Facibus On Blogging

Generally, we spend too much time on keyboard-based equipment. This raises a lot of potential health issues - issues that we need to be aware of as bloggers, including:

• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Relationship issues
• Sedentary occupation issues
• Mental health issues

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Wikipedia tells us that:

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a medical condition in which the median nerve is compressed at the wrist, leading to pain, paresthesias, and muscle weakness in the forearm and hand.^[1] A form of compressive neuropathy, CTS is more common in women than it is in men, and, though it can occur at any age, has a peak incidence around age 42.^[2] The lifetime risk for CTS is around 10% of the adult population.^[3]

Coincidentally, I’m 42

There are a lot of stories about bloggers with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome - a favourite of mine is Light at the End of the Carpal Tunnel. For what it’s worth as a non-sufferer, my advice is to get help if you experience any of the following symptoms:

The first symptoms of CTS may appear when sleeping, and typically include numbness and paresthesia (a burning and tingling sensation in the fingers, especially the thumb, index, and middle fingers).^[3] These symptoms appear at night because many people sleep with bent wrists which further compresses the carpal tunnel. If the median nerve is already under stress, the increased compression of the bent wrist creates the numbness and tingling. Difficulty gripping and making a fist, dropping objects, and weakness are symptoms of progression. In early stages of CTS individuals often mistakenly blame the tingling and numbness on restricted blood circulation and they believe their hands are simply “falling asleep”.

Relationship issues
I mentioned this before in Married to the Blog - a heavy blogging commitment can get in the way of a relationship, especially when the other partner doesn’t understand what you are trying to do. Maybe the relationship is a little rocky anyway, and blogging has brought up old stuff - or maybe there are some relationship issues brought on by this new interest. It could be a mixture of both - my only advice would be to talk openly and honestly with your partner about how you both feel.

Sedentary occupation issues
Let’s face it - as a hobby and as a profession, blogging itself does not encourage exercise. Like all keyboard-based work, blogging can take time away from exercise - especially if you are a part-time blogger, full-time office worker or student (and who would like to guess how many bloggers this covers?).

My advice would be to ensure that you get enough exercise (and I’ll leave it up to you, your doctor, your personal trainer and common sense to dictate how much exercise is enough).

Mental health issues
New Scientist argues that keeping a diary may lead to mental health issues - it seems that some people are capable of talking themselves into illness rather than using the diary as a way of assimilating past trauma. The same could be said of blogging - I think that the jury is still out on this, but it is interesting to note that the pop-psychology dictum “express yourself in writing - it’s good for you” may not always hold water.

There is a danger of social isolation through hours spent alone blogging. It needs to be said that physical social isolation does not necessarily equal total social isolation - I’m guessing that most bloggers interact socially online with other bloggers in one way or another (that said, I don’t have any references on this, and would be grateful for clarification).

There are some other issues that can affect mental health, such as loss of employment, social censure and imprisonment - these are discussed on Wikipedia under the consequences of blogging.

And as to advice? If in doubt, talk to a trained professional.

Conclusion
While there are some scary things in the above, I can’t see that any of them are deal-breakers - that is, there is nothing there that makes me personally want to stop blogging. But there are some important things to keep in mind that relate to your physical, mental and emotional health.

If you have something to add please leave me a comment - I’d appreciate links to stories on blogging health hazards, especially if they are personal anecdotes or relate to scientific research.