Oh yeah! My friend used to tease me every day after work when we worked together. "How's it hanging up there in the code fog" he would always say when I was grasping for words :) I never really noticed though: so no headaches or anything like that...
Ask HN: Does coding give you brain fog?
31–40 of 73 posts
Re: Ask HN: Does coding give you brain fog?
#32Have you tried cutting caffeine? I've had similar symptoms and cut coffee two weeks ago after drinking > 5 cups/day for years. Not sure if it's placebo but it looks like my brain fog is gone.
Re: Ask HN: Does coding give you brain fog?
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I deliberately use the bathroom 1 floor down to force me to go up and down the stairs This is such a good idea that I'm stealing immediately.
I also visit the office kitchen 10 times a day, fill up a glass of water and go back. I don't necessarily finish it, next time just spill the remaining and refill. I believe developing these habits helps avoid burning out and other desk work consequences such as RSI.
> next time just spill the remaining
Get plants! Take the responsibility to water them. You will have another reason to walk around the office!
Re: Ask HN: Does coding give you brain fog?
#34Not exactly brain fog but I often find myself in extreme left-brained mode after a challenging day of coding. If I meet friends after work I am a horrible conversationalist for up to an hour while my brain slowly (and reluctantly) stops actively churning on coding problems. Related to the right-to-left thinking mode changes, sometimes the words that I am using at become eerily meaningless or unfamiliar. I've spent a…
Left-brain mode after coding all day is certainly a thing.
I thought it would go away once I got into management, but the truth is I solve those problems with the same analysis, so even though I'm problem solving people, I'm still a horrible conversationalist right as I leave work.
Re: Ask HN: Does coding give you brain fog?
#35You need to set reminders to take a break once an hour, walk around, stare off into the distance for 5 minutes. This article is from 2012 but mentioned 5 of them: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-apps/five-free-apps-to... I also noticed this was a side benefit of having a good test suite- if your test is valid, thorough, and passing, then you don't have to remember as much mental-model (because it's encoded in t…
I actually built something like this for myself when I was learning javascript. It's buggy, but for the most part it works. http://okpeet.com/breaktimer/ if anyone wants to take a look.
Re: Ask HN: Does coding give you brain fog?
#36A lot of people here are saying take breaks and go for walks. I've felt what you described and something that I have just recently started doing that has helped 1000x over is meditation.
Check out the Calm app[1]. Its helped for me because I had no idea where to start. I have no affiliation with them and am sure there are alternatives out there, this just happened to be the first I had tried. I've just started using it the past few weeks and use it at least a couple of times during the work day, and I try and take a walk at least once a day during work as well. Its really helped with everything you listed above.
Re: Ask HN: Does coding give you brain fog?
#37You need to set reminders to take a break once an hour, walk around, stare off into the distance for 5 minutes. This article is from 2012 but mentioned 5 of them: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-apps/five-free-apps-to... I also noticed this was a side benefit of having a good test suite- if your test is valid, thorough, and passing, then you don't have to remember as much mental-model (because it's encoded in t…
I actually built something like this for myself when I was learning javascript. It's buggy, but for the most part it works. http://okpeet.com/breaktimer/ if anyone wants to take a look.
Heh, I also made a chrome extension for the same thing and with the same name! https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/break-timer/hklkdb...
Re: Ask HN: Does coding give you brain fog?
#38I experience these symptoms from work days during prolonged periods of high stress. I don't usually get it from programming during less stressful times and I've had just the same issues during a month when I somehow ended up with a bunch of non-programming tasks.
Re: Ask HN: Does coding give you brain fog?
#39I used to get this - it turned out that I was not breathing enough, which caused my blood pressure to go up. I would get so focused on a problem my breathing would slowly become more shallow. Now I have a water bottle on my desk and I slowly sip it all day, it forces me to get up every 1-2 hours to use the bathroom and fill the bottle back up -- and I deliberately use the bathroom 1 floor down to force me to go up an…
> I deliberately use the bathroom 1 floor down to force me to go up and down the stairs This is such a good idea that I'm stealing immediately.
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Re: Ask HN: Does coding give you brain fog?
#40I have only rarely have felt this from programming (at work or not).
But as a competitive chess player, I do usually experience it at the end of (especially) weekend tournaments, where there is generally 3 consecutive days of 8-10 hours of intense concentration. The fog is gone after a good sleep and day of rest.