Healthy Habits for developers?

Question

How do you keep yourself stress free while spending hours and hours on a project ? What do you do to reduce chances of catching back pain/shoulder pain or eye irritations? What sort of measures do you take to keep rsi away ?

Is it the design of your chair, is it a sweet music in background, is it a great mouse & keyboard combo, is it good habit of taking break after short while, is it some software that helps you? what is it?

off lately i've gota bad back pain and while working on long hours, there's pain in the shoulder joint

Answer 1

I use a program called Workrave which tells me when to take breaks. I've found it helps with RSI, if you just sit without moving it's very bad for you!

As Jeff Atwood points out as well, you can't place too high a value on a good chair.

Answer 2

I try to take a break away from my desk every so often, and that helps.

More importantly, though, I feel a healthy diet is central to good performance and a happy work day.

Stay away from fatty snacks and try and eat healthily - I enjoy trail mix if I'm peckish, and try to keep the caffeine to the minimum.

I also try and get out of the office for a stretch of the legs at lunch time - I don't see the point in heading to a stuffy canteen to sit down for more time and yack about last night's TV!

EDIT: As @c0m4 pointed out, all this works best if you get enough sleep into the bargain. I try to get seven to eight hours every night.

Answer 3

My list:

• I take a lot of short breaks.
• Bike to work.
• No coffee.
• Regular arm and shoulder exercises.
• Ignore deadlines, if possible ;-).
• I have chosen a company that values their people and really listens to them.
• Adjustable workplace.
• Regular massages.
• Nice coworkers.
• Attend a meeting or two.

Answer 4

Definitely I find several short breaks very healthy. Ideally getting outside at least twice a day and stretch the legs a little. Often this is coupled with getting a coffee but let's leave the merits of that aside. I think the break is useful on several fronts but especially for your eyes and joints.

Don't have a window behind your screen as this can play with your focusing if there is movement outside. I prefer working with two screens and would never go back to one.

The next thing I would do is probably buy an aero chair or some equivalent ergonomic chair.

Answer 5

Lots of coffee! :-) -- it works of me!

Serieously though the comment about healthy diet and really taking your lunch break are spot on.

Eating at you desk is gross, its unhealthy, unhygenic and reduces you effectiveness. If your job requires actual thinking, you have about three hours capacity for organised though on any one subject after which your logic gets caught up in a log jam of ifs buts and maybes. You really need two hours break; take lunch, do some admin, chack your mailbox. You can then produce good work in hte afternoon as well and you wont spend the next morning fixing what you broke yesterday afternoon.

Also get a real life. Support a football team, go to the opera, morris dance do something totally tech unrelated in your free time preferably something that involves interaction with "ordinary" people.

Answer 6

We are using tables with adjustable heights (motor driven) so we can vary between wokring standing or sitting.

We also have a lady comming to the office and give us massage every month.

And finally, good chairs.

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001146.html

Answer 7

Of course material stuff like ergonomics and a healthy diet are important, good chairs and adjustable height tables should be a minimum everywhere. But they're healthy habits for anyone in any workplace. What's really challenging for me as a developer (and probably many of you) is getting into the habit of listening to what the body is telling me. Sometimes that algorithm really needs to be straightened out instead of taking lunch but most of the time it's better to take that break and get some food before the hunger gets mind numbing and forces you to stop coding.

I think this can improve code quality as well because I have found that when you actually finish the code before the body quits on you, the finished code is almost always <100% optimal. Fighting the body makes the head stupid!

Timer software might be the solution for some but I think it's better to develop the habit of regularly checking the body every five minutes. Am I hungry?, How's the neck feeling?, Wrists getting sore? and keep some healthy between meal-snack or funny toy close-by for when the body requests it. Juggling balls is the toy for me but the healthy snack stack is sadly non-existent, I haven't even started keeping an unhealthy one.

Answer 8

• A good chair is essential - at the very least discomfort distracts you from your job and puts you in an irritable, uncooperative mood.
• Eat regularly - skipping meals can make you unfocused and irritable.
• A balanced diet.
• Regular excercise - walking for half-an-hour several times a week is good gentle excercise.
• Taking short breaks, stretching arms or legs when stiff.
• Don't beat yourself up about mistakes - take an approach of "how do we work with this" or "how do we work around this".
• Balance life with interests outside work. (Cooking might be a good one, combine it with a balanced diet and it can be fun.)

Some things will vary with different people - Stefan mentioned massage, which may suit some but not others.

Answer 9

Others have mentioned general stuff, but for the back pain in particular, do some walking, then investigate core body exercises. Many workouts won't work these muscles, and they are the ones that support posture, and therefore help keep your back from hurting.

Answer 10

http://successfulsoftware.net/2008/10/26/7-ways-to-be-a-healthier-programmer/

Answer 11

When you get out for a break try this eye workout.

Put your finger about 1 - 1.5 feet in front of your eyeballs. The repeat the steps below.

for(i=1;i<7;1++){
Focus on the finger;
Switch your focus to the farthest object you can see.  It might be a cloud or a clocktower or a street sign.
}

This will give your eyes a good stretch.

Answer 12

I think I have a healthy lifestyle:

• I try to sleep at least 7 hours every day
• I eat healthy
• I go to the gym 2-4 times a week or alternatively go jogging. I do various workouts, including stretching.
• I only drink alcohol once a week
• I use a logitech wave keyboard, (no idea whether it really is much better for my health, but it's comfortable to use)

However I drink just too much coffee and the food in the canteen (which I have to eat) is not always as healthy as desired.