If you’re an artist, you know the pain of sitting in a chair hunched over for hours, trying to get that piece done that you’ve been putting off for days.

Not only is this detrimental to your physical health, but also your mental health. Here are five ways to de-stress and re-energize.

• Take a break.

Sitting and looking at a screen or gripping that pencil, marker or paint brush for long hours at a time puts a tremendous amount of strain on your eyes and hands – which isn’t all that healthy believe it or not. Get up and take a small 10 to 15 minute break and decompress, just remember to come back and not let that 10 minutes turn into 10 days.

• Do a hand exercise

After long sessions your hand is going to show you just how much it doesn’t appreciate being over-worked, show it some love with a hand exercise. You can find plenty online that will help get the blood flowing.

These exercises will improve overall hand dexterity. Here’s one of my personal favorites, https://darebee.com/workouts/hand-workout.html.  

• Save, save, save.

We’ve all been there, hours of work lost because we didn’t save before the computer crashed or died. Make that save button your best friend, you’ll be glad you did the next time your computer decides to take a dive.  

• Drink water!

This one applies not only to artists, but everyone. Drink water!

Keep one of those 16 – 32 ounce reusable bottles with you, and drink from it often. It’s better for you than coffee or soda, and your body will thank you by giving you the energy to finish that project.

• Eat.

This one is equally as important and tip four, but you need to eat. Hyper focusing on what you’re working on can cause you to forget to eat, so try to set reminders on your phone to get up and eat something. Or, if you’ve already got something out remember to eat it, it wont do you any good if its left on the table.

All photos illustrated by Ripp Fresen, staff writer.