Is Blogging Bad For You?

I love blogs. I love keeping up to date with family and friends, connecting with people from my past, learning all sorts of helpful information and best of all - I love writing posts for my own blogs!

As wonderful as blogs are, (and I don't really mean to pick on blogs, but rather surfing the internet all together) I can't help but wonder if blogging is quickly becoming an unhealthy habit. Now, before you decide to quit reading this blog entry, let me explain what I mean.

How often have you gone to one of your friends blogs, only to see a name on their blogroll that sparks your interest, you click on it - spend a good amount of time reading what they are up to - and see yet another name that you are curious about and go to their blog as well? And how long does this little web of blog surfing go on? Twenty minutes? Thirty minutes? An hour?

It's so easy to get caught up in blog hopping, that before you know it, you've spent a good portion of your free time SITTING, doing NOTHING, burning NO calories whatsoever! (Too bad clicking a button on a mouse doesn't burn a few hundred calories huh?!)

Now before you ban yourself from reading blogs, there are some few simple things you can do to make sure blogging, (or any computer time) doesn't cause undesirable side effects. (One of them being weight gain.)

1. The most effective thing you can do, to make sure you don't waste too much time sitting at the computer, is to buy a little timer and set it next to you. Decide how much time you are willing to use surfing the internet and when the buzzer goes off... make sure your computer does too. This is a fabulous technique, because it is so easy to lose track of time when you are at the computer and this simple little trick keeps you right on track.

2. Another idea is to get up off your rear when you are using the computer. (This only works for laptop users.) Often, I will place my laptop on the kitchen counter and write my blog entries while I stand. Since I am standing, I am burning at least few more calories than if I was sitting - plus, it helps me avoid wasting time looking at random, websites that I'm not even that interested in.

3. If you DO have to spend a lot of time in front of a computer because of a job or project you are working on, make sure you get up and move at LEAST every hour... if not sooner. If you can, get up and do 100 jumping jacks or run in place for three to five minutes. Whatever you do, just do something to get your muscles moving and blood pumping.

4. A common problem that occurs when people sit in front of a computer for a long period of time, is that they start to slouch and have terrible posture. A way to cure this problem is to get rid of your chair and use a stability ball instead. It forces you to sit up straight and it also engages your core muscles the entire time you are sitting. Another plus to sitting on a stability ball is that every now and then, you can bounce yourself up and down, do 20 crunches, or lay down on it and stretch your back muscles.

5. And last, but not least, I recommend subscribing to your favorite blogs through RSS, so you don't waste time checking to see if there is a new post or not. Each time you check your email, you are alerted which of your favorite blogs has a new article. It takes a lot less time than jumping from blog to blog to blog.

Hopefully these little tips will help you think about how much time you are spending in front of your computer and make you more aware of how often you are moving your body. Do what you can, to avoid the pitfalls that come from being chair-bound and inactive.