Staying healthy can be difficult in the best of circumstances. But, Staying Healthy as a Tattooist? Sitting at a tattoo station for 8, 10, 12+ hours a day. That’s an even more challenging task.
Staying Healthy as a Tattooist
Any self employed person knows that an injury that stops you from working is usually a big problem. It’s one of the downsides, if your not working then your not earning and the worse the injury is then the bigger the impact on the business.
Tattooists aren’t generally know for their fitness regimes and healthy lifestyles. In fact just being a tattooist makes it quite hard to stay in shape.
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We sit down all day
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We eat late at night
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We spend our weekends at conventions where we never get enough sleep.
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We generally drink to much and have other unhealthy habits.
Add these factors to The various stresses of the job, like drawing 60 hours a week, talking to clients, promoting our work, travel schedules, running our studios and doing the the actual job of tattooing. Remember? The reason we got into all this for in the first place! And you’ve got a pretty unhealthy mix. If you get sick or injured all of that gets at the very best worse and sometimes it’s impossible.
Staying Healthy as a Tattooist – Stay Fit
So if you’re a young artist starting out or someone who is struggling to stay sane and fit whilst being a tattooist what do you do?
One of the biggest mistakes I see young or new artists making is not taking the time to get themselves comfortable before they start tattooing and they end up tattooing almost upside down for hours
Eat Well
Diet is everything and a healthy regular eating plan will make a world of difference. Plus take a vitamin supplement every day to avoid colds etc. We work in very close proximity to lots of people so we’re exposed to more of that than most.
Exersize
Yoga is amazing for anyone who sits down all day at there job.were holding our limbs in stress positions for hours at a time and you’re creating tension across your shoulders an neck that need to be released.
To alleviate this stretch every couple of hours. Do it Every time you change your gloves, latex gloves are not safe after 2 hours so if you’re not changing them every 2 hours you should be. And it’s a perfect time to have a short break and stretch out.
Since we sit a lot, our musculoskeletal systems can become overworked and tense. That is why you should do some light stretching every single day. Two key parts of your body that need to be stretched out are your back and glutes.
For stretching your glutes, you can come into the downward facing dog and keep your legs straight and hips high. This will give your glutes and leg muscles a nice stretch. For your back, you can lie face down with your legs together and arms underneath the shoulders. Then, lift and extend your body off the ground using your back muscles to give them a bit exercise and stretch them
Go On holiday
That’s not a guestspot! Our brains need different stimulation in order for us to be creative. Burn out is a very real problem that most tattooists suffer from at least once in their career. A simple change of pace and scenery is usually all you need to feel recharged. So indulge your hobbies, hang out with friends or simply go sit by the pool for a few days, chillout and read a book.
Get the balance right from the start.
A truly healthy life combines many things, from eating right to getting enough exercise, to keeping a sound mind. Ignoring any aspect of good health lifestyle can slowly erode your health shorten your career and massively affect the quality of your tattoos.
Staying heathy when you’re a tattooist is partly knowing the challenges that a sitting down job can present, where the dangers lie and how to strike that all important balance before it’s too late.
For those of us who sit down whilst we work most of the day, health and well-being aren’t always easy to work into our lifestyles. Still, the facts show that we must be proactive about eating well and moving enough during the day in order to avoid weight gain, stress and flagging fitness.
Sitting down all day long is one of the worst things for your health, as it increases the likelihood of heart disease and weight gain — among other ills. We sit down at the studio, then we sit in the car, and once home, we sit to eat and watch TV!
What to do?
Small changes, practiced consistently over a long period of time, are the best way to increase health and well-being. Here are 21 easy-to-adopt ideas to get inspired. Remember, you don’t have to do them all!!
How do I avoid injuries?
We get injuries from time to time and staying fit and staying healthy is important but tough when you’re busy. Here’s what we do to keep fit and avoid injury
- Get setup properly, get all your stuff within east reach, set your lights etc We have a handy guide to good station setup here
- Sit straight
- Maintain as good diet at work. Take food with you rather than eating pizza every day
- Do Yoga! Its incredibly good for your mind and body and you don’t have to do all that chanting if you dont want to.
