What do you do to stay healthy?

[cylmill]

I dance! ;DD
And uh...I drink lots of water and very rarely sodas and other artificial beverages!

[VermillionWorks]

What do you do to stay healthy?

I stuff my face full of sugary sweets and sit on my ass all day.
................

Okay, seriously, when the weather's nicer and no holidays are making things difficult, I try to put more thought into what I eat and do some more walking and biking.

[mariusthered]

even being around this thread makes me tired. since living on my own i must admit i don't really look after myself.

however I have one bit of advice. ginger root tea can do wonders with the stomachs ( but I warn you don't have it too strong!) a little at a time is better.

and avoid fizzy drinks that stuff rots your gut and ya teeth.

[SandraMJ]

I don't drink or smoke, and I avoid exceedingly fatty foods. I also try to do some ocassional exercise :3

(And nothing healthier than being a lazy reclusive girl who only goes out of her apartment every two weeks)

[Damatris]

To be honest, for a long time I did zilch to stay in shape, that's depression for you kids. But I've been doing steadily better since autumn and it also shows in my eating/exercising habits.

I've been cooking things from scratch again which is something I really like and am good at. It can be pretty difficult to keep a balanced diet with really tight budget (especially during winter when vegetables are super expensive. Sometimes I've decided between 1 fresh cucumber or 3 bags of ramen) but frozen bagged veggies are life savior. It also means that most of the time I don't eat red meat. I'm also not craving sugar anymore and I've actually noticed that the mild allergy to some specific food preservatives has gotten worse so it's extra motivation to stay away from them. I also drink a lot of water and tea, stay away from caffeine and alcohol and I've never smoked and not planning on starting.

I've mostly been going for walks lately and it has been a lot of fun since I got Zombies, run! app on my phone. Gimme a story and everything gets better. Before I got bored after 30 - 40 minutes or so but with that I've easily done 1 - 2 hour walks. Longest so far was 9km part of it in knee deep snow. xD I do have to turn chases off a lot of time because running is still killing me but I'm working towards being able to use them more. I also should start swimming again as I still have tickets to the local facility. When I was younger I used to ride horses but that has been off my list for couple of years now thanks to being too poor to do that. One day.. one day I'll start again.

[Bluejay]

Easy.
Step 1. Walk to the gym.
Step 2. Look at the gym.
Step 3. Give up and go home.

Repeat process until desired results. wink

[gnekomikero]

I'm not sure if im still healthy. sometimes i sleep only 5 but sometimes 8hrs. i dont exercise all day in drawing and pc to check forums and updates for comic. only in sundays or important occasions i go outside and see the real world. lol

[studioclairidi]

ChloroFluoro: Well, outside of making comics I play golf and play the piano. My advice is not only to take care of your physical health but your mental health as well. Listening to some relaxing music would help, which does for me with piano XD

As for physical health, take 15 minute breaks for every 55 minutes you work on your comic. Sitting down for long periods of time is bad for you so you need to stretch and move around every now and then.

[naemeum]

I try to do squats every day since I lost a lot of strength in January, my eating habits aren't really the best but not that bad either, I drink a lot of water, I try to eat salads often and I try to avoid fast food and greasy foods as much as I can. I end up eating a lot of already made foods which aren't that good but ehh I'm not sure if they are different to the rest of the world since Finland tries to drop all the bad ingredients from their instant foods.
But yeah I try to work out a lil, strech, eat veggies, drink lots of water and I sleep often from 6 to 9 hours

[Shanny8]

Same case here.

I average about 5 hours or less a night. Only days I get more than 5 are Friday nights/Saturday mornings & Sat nights/Sunday mornings coz I dont have to get up early for work. I'm REALLY picky about fruit( the discovery of homemade smoothies has helped me solve some of that issue). When I get stressed(mainly about money and sometimes the lack of it) I get less sleep coz my brain starts to race all hours of the night trying to come up with solutions, plus I start trying to work more hours to get extra money.

Been trying not to stress so much coz stress can make your health bad; or worse- it can kill you.

[PixyByte]

My eating habits are ok, I just don't eat enough because I have a small appetite. But I take Karate Classes and I do a lot of Yoga and Meditating at home.

[chanalli]

I'm currently just counting calories with an app called my fitness pal and burning 200-400 cals per day 4 or 4 days per week on my treadmill (depends on my mood and energy).
Im a very picky eater so I can't do diets 🙃
Since I have a sweet tooth It's been hard to stop eating so much sugar but since my mom had cancer I have to take care of my sugar intake. Last year I made the choice to stop eating sugar and those we the worst 2 weeks of my life. Horrible mood and low tolerance to people ahahaha. Now I just take care of how many sugar and chips I consume. I also had to change regular milk to almond milk for the same problem....

I miss the days when I ate whatever the f I wanted tbh... I basically say no to everything in the supermarket.

[Aspie_Gamer]

I eat clean and train hard.

[jessicasurline]

Oh man I really shouldn't be talking on here lol! I used to be really healthy when I did comics part time, but ever since I moved and started doing them full time.....I gained 30 lbs in 3 months DX. But let's put a frame around this: before I was working full time at a tech company and had no car. So I road my bike 5 miles to work everyday, rain or shine. In the Seattle area there were hills to ride up so I burned lots of calories till I had legs like Chun Li. Since I knew I was just going to be sitting all day, my legs would get stiff and restless or cramp so when my work got a little gym I took advantage. I was able to get my work done in a way that allowed me to sneak in there for 40 mins every morning. I would jog on the treadmill, do various stomach exercises, mild weight lifting, and most importantly stretches. I was in a super tight spot financially so in a way that helped me control my eating habits. I had to avoid sweets, sodas, fatty foods. That alone made me lose weight but the exercise is what really did the trick. But like I said, I moved to a flat suburban sprawl to live with family. Since then my mother-in-law has been cooking such large and delicious meals and since I stopped exercising the weight charged back. I have been meaning to do some walking and running again but winter here is rough on my lungs (high desert=dry and bitter cold).I hope everyone else has been tending to their health better than me.

[Wolven_Sister]

I used to work out 3x a week. I would run for 2.5 miles and do 10 sit ups 3x a week as well. I used to make a lot of homemade meals with all the essentials. But since we moved I've been way too busy for any of that. And we've also been on the graveyard schedule. We're gonna be going back to day schedule soon so I'm hoping to get back into exercising again.

Presently, my dayjob keeps me pretty active, especially in the summer. I bicycle to my work and then I'm on my feet for 8-12 hours 2x a week (6 days in the summer). I always choose the stairs instead of the elevator and I park far away in the parking lot. Little things like that help out. I eat fruits, nuts, granola bars, cereal as snacks. Since I'm not really active and in front of the computer 5 days a week I try to limit my calorie intake, I typically have 1,000 calories or less each day. 1,500 if I'm starving but this is rare. (I'm a recovering anorexic so I just don't get hungry too much. Actually if I eat anything I typically feel nausea, i find food gross The only type of food I can get down without feeling sick is Asian food).

And I've cut soda out of my diet completely since the very existence of it is bad for our health. I've been off soda for over a year now. I barely eat fast food and when I do I try to get something that has the least amount of calories. If I'm in front of the computer for too long I'll get up every 2-3 hours and move around the house by either doing chores, making phone calls, etc...And I'll maybe have a glass of wine every 2-3 months.

[zoonland]

To be honest, I do nothing in particular to stay healthy.
I try to have a balanced diet, eating every kind of food, in small portions, but I mostly avoid junk food. Plus, I have a very small appetite and it's easy for me to feel full.
I should train more, by the way. I have a very low energy. When the weather is ok I go walking and sometimes I go to work by bike instead of using the car.

But the most important thing I do to stay healthy for working on comics is have a good posture when drawing. And I take a rest when I feel tired.
When I used to work too much and/or with a bad posture, I got dizzy for at least a couple days. A very bad sensation I try to avoid.

[bjornar]

Right now I am drinking a light pear cider, just to stay healthy.

[Axx]

The newest ep of the comics podcast Dirty Old Ladies (which i'm sure some of you are into already, seeing as its a bunch of comics/ webcomics superstars - Spike Trotman, Amanda Lafrenais and Kel McDonald) is on this topic!! recommend!!

And I want to mention mental health. It's so common in the arts Plus, dealing with it will probably help your productivity! We've probably all seen the effects in webcomics particularly - apologetic letters from artist who cant update, creators dropping offline. What happened with John Campbell and their pictures for sad children kickstarter could possibly be included in this list. One of the things i love so much about this medium is it inclusion of culturally sidelined people. People who are at high risk of developing mental health conditions.

I recently started new meds and its massively helping, and i'm more productive than i have been in a really, really long time. (not to say meds are for everyone with mental health stuff going on)
I've also come out as a trans person and got a new name and stuff. Honestly, most of this sucked but has also massively improved my ability to function.

what have you been doing to look after your mental and emotional well being?

[MannyMelancholy]

with the prices of gym memberships and how available locations usually are, I don't think there is an excuse aside from financial or time to not have one. Even if you do not there are intense workout routines you can do in your own room that involve cardio. As artists we probably want to focus on cardio because it gives us energy and awareness.

Cardio can come in any form from the typical jogging, biking, swimming or something intense as dancing. Almost always your gym will have free classes that go along with your membership that will help you stay active and accountable for your progress. Start off small, tell yourself you are going to the Gym X amount of time a week. stick to it, don't even give yourself a time of how long you will stay there, JUST GO and don't judge yourself with how much you do in that time there.

After you make it a habit of going your X amount per week start holding yourself accountable for how much time you spend there and start with your visit being from 30-40 minutes. Just keep building from there and add more goals like what you will do and how much of it you plan on doing as months go on DO NOT try to make the changes every week as it can deter you from going because of the slow progress you will/may see.

If you are need to get your workout at home never fear, as I mentioned just google "Super Hero Workout" and find your favorite to challenge yourself with

[LCT_m_a_d]

Thing I do daily are
1. Eat a big (nutritious) breakfast
2. Get a good night's rest and wake up early
3. Meditate
4. practice tai chi & capoera
Healthier lifestyle has done wonders for my creativity the past year