Like me, you've probably wasted more of your life sitting on Facebook than you'd like to admit. It's addictive and thrilling and such a complete waste of time, but that's OK because it's harmless, right?

Um, think again.

New reports are showing that Facebook is bad for your health -- in fact, it can raise your risk of cancer! Studies aside, think of it this way: If, say, you took all the time you spent snooping on your ex's profile or playing Facebook Scrabble or incessantly updating your profile and used that time to lift weights, go for a run, do yoga or even cook a healthy meal, think about how fit you'd be right now! It boggles the mind.

I'm not saying you should quit Facebook cold turkey, but you should consider giving up some Facebook time for something a bit more physically healthy. Myself, I refuse to get on the computer until I've gone for a run or at least done some sit-ups, and it works pretty well.

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Tomorrow is the deadline for my book, The Everything Flat Belly Cookbook. I'm thrilled with Adams Media for hiring me to write it but on occasion, my body has been very angry at them for giving me such a tight deadline. This uber short deadline has caused little Miss Fitzness Trainer to sit for 12 hours at a time with my head buried in my laptop quite often. My brain is thrilled, but my back has been bummed.

The only reason I've survived is because I'm already really good at taking care of my body. I've never had to sit down for such long periods of time as a requirement of my job, but when the side effects of doing so set in ... I knew how to respond.

I imagine a lot of you are stuck at a desk for hours on a daily basis. I feel for you. I also have some ideas to help you survive it without all of the stiff, achy and strained body parts.

Blogging is good for the mind and the soul, but don't let anyone tell you it's good for the body. Sure, writing about healthy habits all day long can be inspiring, but blogging itself is a sedentary, solitary task. And if you're a blogger, you're at risk for something called Blogger Bloat -- "a tendency of bloggers and bloghers to gain weight by sitting for long hours in front of computers, snacking on treats! Blogger bloat is a greater risk in the winter, when bloggers tend to choose starchy and comfort snacks," according to this article on Divine Caroline.

Of course, this isn't limited to blogging -- it's something experienced by anyone who spends hours in front of the computer. It could be called writer's waist, typist's tummy or receptionist's rear. Whatever the reason keeping you from getting up and moving around, it's important to find a balance. Avoid blogger bloat and other conditions with these 10 tips.

How do you keep up with blogging and still stay slim?

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We all know the stereotype of a typical video game geek: pasty-skinned and overweight, never seeing the light of day, except for a brief glimpse when opening the door for the pizza delivery guy.

But according to recent research, the average 'gamer' isn't unhealthy -- in fact, gamers have lower BMIs than the average adult in the U.S.. The average BMI among gamers was 25 -- just on the border of normal and overweight. What's more, the average gamer engaged in physical activity once or twice a week. Gamers did, however, show larger instances mental health issues, including depression and substance abuse.

Are you more or less physically healthy than a gamer?

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Compared to a job like deep-sea welding, working in an office behind a desk seems like a pretty safe career move. You might think that there's little chance for injury, but don't forget that there are still are a few dangers: Weight gain from inactivity, depleted eyesight, poor posture, and let's not forget probability of severe mid-afternoon fatigue.

Divine Caroline has some excellent rules for avoiding some of the dangers of the desk job:

• The 20/20 Rule - Save your eyesight by looking away from your computer every 20 minutes for 20 seconds at something three feet away.
• The Floating Mouse Rule - When moving your mouse, move your whole arm instead of just your wrist.
• The Mini-break Rule - take a 30 to 60 second break every 30 minutes -- use this time to take a short walk or do some stretches.

They have even more excellent tips to share ... click here for more info.

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Martha recently posted about how exercise can help stroke patients recover. A new virtual reality program that is undergoing clinical trials in the UK and in Canada helps the recovery process a little more.

A researcher at Portsmouth University in the UK created a treadmill that's linked to a virtual reality system. The system helps people recovering from strokes, traumatic falls, and those living with osteoarthritis to build up their endurance, increase their range of motion, and improve their gate.

The system displays scenes -- cityscapes, forest trails, mountains, etc. As the patient is walking on the treadmill, the scenery changes. The system gives them the motivation to walk -- and it also encourages them to virtually pick up objects which aids in balance. In addition, the motion of the scenery is adjusted so the patients walk faster and more smoothly, almost without realizing it.

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When I was a kid, one of the greatest things in the world was getting to watch My Show before I trotted off to bed. "The A-Team," "MacGyver," "ALF," and so on -- all were part of my nighttime ritual. These days, however, it seems that my last hours of the day are spent in front of a different screen: My computer.

Not good. At least, that's what the researchers say. According to a recent study, about one-third of people who claim to spend an average of two-and-a-half hours surfing the internet at night tend to have restless sleep.

Researchers speculate that this late-night excitement (that was the word they used -- which made me wonder just what kind of sites they were looking at) could potentially throw off sleep/wake cycles, leaving you feeling unrested and lethargic the following morning.

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Before I begin, I think it's only fair for me to admit that I'm not a big gamer. I don't mind some of the racing video games, but for the most part, they could all disappear and I would be happy as a clam. My husband, on the other hand is the exact opposite -- he could sit and play a game for hours.

Fortunately, he's in great health and good shape and still manages to come to the gym with me occasionally, so this habit doesn't really hurt him. But it drives me nuts to think about the people who surely miss workouts because they're so involved with their games -- has that ever happened to you, or a loved one?

Today's Fit Gadget provides a solution -- the PCGamerBike requires the player to pedal in order to make his character move. The character could be a person, an airplane, a car, or anything else, and pedaling forward acts as the up arrow while pedaling backward acts as the down arrow.

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I will never forget a TV special I saw several years ago about household germs. They claimed that germs could "jump" from a toilet bowl and surfaces such as doorknobs were just breeding grounds for virtual colonies of little beasties.

Now the new germ-haven is your computer keyboard. Makes sense. Most people may remember to wash their hands before eating, but who thinks to wash their hands before using the computer? And, other than a perfunctory wipe down, my guess is there aren't too many people who really clean their keyboards.

Research from Great Britain indicates that computer keyboards may have more germs than toilet seats. The study was somewhat limited -- swabs were taken from 33 keyboards, one toilet seat, and one bathroom door handle. Several keyboards were dirty enough to be health hazards and one of the keyboards had five times the germs found on the toilet seat.

But even though the findings are a bit gross, there's no reason for alarm. The solution is simple: wash your hands before starting to work and clean your keyboard regularly. You may also want to consider minimizing the amount other co-workers use your keyboard.

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We may be getting closer to HAL 9000 before too long. Scientists have tested a computer which can accurately predict what you are looking at 90 percent of the time. In the study, the system was able to tell what people were seeing just by watching test subjects' brain patterns.

By exposing people to various stock photography, the computer literally "got to know" the person. After it learned a little about how they reacted when seeing fruit, for example, it could simply watch their brains later and tell the next time that person was seeing fruit.

Even if it was a different photo, it could predict what they were looking at. This could be a building block to construct systems capable of reading people's mind in more advanced ways later on. Wouldn't it be neat to peer into dreams at night? We may be able to do exactly that in the future!

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During the Holidays, I took a bit of a break from the computer. I still checked my Email everyday--I really don't know how anyone survived before it was invented--but I didn't spend all day in the front of the screen like I usually do. And like magic, the dull throb in my head and neck seemed to disappear. That's when I realized something had to change in my computer habits.

Luckily, Everyday Health has some great tips for avoiding computer strain as we head into the second work week of 2008:

• Keep your monitor clean, bright, and tilted back about 10-20 degrees
• Sit up straight!
• Have your desk at Elbow height, with your keyboard a few inches above your thighs
• Have the mouse at the same height as the keyboard
• Take frequent breaks -- and I'm not talking about a few moments to browse celeb gossip sites. For for a short walk.

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Ever heard of Computer Vision Syndrome? You might not have but chances are you've experienced it at one point or another. Afterall, if you're reading this, you've used a computer, and the majority of us use computers for several hours a day. CVS is characterized by dry, red eyes, headaches, neck and back pain, double vision and trouble focusing. Yikes -- it sounds serious.

So what can you do to reduce the effects of CVS? Taking breaks is important, whether you physically walk away from the computer or simply just look at something else for a few minutes. Use artificial tears to reduce any dryness and lower your computer so you're looking down on the computer rather than straight on.

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Want more brain power? Who doesn't! But who knew it could be as simple as using your other hand to control your computer mouse?

By switching your mouse and mouse pad to the other side you'll be forcing yourself to use your non-dominant hand, which means all the information will go through your brain in a different way and the neurological connections between the two halves of your brain will get stronger. Research has shown that ambidextrous people have (on average) 10% more nerve fibers joining the two halves of their brain together.

I don't know about you, but my brain can use all the help I can give it -- more fibers and stronger connections? Yes, lets do that!

For tips and hints on how to make the switch check this out.

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In another triumph of computer programs helping with age-old problems, a newer game called "Fearfighter" is starting to help British citizens who suffer from panic attacks, phobias or even mild depression.

The computer program gives out psychiatric advice gleaned from a huge library of information gleaned from real-world psychiatrists. Instead of waiting to see a real psychiatrist, "repetitive" parts of real therapeutic techniques are performed by the computer, with the meaty material being covered by a human (as well as a prescription, if needed).

Patients can log on at home, work or anywhere there is an internet connection to access the Fearfighter system. For those not wanting to spill their guts to a real person just yet and feel that a computer can fill that void, this system looks to be quite useful. Well, up to a point.

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I started changing my diet at the end of April. I started slow, with just a few modifications -- no soda, no sweets -- and then tweaked things here and there until I'd ditched all crap from my cupboards and kept only the healthy goods. It took a while before I'd identified all my wrong-doings. In the beginning, for example, I'd liberated myself from sugar and was eating loads of fruits and veggies but hadn't quite caught on to the whole low-fat thing. It hit me one day after eating a Pizza Hut personal pan cheese pizza. Sitting like a lump in my stomach, that mini-pizza told me I'd made a wrong turn when I pulled into that Pizza Hut parking lot. So I rushed home, sat in front of my computer, and began hunting for nutritional information on the gut buster I'd just consumed. I found it. It wasn't good.

My little pizza cost me 620 calories and 26 grams of fat. It came with 69 carbohydrates and seven grams of sugar. So I didn't bomb on the sugar thing but holy cow did I go way wrong on everything else. Ever since that day, I've been investigating all sorts of food items before I eat them. Before my husband I went to Red Lobster with a gift card, I took a peek at the stats on those yummy cheesy biscuits. Yikes -- 160 calories and 9 grams of fat fill one Cheddar Bay Biscuit.

I've since checked up on fresh fruit -- seems one cup of most fruits come with about 100 calories, some natural sugar, and no fat -- and kiddie snacks, and anything that makes me wonder. If you'd like to do the same, check out calorie-count. You can also visit restaurant sites directly. Try these Web sites for the lowdown on McDonald's, Subway, and Taco Bell.

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