Do at least 20 minutes of a hard aerobic workout. There's nothing like an adrenaline rush to relax you.
Ask HN: What do you do to relax?
51–60 of 90 posts
Re: Ask HN: What do you do to relax?
#52I ride - either mountain-bike or road. I love getting out and riding up the river or just wandering through areas I don't know. I see a lot more that I wouldn't if I were driving. It can be somewhat meditative and it's an antidote to sitting in front of a computer.
Re: Ask HN: What do you do to relax?
#53One thing that really works is Meditation. Best combination is work out in a gym for about an hour and after that meditate for half hour. You are completely de-stressed after that.
Re: Ask HN: What do you do to relax?
#54Play poker, masturbate, play with my cat. Not at the same time.
Thanks for dragging down a good conversation. Sheesh.
Ladies and gentlemen, once you click "reply", you will see a flag button for individual comments. Use it responsibly.
Re: Ask HN: What do you do to relax?
#55Strangely, I like to code to relax. When I get stressed out working on something, I just switch to working on something more fun.
Thats interesting, I tend to do that as well
Re: Ask HN: What do you do to relax?
#56Read. Do it right though. Sit down in a comfortable chair. Turn off your computer so you're not constantly getting up and checking your email. Maybe turn on some music. Allocate a sufficient block of time, so you can become truly engrossed in your book. Good fiction has a way of taking your mind elsewhere that no other medium can match. It's the most satisfying and fulfilling way to relax that I know of. edit: minor…
I do like reading (non-narrative nonfiction mostly), but I can never seem to relax while doing so. Sitting up in a chair makes holding the book up difficult, reclining is no better, and lying in bed makes my back uncomfortable. How do people physically read for more than an hour at a time?
I may have noticed it early because I'm too tall for the tables in most coffeeshops, but your body is probably not cool with sitting static while you read for hours on end. Any exercise that emphasizes stretching will help. Yoga, aikido, etc.
Re: Ask HN: What do you do to relax?
#57These days, I really enjoy removing the skins from chick peas. You soak them overnight, boil them for two hours, and then you can squeeze them out of their skins. It's very repetitive and boring, and lets my mind drift. Plus you get smoother hummus if you remove the chick pea skins first.
Cooking provides lots of tasks that sound boring (and are easily handled by food processors, etc.), but are still very grounding to do my hand and focus on 100%.
I really enjoy making bread. Kneading dough feels very real after hours of debugging bad Algol code.
Also: You forgot to mention garlic!
Re: Ask HN: What do you do to relax?
#58One thing that really works is Meditation. Best combination is work out in a gym for about an hour and after that meditate for half hour. You are completely de-stressed after that.
>One thing that really works for me is meditation.
FTFY
Re: Ask HN: What do you do to relax?
#59Python
Re: Ask HN: What do you do to relax?
#60Hot shower (as hot as you can tolerate) for 30 minutes.
Agreed. Long morning showers have a profound effect on my ability to concentrate, meditate, think through problems and interestingly nearly 100% of my best ideas and solutions to problems come from the shower. Sometimes I have more than one shower a day to help work through tough problems (both personal, technical and business). I do live in a hot country and work from home so this is easier. If I don't have a shower to start the day I feel incomplete and a nagging feeling all day that something is not quite right!
I read all sorts of books to help unwind or enhance my existing knowledge or learn something new. Mixing genres of books each time is also good. I usually read scifi, fantasy (Terry Pratchett anyone?), biographies, history books,science/maths, technical, business... reading is one of mans greatest gifts!
Also, learn to do things like crosswords and jigsaws as a way to take your mind off things. Jigsaws are an amazing way to completely switch off - like stacking shelves without the significant labour! Mind wonders, but you also achieve something with each piece laid. Seriously dont knock it until you try :)
Exercise is critical. I swim 50+ laps in the pool each day and this really helps. But I hate exercise so you gotta find something that works for you.
And of course spending time with family - particularly children if you have them can be a real boon and gives you an excuse to play lego - anther wonderful invention of mankind! In fact I often build robots using technic lego with the kids which is a cool bridge between mechanical and computer skills.