activity greatly helps to brainstorm, blast writer’s block and come up with creative new ideas.

A 2014 study by scientists at Stanford University showed that walking significantly improves certain types of cognitive efforts involved in creativity, specifically convergent thinking, such as the ability to come up with solutions to a problem, and divergent thinking, which involves conceiving open-ended, original ideas.

Key Take Aways: Have healthier snacks on hand. Drink water often and daily! Exercise in un-intimidating spurts. All of it boosts creativity and helps us be better writers.

It can be difficult to pay attention to our own health needs, especially when we’re young and already feel pretty good. But taking care of yourself now is a long-term investment. If you want to be a successful writer as an adult, start honing these practices today and see the benefits leading a healthy, balanced lifestyle today can give you now and in the future!

What do you like to do during your writing routine to maintain a healthy, balanced lifestyle? Let me know in the comments section! We could all use new ideas 😉