Mens sana in corpore sano – A sound mind in a sound body. How do you keep your body sound, when you sit at a desk and only move your fingers on a keyboard?
I hope you all have looked at your writing setup, and optimized for ergonomics. Is your keyboard at the proper height? How about your monitor? If you’re bending your head down and hunching over to look at a laptop, please consider sticking it up on a stand, or stack of books (mine’s sitting on a stand on top of 3 reams of printer paper), and running a USB or wireless keyboard and mouse.
Is your mouse set up ergonomically?
Is your chair in good repair, or is it broken down? Is it set at a good height for healthy posture?
Do you take regular breaks, and get up and move? Do you do stretches?
What exercise do you have regularly scheduled into your life?
I want to start swimming again, but I cannot find the time in my current schedule to carve out for it. So, rather than give up the exercise I currently do – weightlifting – I have a freshly-unboxed walking treadmill waiting for one last part to be delivered today to complete setup as a treadmill desk. (New shelf sleeves, to adjust the height of the old treadmill desk setup.)
This isn’t a fit of wild optimism; it’s sort of an irritated sigh of resignation. I had a treadmill desk for years, and loved it as a supplement, not sole way to work. When it died, I tried to get a cheap Chinesium replacement for 1/5th the cost. It promised it could handle my weight, and it lied (the marketing promises and the actual manual’s listed max gross weight were 50 pounds apart. The manual was correct.) After several years of trying to make it work and not using it far more than I used it due to the sheer frustration, I gave it to a lighter, smaller friend.
When I finally spent the money to buy the high-quality replacement from the same company as the first time, the price had gone up by 1/3 due to inflation. I’m just shaking my head and calling it the cost of not doing the right thing in the first place.
Well, that, and the non-monetary but very real cost of the extra pounds around the middle that came with not walking.
Here’s to keeping bodies and minds as sound as they can be, while our imaginations are out chasing dragons, running from terrors, and talking to cats!
(Image courtesy of Cedar Sanderson, illustrating the kind of running a character must be able to do in order to stay alive… and the author wishes she could do, but it would be embarrassing to all concerned to watch. Except the physical therapist, who would be compiling a checklist and timeline.)
Mad Genius Club 
8 responses to “Health of the Author”
Let’s not forget denial… I seem to be getting shorter by the year, and my desk/laptop/chair preferred heights have started to leave my feet dangling. I finally gave in and bought an assemble-yourself cheap footstool.
Sigh… Can my granny shawl be far behind?
Check your doctor about osteoporosis.
It’s just “age-appropriate”. It’s my mind I worry about, not my spine. When I start gibbering, let me know…
I cannot imagine being able to walk and type at the same time.
No? Plenty of people manage it on their cell phones when they really shouldn’t. For treadmill desks, the key is to build up, like any other skill. Start by using it as a standing desk, then put it on a very slow walk and start doing something that requires very little typing, like social media or web surfing. Then add more typing, but do not increase the speed until you feel comfortable doing that.
The point isn’t to go fast; the point is to have a comfortable pace as you do regular computer work. Sure, you can go fast while watching a video or something that required no fine motor control, but that’s the exception, not the rule.
So, I just have to repeat this quote from Marty Burke on his Spasm One album: “There is, of course, the motto of most science-fiction conventions – ‘Clean mind, clean body – take your pick’”.
I wear compression gloves for any kind of dry work, particularly typing and sewing. They’ve been a life saver.
At night, to ward off carpel tunnel syndrome, I sleep in splints.
Under my desk, I use a Hovr. It’s a pair of flat plates suspended from the underside of the desk to keep my feet elevated and — if I’m feeling motivated — use in a bicycling motion to keep my lower body active. Sadly, the Hovr doesn’t count towards steps on my fitbit.
I walk every single night with Bill, aiming for an all-day count of 7,500 steps. 10,000 is the stretch goal.
We do the Royal Canadian Air Force exercise program several times a week, interspersed with yoga. I *HIGHLY* recommend RCAF. It’s quick, taking about 15 minutes a day and starts at the most basic of levels. You can level up to Olympic levels if you’re motivated. Instructions for both men and women are all over the internet or you can buy the book from any online used book seller. All you need is the instructions, some space, and your own sweet self.
It’s so important to do cardio, strength, and flexibility & balance.
Also helps the writing. I’ve mentioned the safety signs I saw at a base once. The “Just because you can climb it doesn’t mean it’s a ladder.”
That’s something I’d never run into or even occur to me in my normal life, butI realized I had a character who absolutely would be climbing the cabinet doors to reach the top shelf, jumping down to the floor with an armful of dishes and think nothing of it.
If I did that, there’d be a hole in the foundation and I’d be in the hospital.