How to maintain a healthy lifestyle as a writer

The writing life can be an unhealthy one—but it doesn’t have to be.

Writers often spend all day hunched over a computer, forgoing fresh air and healthy meals. That’s a recipe for disaster. However, by establishing a routine and focusing on healthy habits, you can excel as a writer and maintain your most precious asset—your health.

Here are six ways writers can stay fit, productive and balanced:

1. Minimize the time you spend sitting.

Sitting is the new smoking, right? Staying glued to your chair might not be quite as bad as smoking four packs a day, but it does increase your risk of high cholesterol, poor blood circulation, colon cancer and obesity.

Consider investing in an ergonomic chair or an exercise ball. Writing at a standing desk would put you in good company as well. Ernest Hemingway, Lewis Carroll and Vladimir Nabokov all wrote while standing.