Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Staying Healthy and Sane At a Startup

al3x.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 124 posts

Re: Staying Healthy and Sane At a Startup

#111

Post by araneae »

patio11 wrote: post #65
araneae wrote: post #53

Why is HN so obsessed with exercise? I'm quite happy as a lazy slob. I ran track and x country in high school, but I didn't like exercise then and I still don't. I'm sure it would probably make me healthier, but it just isn't worth the discomfort to me. Stop making me look bad, guys.

I have never liked exercise, and I have never liked dieting, but I had a rude wakeup call about the wages of "curry and a fried porkchop" four days a week plus a sedentary lifestyle a few years ago. My physician said that, at that rate, I would be lucky to make it to 30, despite the fact that I was skinny like a beanpole. So I started going to the gym. I despise actually being at the gym and exercising. But it makes…

Did your blood test have high cholesterol or something?

I had full health work-up last year and everything came back better than ideal. And I get sick very, very rarely. I eat well; I just don't move around much.

Re: Staying Healthy and Sane At a Startup

#112

Post by nixme »

shashmundar wrote: post #75
nixme wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ...however, most people are at least somewhat dehydrated a large majority of the time. No. From sources described at http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses.asp : Kidney specialists do agree on one thing, however: that the 8-by-8 rule is a gross overestimate of any required minimum. "The notion that there is widespread dehydration has no basis in medical fact," says Dr. Robert Alpern, dean of the medical schoo…

It's unfair to use supporting material out of context. The first article mentions "widespread dehydration" ..that's an exaggeration at best of what's being discussed here. People do get dehydrated. We, as a nation, have the means of staying hydrated and therefore we don't have a major epidemic. But, dehydration is definitely an issue--and always will be.

I was responding specifically to the parent's assertion that "most people are at least somewhat dehydrated a large majority of the time."

I consider that statement equivalent to asserting "widespread dehydration" of the nation's populace. So I stand by the material I quoted.

> People do get dehydrated.

Of course they do, just like they get hungry when they don't eat. But we're discussing drinking water in excess of thirst. I'm not sure I understand what you mean by your last paragraph. The discussion here is about health primarily in the first world, not about the hydration problems in many developing countries.

Re: Staying Healthy and Sane At a Startup

#113

Post by mattmichielsen »

mrbird wrote: post #23

One more I'd add: Pick a time after which you will not check your email. For me it's 10pm. Too many times I'd be winding down the day, getting ready for sleep, and decided (more like, was subconsciously compelled) to check my email one last time. Every so often, some nagging issue would come up that, in hindsight, definitely could have waited till the next morning, but once I started thinking about it, there was no w…

I've also found that turning off all push notifications of emails to my phone helps me ignore emails until I actually get to them. I pick a few times per day to go through them in batches and immediately take care of anything I can do quickly, and star or archive the rest, depending on whether I need to follow up or not. I do my last check at about 9pm.

Re: Staying Healthy and Sane At a Startup

#114

Post by mattmichielsen »

jkincaid wrote: post #7

One other thing that has helped me keep my sanity: wash and fold laundry service. You take your dirty laundry, put it in a bag, and they'll clean and fold it for a modest fee (the place around the corner from me is around $1.10 a pound). In urban areas you can find services that will pickup and deliver. It's a luxury, but it isn't that expensive (especially if you typically rely on coin-op laundromats anyway) and it'…

I do laundry about once a week, and it takes about 2 minutes to load and start the washer, and after an hour (or whenever you get back to it) another 2 minutes to load and start the dryer. After that, you can just get clean clothes out of the dryer instead of dresser drawers. My girlfriend doesn't like this life-optimization.

Re: Staying Healthy and Sane At a Startup

#116

Post by dgallagher »

sandGorgon wrote: post #107
Evgeny wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Add to that "Good Calories, Bad Calories" by Gary Taubes and that's a start! http://www.amazon.com/Good-Calories-Bad-Controversial-Scienc...

Add to that Jamie Oliver's TED Award acceptance talk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIwrV5e6fMY

Wow, thanks for all the links! :) I'll put some time aside later this week to watch up on them.

--------------------

When I lost around 100 pounds years ago, I did it on a mountain dew and rice cake diet (not recommended). That introduced calorie restriction, and it worked. After losing weight, it eventually motivated me to find and eventually adopt a diet that was long-term sustainable.

Hopefully the path my father takes is similar. Step #1 isn't always perfect, but it's much easier to take a single step than it is to try and run up a flight of stairs.

A former roommate of mine did the same. He went on an all fruit and vegetable diet, going from around 280 pounds down to about 170. That "beginning" diet wasn't sustainable, but it helped him lose weight through calorie restriction. Now he's a extremely athletic cyclist, and eats a very healthy well-balanced diet. Step #1 wasn't necessarily perfect, but it eventually got him on the right track.

--------------------

A lot of the hard research on refined sugar appears to just be coming into light. It'll likely take several more years/decades before its effects are truly understood. Human nutrition in general is AMAZINGLY complex, as there are so many variables interacting with one another.

I find it's best to question anything anyone says on the internet regarding nutrition. Ensure they cite sources, state their educational background, etc... Even someone who's a Doctor doesn't always know a lot about nutrition. Typically your best sources are people with PHD's in nutrition, active in the field.

Almost everyone on the internet doesn't fall into that category. So when you end up with is a lot of "snake oil" advice mixed in with the good. It's a tough problem that needs a solution: "Verification of the accuracy of online information." It extends well beyond nutrition and fitness. The solver of that problem has the potential to be larger than even Google. :)

Re: Staying Healthy and Sane At a Startup

#117

Post by dgallagher »

tomjen3 wrote: post #85
dgallagher wrote: post #48

Exercise is basic necessary maintenance required by the human body. You either do it and have a happy/healthy body, or you don't. Eating healthy is just as important, separated into two categories: overall caloric intake, and nutritional content. Car analogies are a dime a dozen in computing, but they apply here as well. Not exercising is like changing the oil in your car every 10,000-15,000 miles, instead of every 3…

I don't exercise for one simple reason - its a temporary solution to a permanent problem and as a geek I hate, hate, hate those with a passion. I don't mind things that are hard, or things that are difficult or things that take a long time or even things that are all three; what I hate is things that doesn't last - once you learned to drive, you can drive, etc. Combine that with the fact that it sucks doing exercise…

Step back 50,000 years. Human civilization was extremely primitive and unlike anything in our world today. What was your day like? What did you do? What did you think about?

Most of your existance was dominated by finding food and eating it. Your job was walk/run around all day long, trying to find as much to eat, expending as little energy as possible. You might climb a tree to pick fruit, swim across a river towards a good fishing spot, run after and try to spear an animal, fight with other people and steal their food/have food stolen from you, etc...

Our bodies evolved for this type of work. Fast-forward 50,000 years to the present day, and you'll find we don't do anything like that anymore. My brother put it best:

"You wake up in the morning and get out of your bed couch, stumbling over to your toilet couch. After you get into your car couch and drive to work. Then you arrive at work and sit in your chair couch all day long. After work is done it's back to your car couch. Once you're home, it's off to your couch couch to watch some TV. When you're done with that, go to sleep in your bed couch. The cycle repeats."

So the permanent solution for our bodies is, simply, to be more active! Our advanced society has introduced the permanent problem, not our bodies. We're genetically designed to be active.

--------------------

When I started exercising about 10 years ago, I picked running specifically because I hated it more than just about anything. In a few more months I estimate that I would have run approximately 15,000 miles since starting, which is about 3/5th's around the Earth.

How does one learn to enjoy something that one hates? You find the little things that excite you and focus on that. Eventually that snowballs into bigger and better things, and before you know it, you love something you use to hate. :)

If you ever decide to try exercising, I'd recommend finding a personal trainer to teach you the basics. There are TONS of different things to do. If you don't like going to the gym, try rock climbing, or mountain biking, or swimming, or anything that floats your boat! I "guarantee" that you'll find something that you'll like. The best part of all is after you start, it becomes addictive, and you'll wonder how you ever survived without it!

Re: Staying Healthy and Sane At a Startup

#118

Post by patio11 »

araneae wrote: post #111
patio11 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have never liked exercise, and I have never liked dieting, but I had a rude wakeup call about the wages of "curry and a fried porkchop" four days a week plus a sedentary lifestyle a few years ago. My physician said that, at that rate, I would be lucky to make it to 30, despite the fact that I was skinny like a beanpole. So I started going to the gym. I despise actually being at the gym and exercising. But it makes…

Did your blood test have high cholesterol or something? I had full health work-up last year and everything came back better than ideal. And I get sick very, very rarely. I eat well; I just don't move around much.

Family history of $COMMON_FATAL_CONDITION plus a cholesterol reading that one should never have in a 120 lb 22 year old.

Re: Staying Healthy and Sane At a Startup

#119

Post by csytan »

grk wrote: post #91
ptn wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My problem with riding my bike to the office is that I arrive all sweaty. I can change my T-shirt (I don't have to wear a suit), but I'll still smell afterwards.

The more you use your bike, the less tired you will be after your commute. It took me ~6 months to go from really sweaty after 7km to barely breaking a sweat. Just keep in mind that you have to take off some of your clothes on the way once you warm up.

Some more tips:

- Proper clothing (e.g. dry fit) which helps sweat evaporate faster

- Using a more efficient road bike if you're currently riding a mountain/hybrid bike

- Pedaling at a lower gear, and higher cadence

- Properly inflated tires

- A bag with mesh back support, so your back doesn't get all sweaty.

Re: Staying Healthy and Sane At a Startup

#120

Post by jazzdev »

papa wrote: post #69
euccastro wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may be doing it worse by just avoiding fat. You should worry more about sugar, to begin with.

For a sobering look at the impact of dietary sugar in the American diet (particularly fructose), check out this informative lecture by UCSF Professor Dr. Robert H. Lustig: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM (argues that current U.S. obesity epidemic is largely the result of low-fat, high sugar diet)

Wow, he claims the American Heart Association's PR campaign for low-fat diets is based on the classic "denying the antecedent" fallacy.

  1. Dietary fat raises LDL (A -> B)
  2. LDL correlated with heart disease (B -> C)
  Faulty conclusion: no A -> no C
I guess you don't have to study Symbolic Logic to get into med school. ;-)
Post reply on HN