I am a freelance writer, and I love it.  But I also find that as nice at it is to work from home, it can also be somewhat hazardous to your health.  Here are a few tips for working from your home computer and still keeping a healthy body… as well as a healthy outlook.

• Take frequent breaks.  This doesn’t have to mean leaving your computer for 30 minutes at a time.  You’d never get any work done if you did that.  But it is good for your hands, arms, eyes, and head to get a break from the computer — even a 30-second break every few minutes.  Look up, stretch, take a deep breath, etc.  This is better than having to seek out carpal tunnel treatment later on!
• Take a lunch break.  It’s oh so tempting to work while you eat, but don’t — just don’t.  Instead, take a walk after you eat, or enjoy a book with your lunch.  Scoring a little time away from your computer is important.
• Get up and move around as often as possible.  Sitting too long, particularly in a chair that doesn’t support you well enough, can make your back hurt later on.  Getting up and walking around — whether you are doing laundry, taking a walk around the block, feeding the dogs and letting them out, or just doing jumping jacks in your office — can provide some much-needed back pain relief – and keep you from developing worse problems over time.
• Go somewhere during the day.  Sometimes a change of scenery is all you need to refresh and reenergize yourself.  Even if all you do is go to your local coffee shop, at least get out of the house once during the day!
• Think outside the box.  You’re an entrepreneur, so we know you have a little creativity stored in that head of yours…  Now use it!  Instead of hitting the bottle (the bottle of aspirin, that is) right away when you start developing aches and pains, look into other methods of healing, such as magnetic therapy products.

Running a web-based business isn’t always easy, and often means spending a lot of time working in order to get your business off the ground.  There’s no cure for that, I’m afraid — but it doesn’t mean that you need to let your health go down the tubes, either!

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