Minimising Headaches As A Writer
Do you suffer from headaches a lot?
I know I have done in the past. If you’re a writer, or anyone with an occupation that involves staring at a screen for hours, then chances are you’re putting yourself under a lot of strain. This ultimately causes you to be less productive, less happy and it conditions your to associate writing with pain.
Today, I’ve been copywriting. I wrote a sales letter for a client, and then I planned to write some sales letters for myself. I’ve done enough of these that they come quite easily to me once I’ve done the planning. But today, I really didn’t feel like it. I had a headache. It was almost the first day in 2016 where I didn’t write a topic of the day.
See Also: Check Out The Archives For Nearly One Hundred Articles On Writing.
Practically every single daily topic I’ve written has come from what I’ve been doing on that day. The theory is that I’ll never run out of topics providing I do something regarding writing every day. Today, that’s getting a headache.
Minimise Headaches By Following These Simple Guidelines
In 2012, I was repeatedly at the doctors because I was suffering migraines. I’d suffered headaches before, and always put them down to too much up-close time. But during that summer I had multiple migraines per week. Life was pretty rubbish, and there was very little the doctors could do.
I found the solution to that particular problem, and it’s the first thing I suggest you do:
Check Your Prescription If You Wear Glasses.
Opticians have a duty to give you the most powerful lens possible so that you can see everything no matter how far away it is. This is so you don’t get into a car and run over a child because your glasses are too weak.
What it also means though is that often your prescription is over-kill for looking at a screen an arm’s length away. Depending on your prescription and your optician, you might need to have two pairs of glasses or some other solution.
I’m not an optical expert, so I can’t really give that sort of advice, but you should definitely check your prescription and if it’s too powerful, see about possible options. My glasses at the time were far too powerful and that caused the headaches.
Don’t Spend Your Nights In Front of The Computer
The second thing I did to mitigate headaches and minimise headaches was to have a blanket ban on sitting in the dark with a screen on. I’m not going to argue about “night owls” and “morning people” because it’s stupid.
I am going to suggest that your eyes weren’t designed to be ten inches from an artificial source of light after the sun goes down. It’s bad for your eyes, and it’ll hurt. You’ll also be tired the next day and it’ll impact your sleep cycle and all sorts of other unpleasant stuff.
Minimise Headaches By Increasing Distance Time
Working with a computer screen a foot away from you means your brain is focusing solely on a very narrow field of vision. Unfortunately, that’s life for a lot of us. What you should do, however, is spend a good while letting your eyes relax by looking out into the distance. Going for a walk daily and looking at the horizon line is good. You could also take up bird-watching or something similar. Anything that’ll get you looking a long way away to counter-act the close up time.
Use F.Lux
Flux takes the brightness away from your screen during those hours when it’s dark but you still have work to do. It’s an awesome, free piece of software. It runs in the background and your eyes will thank you for it.
Minimise Headaches By Re-Hydration
This is the part where I get grumpy old grandpa and tell you that you’re not going to stop any health ailments if you follow a list of steps like the ones above but still eat nothing but pizza and drink nothing but soda and beer.
You’ll minimise headaches if you’re currently dehydrated and you start hydrating, or if you’re deficient in various nutrients and suddenly you’re more balanced.
Final Thing I’ve Done To Minimise Headaches: Fix Posture
Fixing your posture is a final step towards minimising headaches. If you’re like me, you’ve developed a craned neck from staring at a computer screen for too long. You might have lower back troubles as well. This all adds up to tension headaches. Luckily, you’re not alone. Millions of people suffer this, which means millions of people have collected various exercises which you can find with a quick google search.
Don’t overcomplicate this. I see some wacko exercises that suggest hanging weights from your neck or learning to do headstands and stuff. You don’t need that. Just get a soft stretching program and maybe some resistance bands and you’ll be fine.
P.S. If you’ve got techniques to help with headaches, they’re always appreciated. I’m signing off now to alleviate my eye strain. Catch you tomorrow!