Friday, June 1, 2012

The Most Interesting Thing: Is Writing Bad for Your Health?

"Writing is hard work and bad for the health."--E. B. White 


As you may know, I am a huge fan of E.B. White, so when I came across this quote, it gave me pause. I agree that writing is hard work, but is it bad for my health? Depends on what kind of health we're talking about, but either way, my answer is yes and no.
Yes, writing sometimes disrupts my emotional and mental well-being.
Yes, spending way too much time in one position makes me ache all over.
Yes, I sometimes get so involved in my writing that I forget to eat, which can't be good for my health.
BUT
Writing, at times, makes me deliriously happy.
Spending long hours with Butt-In-Chair has motivated me to get out of the house and exercise.
Since I've been writing, I'm more aware of the need to nurture my body so my creative spirit can thrive
So what do you think? Is writing bad for the health?

23 comments:

  1. I think you covered it well! Writing is too much sitting which prompts me to get outside and move around, but writing itself stretches my brain and my other capabilities in marvelous ways. So bad for my health? No. It makes it all come into balance.

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  2. I guess I side with St. Thomas on this one -- "If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you." That's always been the case for me. I tend to be least healthy when I am not creating.

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    1. What a great quote. I agree, I am least healthy (mentally and emotionally) when I'm not creating, too. ^_^

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  3. Well, certainly PUBLISHING is making me sick. :)

    I have a writing-related injury that flares up from time to time. I get this horrible "railroad spike in the back" muscle spasm if I work too many hours. It takes weeks to go away so I try to manage myself well enough to avoid it.

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    1. I wonder if it was PUBLISHING that Mr. White meant? ^_^

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    2. And BTW, I failed to mention the bottle of Pepto Bismol on my writing desk.

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  4. In a sense, the question isn't whether writing is bad for you. Everything is bad for you in some respect. The question is whether the good of writing outweighs the bad. Grahame Greene says it almost as well as St. Thomas (Aquinas?) does: “Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those, who do not write, compose, or paint can manage to escape the madness, the melancholia, the panic fear, which is inherent in a human condition.”

    So I'm with Barb and Angelina that people are least healthy when they don't have that kind of creative outlet.

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    1. Another excellent quote. Thanks for weighing in. ^_^

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  5. I love your balanced good and bad! :)

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  6. Writing can be bad for the health considering the amount of sleep I lose, especially when starting a new project, lol! But it also is something I love and helps keep me sane, so it's definitely a good balance. :-p

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    1. I hadn't thought about all the sleep deprivation. Great to see you, Cortney. Keep your sanity. ^_^

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  7. Not to get too Hunger Gamesy, but I'd say, all in all, the odds are in your favor.

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  8. Everyone else has covered my thoughts already. :)

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  9. Yes, like minds. :)) I have to agree, writing is good & bad for the health. But, for me, the good outweigh the bad. Kind of like eating an avocado.

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    1. And that, m'dear, is the most perfect simile of the year. ^_^

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  10. That is an interesting quote. I'm thinking the same thing, it's both good and bad. I think I need it sometimes to make me feel productive and happy, but it does make me negate other things as well. My house is a wreck. lol

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    1. So writing is bad for your house's health? ^_^

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  11. Angelina your space here is magical, you definitely speak my own language :). If writing is wrong for me than I don't wanna be right :))) if I were to use a famous musical cliche :).

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