Ten Tips for Staying Healthy

Writing is never easy, but when you’re sick? That sneezing, sniffling, aches, pain, and fever thing is death to eloquent words and brilliantly devised plots. Your brain gets stuck on thoughts of, will I ever breathe again? and I want my mommy. You take a pill or swallow some nasty tasting liquid out of a bottle that promises to make you function like a rock star, but all you get is a medicine head and, if you’re lucky, a nose that drips instead of flowing like a garden hose.

I don’t know about you, but the only things I excel at when I’ve caught a bug are whining and moaning. Well, and maybe sneezing. I’m a fabulous sneezer.

It could be said that the experience of illness will allow you to write this state more realistically if any of your characters are taken sick, but I’m willing to guess you’ve already been there, done that, and don’t really need to do it again.

The good news is that there are things you can do to bump up your immune system during the colder, darker days of winter, so that you are less likely to play host to the tiny, evil, opportunistic organisms swarming around you.

• Don’t rely on the flu shot. I’m an RN in a clinic, and I often encounter patients who are shocked, appalled, and even angry that the flu shot did not prevent them from getting sick. Here’s the thing: the flu shot will only provide protection from the flu, and only from certain strains of the flu. It’s not going to help you out at all with colds and other viruses and bacteria. It’s important to know that the flu shot only provides immunity to whatever strains the experts predict will be most prevalent during a particular year. Last year, the formulation was way off target and pretty much useless. I’m not saying don’t get one, I’m only saying don’t rely on it as your only means of protection.

 

• Wash your hands. I can hear you saying, “Yeah, yeah, we know.” Well, I’m telling you again. Wash ’em. Frequently. Colds and flu viruses can be spread through tiny droplets that hang in the air, but you are much more likely to catch the disease by touching an object covered in viruses and then transferring them to a mucus membrane (eyes, lining of nose, mouth). Objects that are reservoirs for the bugs that can make you sick—doorknobs, for example, and little kids—are known as fomites. (I figured, as writers, you would like to know this word.) Somebody with a cold blows their nose, then opens the door. An hour later you come by and put your hand, all unsuspecting, on the doorknob. Then your eye itches. And bingo – you’ve provided a colony of little viral immigrants with a new home. You could do the Howard Hughes thing and never go outside your door without gloves and a mask. You could scrub the skin off your hands and spend all of your free time sterilizing every possible fomite you encounter. But then you wouldn’t have time to write. Besides, a healthy immune system does an amazing job of fighting off intruders, and there are things you can do to help out.

 

• Cut back on your sugar intake. Sugar is an immune damper and leaves you more susceptible to invasion by the microscopic barbarians. I know this is a tough one for writers – most of us love to snack while writing, to keep the words flowing. We use treats as incentives and to honor goals completed. We comfort ourselves with ice cream and chocolate when we’re faced with bad writing days, rejection, and low sales numbers. Candy. Cookies. Pie. I’m drooling over here. I’m not suggesting to cut these things out all together – they are delicious and life is short. But make a choice to cut back and choose a healthier snack when you can.

 

• Get some Vitamin D in your day. If you’re pale skinned and live in the western hemisphere, chances are good that you’re Vitamin D deficient. Vitamin D plays an integral role in a healthy immune system, so you might want to consider getting a good supplement. D3 is better than D2. Of course, if you can get plenty of sunshine that works, too. But winter days, for most of us, are short and dark.

 

• Manage your stress. Chronic stress has all sorts of negative effects on the body, and I’m not going to begin to address all of them here. Suffice it to say that the primary stress hormone, cortisol, can negatively impact your immune system when there is too much of it floating around. The life of a writer is full of stressors. All of us are balancing writing with a busy schedule, hitting deadlines, and dealing with rejection, and this takes its toll.  Anything that relaxes you and calms the stress response (except for alcohol, unfortunately), is good for your immune system. Take a leisurely walk, preferably somewhere in nature. Get a massage. Read a book – for pleasure. Critique reads are often stressful in one way or another. Soak in the bathtub. Engage in music or art. Try Yoga and meditation, as these are both fabulous stress reducers. Think you don’t have time? Think again. A recent study indicated that just 3-5 minutes a day of meditative breathing dramatically lowered the stress hormones in the body.

 

• Get a reasonable amount of sleep. I know, I know. You’ve got word count goals. Deadlines. Nanowrimo. But if you get sick, you’re going to lose a ton of productive writing time. Writing is usually a marathon, not a sprint. Conserve your energy. If you suffer from insomnia, make sure to consider stress management, since that is one of the major culprits in a sleepless night.

 

• Consider immune boosting supplements. The jury is still out on whether taking Vitamin C, Garlic, Zinc, Vitamin B, Echinacea, and other supplements is helpful to the immune system or not. It’s possible we’d just be better off eating a well-balanced diet rich in a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. I’ll admit, research evidence or not, that the minute I start feeling a tickle in my throat I grab a bottle of Sambucol Black Elderberry and slug it straight out of the bottle. I’ll also argue vehemently that it works.

 

• Exercise regularly. We all know that a healthy body is more likely to have a healthy immune system. Exercise also happens to be a fabulous stress buster and one of the best defenses against depression. It’s easy to not have time for this – trust me, I know. My schedule is crazy and I totally understand that a lot of us do not have time to go to the gym everyday. But I’m suggesting that you walk when you can. Park in a spot on the far side of the parking lot instead of searching for a space close to the door. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Do what you can.

 

• Laugh. If nothing funny is presenting itself, go look for things. Watch funny clips on YouTube. Seek out the Twitter and Facebook people who post things that make you laugh. Watch funny TV. The old saying “laughter is the best medicine” came to be for a reason. Laughing has all kinds of crazy health benefits, actually, and one of them is a boost to your immune system.

 

• Tend to your relationships. Recent research shows that the health of our relationships has an enormous impact on our immune systems. Like a lot of research, I read this and said, “Well, duh.” There is no greater stress than a relationship that is all in tangles. Sometimes the solution is as simple as walking away from a toxic friendship. Often, it’s not so easy. Important relationships often demand – and deserve – hard work to sort things out. To which I say, do the work. Your body will thank you for taking action.