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Ask HN: What are you doing for your mental health?
61–70 of 98 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are you doing for your mental health?
#62Not working more than 35 hours a week, like my parents used to. Continuing my refusal to have email/slack/$other on my phone. Telling people that if they want impossible target a, then they need to let go of target b, and then walking off to let them figure shit out. Deleting people who are unable to tweet politics objectivly/first hand (ie anything other than non specialist journalists)
How are you employed? I'm doing the 43h grind (+ travel) to boost my career a bit, but plan to reduce that a lot as soon as possible :)
Sadly it's a bit more difficult as a product manager. Simply being around for anything that comes up is very valuable in that position. I might need to plan the jump to consultancy some day.
Re: Ask HN: What are you doing for your mental health?
#63Have become very settled into an exercise regime which includes weightlifting and plenty of cardio. Got to the weight that I wanted and the cardio makes it possible to eat a very ample amount of calories which feels amazing.
Quit drinking as well, which has had me beaming with a sense of accomplishment.
These two have had the secondary effect of falling asleep early and waking up well rested.
Re: Ask HN: What are you doing for your mental health?
#64Exercising as much a possible (aiming for 3 times/week + walking as much as possible)
Practising mindfulness (I find it makes a big difference for me).
Spending time with friends and family.
Re: Ask HN: What are you doing for your mental health?
#65Surprised no one has mentioned Mindfulness yet. Like most I was skeptical about this new-agey BS. But sitting quietly without interruption for 10-20 minutes every day, and just focusing on breathing, has helped me a lot. Note: I am a long time sufferer of PTSD.
I've tried meditation unsuccessfully a few times, and I tried mindful meditation unsuccessfully, but I was enlightened when I realized that mindfulness doesn't have to mean meditation. Mindfulness, at it's core, just means trying to keep your mind from wandering from it's task. In meditation, that task might be breathing, but I've found it useful for so many other things. Being present with my baby boy when a technical issue is bugging me. Listening to a boring story and giving feedback. Pushing through drudgery. It's an irreplaceable tool.
Re: Ask HN: What are you doing for your mental health?
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's an increasing trend of IRC networks having Matrix bridges (inc. Freenode) and Matrix works almost entirely over HTTPS. Perfect for corporate networks and proxies! Helps me to stay sane at work. https://matrix.org
> Matrix works almost entirely over HTTPS What do you mean, "almost"? The client-to-server API runs entirely over HTTPS port 443. The server-to-server API is also HTTPS, but on a different port, but that's not a concern for the client. Source: I'm running a small Synapse instance.
I'd imagine the 'almost' here is that VoIP defaults to using SRTP and STUN/TURN (WebRTC) rather than HTTP.
Re: Ask HN: What are you doing for your mental health?
#67Exercise (yes it helps), eat right, sleep 8 hours, have fun, be kind, meditate, create.
Great succinct list. It is the same for me, except I have a mandatory "spend time with love ones and close friends" in there, and I don't meditate regularly enough.
Re: Ask HN: What are you doing for your mental health?
#68Exercise 3-5x/week, and stay active throughout the day (standing desk, frequent walk breaks). High intensity exercise >>>> low intensity in re its effects on my mood (for me! YMMV). I feel virtually unchanged after 30 mins moderate effort on a bike, but like a brand new person after 10-15 minutes of bike sprints
Drink plenty of water (also helps with staying active--frequent bathroom breaks + the attendant socializing that comes with regularly wandering about the office :) )
Read and practice stoicism
Re-contextualize. When I feel myself in a rut, I force myself to do something new and uncomfortable. Keyword being "force" -- usually when in such ruts the last thing I want to be doing is putting myself somewhere unfamiliar. But this can help attenuate certain thinking patterns and/or give you new perspectives.
Oh yeah, and proper use of certain medications and therapies have also helped.
Re: Ask HN: What are you doing for your mental health?
#69Walk outside for 45 minutes in the middle of every day.
Re: Ask HN: What are you doing for your mental health?
#70Gave away most of my furniture and electronics, packed the rest in a cheap storage unit and fled London to a pristine and mostly unoccupied south Indian beach, where I spent 5 months worth of mornings going for a swim before sitting down to remote freelance work, at a table overlooking the ocean. It wasn't a perfect move (the working holiday part), but damn it's by far the best winter I've had in a decade. 10/10 woul…
Mind sharing the name / location of that beach? I might want to check it out some time. I did something like that but on the Western coast of India some years ago, for some months. In fact in that period, for about a month, I stayed in a beach hut, about 10 seconds walk from the water's edge. Used to hear the roaring of the waves at night (and in the day too, but it tends to sound louder in the night). A great experience.