Writers: Keep Your Heart Healthy and Your Stories Strong 

Even though writing is one of the oldest and most enriching professions in the world, the writing lifestyle isn’t all glamour. It brings along with it some challenges when it comes to health. Writing is a stressful job that requires long hours of working in isolation and sitting in one place in, often times, in bad posture. Over-stimulation of the nervous system using caffeine and alcohol is common amongst writers. The uncertainty and instability of the writing life may lead to sleep-deprivation. As you can imagine, all of the above impacts heart health.

It’s February—National Awareness Month for heart health in the United States. Heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women in America. Heart: it’s where we writers lock up our stories, our insecurities, our inner conflicts, our darkness, our fears, and our loneliness. Heart: home to excessive emotional stress.

According to Ayurveda—a 5,000-year-old system of ancient, healing system that has originated in India and is practiced around the world—the heart of is the seat of a person’s soul. A healthy heart is a natural reflection of our state of balance.

Here is what you can do to keep your heart and stories healthy:

Eat Heart-Healthy Foods: When on a writing deadline, the last thing many writers focus is on what goes inside their bellies. Cans. Frozen meals. Instant noodles. Greasy take out. And other forms of convenient, fast, junk become best friends with a writer on a deadline. Stop.End your relationship with excessiveness: Be it alcohol or caffeine or late nights or smoking or refined sugars, enjoy things in moderation. Reduce processed or canned foods which can contribute to weight gain and toxic build up. Drink at least 8-10 glasses of water. Hydration is important to help prevent clogging of the arteries. Buy organic or locally grown foods at the farmer’s market whenever possible. Cook simple, one-dish meals. Foods rich in Omega 3 fatty acids may reduce the risk of heart disease.

Don’t forget to breathe: For a heart-healthy day, don’t forget to breathe. How often have you caught yourself sighing, “Gosh, I didn’t realize I have been at my laptop for the past X no. of hours? Become aware. Remain mindful that breaks are important. Breathe deeply with intention. Specific pranayama or yogic breathing techniques calm the system. Many people can learn to reduce their blood pressure simply through breathing exercises. Look up alternate nostril breathing and thank yourself later.

Practice yoga: A review of yoga and cardiovascular disease published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology indicates that yoga may help lower heart disease risk as much as conventional exercise, such as brisk walking.Yoga can also improve flexibility, muscle strength and balance. Regular yoga practice may reduce levels of body-wide inflammation that contribute to the progression of heart disease. It may even lead to healthier blood pressure, cholesterol levels, blood-sugar levels, and body weight—all factors that help reduce risk for heart disease.

The power of meditation: Meditation is integral to our mental wellbeing and promotes a healthy lifestyle. It impacts how you manage stress and that affects your heart health. Writers who meditate often have more focus, clarity, and a deeper connection to their inner self and stories. They are more capable of separating good stuff from the chaos. Meditation can create happiness. That happiness comes from self-acceptance. It helps you handle rejections and bad reviews with a healthier perspective. Meditation calms the nervous system and lowers both anxiety and stress. According to Dan Harris, “Science experiments have found that people who practice meditation release significantly lower doses of cortisol, known as the stress hormone. This is consequential because frequent release of cortisol can lead to heart disease, diabetes, dementia, cancer, and depression.”

Build healthier boundaries: It’s important to protect your energy to protect your stories and heart. It’s absolutely fine to cancel a commitment. It’s ok to say a NO to phone calls or a dinner invite. Say NO to what doesn’t nourish you. It’s important to include “me-time” on your schedule.I am not suggesting you turn into a recluse but be mindful of who and what you allow into your life. As writers, especially when we are in the middle of the creative process, our skin becomes thin. Through osmosis, we absorb every word and criticism. Sensitivity and emotions become our guides, but they can also leave us feeling vulnerable.

Get moving: Writing requires sitting in one place for extended periods of time, which can be terrible for your posture, back, neck, and weight gain. Studies have found just 60 to 90 minutes a week of physical activity can reduce your heart disease risk by up to 50 percent. The workout doesn’t have to be elaborate or fancy—take the stairs, go for a walk, attend a dance class…just get moving.

Joanna Elm once said, “There is no better job in the whole world than being a writer.” I concur …. from the bottom of my heart!

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BIO: Sweta Srivastava Vikram (www.swetavikram.com), featured by Asian Fusion as “one of the most influential Asians of our time,” is a best-selling author of 12 books, five-times Pushcart Prize nominee, coach, holistic wellness entrepreneur, and a certified yoga & Ayurveda counselor who helps people lead creative, productive, and healthier lives. Louisiana Catch (Modern History Press 2018) is her debut U.S. novel. It’s was #1 new release on Amazon under women’s divorce fiction, featured on U.K.’s list of “Books to Read in 2018,” and nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

Sweta won Voices of the Year Award, past recipients of which have been Chelsea Clinton, for her work with Louisiana Catch and her tireless support of women who have experienced sexual assault and abuse. Born in India, Sweta spent her formative years between the Indian Himalayas, North Africa, and the United States collecting and sharing stories. She writes hopeful stories about multiculturalism and women’s issues with a healthy dose of suspense, reflections, wellness, and food. Sweta, whose work has appeared in The New York Times, amongst other publications, across nine countries on three continents, is an award-winning writer and graduate of Columbia University. She lives in New York City with her husband and in her spare time, teaches yoga to female survivors of rape and domestic violence. You can find her in these online spaces: Twitter (@swetavikram), Instagram (@swetavikram), and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/Words.By.Sweta

About LOUISIANA CATCH

Ahana, a wealthy thirty-three-year-old New Delhi woman, flees the pain of her mother’s death and her dark past by accepting a huge project in New Orleans, where she’ll coordinate the Annual Women’s Conference to raise awareness around violence against women. Her half-Indian, half-Irish colleague and public relations guru, Rohan Brady, who helps Ahana develop her online presence, offends her prim sensibilities with his raunchy humor. She is convinced that he’s a womanizer. Meanwhile, she seeks relief from her pain in an online support group, where she makes a good friend: the mercurial Jay Dubois, who is also grieving the loss of his mother. Her work in the U.S. and the online medium brings the two men into her life, and Ahana learns that neither is what he seems. With their differing sensibilities on a collision course, Ahana finds herself in a dangerous situation—and she discovers a side of herself that she never realized she had.

Louisiana Catch is an emotionally immersive novel about trust and who we project ourselves to be in the world. It’s a book about Ahana’s unreliable instincts and her ongoing battle to determine whom to place her faith in as she, Rohan, and Jay shed layers of their identities.

As Ahana matures from a victim of domestic sexual abuse into a global feminist leader, she must confront her issues: both with the men in her life and, ultimately, with her own instincts. Whom can she rely on to have her best interests at heart?

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Category: How To and Tips