Reversing the effects of long programming sessions
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Reversing the effects of long programming sessions
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Re: Reversing the effects of long programming sessions
#2To get the most out of my periods of intense focus I try to plan multiple after hour activities.
I find that tactile activities such as climbing and pottery really help with balancing my brain and softly undo the anti-social mood that develops in me during long coding sessions.
Re: Reversing the effects of long programming sessions
#3The best for a quick reset is juggling (believe it or not!). Nothing beats physical exercise, either at the gym, cardio alone or team sports, to make up for hours of sitting and staring at a screen.
Re: Reversing the effects of long programming sessions
#4We need to restrict the amount of hours we spend in front of computers per day and take weekends completely off. There are so many downsides: blue light that damages your vision, lack of exercise, depression and other disorders, missing out on social life, etc.
There is a direct relation between productivity and having a life put together. Not taking care of ourselves (programmers) could have lead to disaster: mental disorders, burnout, leaving a well payed job, etc.
Lately I've stop giving a damn about deadlines like I used to. Money is nice but mental health does not has a price. The moment you enter the rabbit hole of antidepressants you're already ripping your soul.
Re: Reversing the effects of long programming sessions
#5I've found that the most important thing is not engaging in marathon sessions, full stop. My code is better, I'm healthier, and I get more done per working minute.
Take a break every hour or so, minimum ten minutes, and step away. Make coffee, ponder the infinite, pet your cat, listen to some Chicago or Slayer, whatever suits your preferences.
Re: Reversing the effects of long programming sessions
#6I hate talking to people after a long programming session. I simply can't do it, and I'm normally very social and outgoing. I just stand there and it probably looks like I'm gazing off at something; I'm just not there.
I've tried doing many things after a long session.. for me, the only remedy I've found is time. I just need a few hours.
I also produce music. This doesn't help because producing is very similar to programming in many ways. Puts me right back in the same state.
Having three+ drinks certainly helps... but not healthy nor sustainable on a daily basis.
Re: Reversing the effects of long programming sessions
#7[tl;dr - aim to take at least 250 steps every two hours to prevent buildup of blood clots]
It's not just about getting exercise. It's also about moving your legs sufficiently to ensure proper blood flow and prevent the formation of life threatening blood clots (disclaimer: that happened to me, I love to hyper focus and just sit in my chair and code for 8 hours straight, which turns out to be an incredibly high risk activity even for someone who is otherwise active, in good shape, not overweight, not a couch potato, etc).
Your legs are far enough from your heart that your body has evolved a separate pumping mechanism for them: the actions of your leg muscles when you walk or run are responsible for booster pumping the blood through your legs. Standing desks may be great for other reasons but they don't help here because your leg muscles still aren't driving that pumping action the way they would if you were walking or running.
My solution was to get a cheap fitness band (Fitbit Flex2 in my case) and set it to vibrate if I'm inactive for long periods. When it buzzes I get up, walk down the hall a couple times, and go back to concentrating.
Re: Reversing the effects of long programming sessions
#8We need to restrict the amount of hours we spend in front of computers per day and take weekends completely off. There are so many downsides: blue light that damages your vision, lack of exercise, depression and other disorders, missing out on social life, etc. There is a direct relation between productivity and having a life put together. Not taking care of ourselves (programmers) could have lead to disaster: mental…
All true, but neither should we deny ourselves a long session of "flow" if it makes us happy.
Re: Reversing the effects of long programming sessions
#9[tl;dr - aim to take at least 250 steps every two hours to prevent buildup of blood clots] It's not just about getting exercise. It's also about moving your legs sufficiently to ensure proper blood flow and prevent the formation of life threatening blood clots (disclaimer: that happened to me, I love to hyper focus and just sit in my chair and code for 8 hours straight, which turns out to be an incredibly high risk a…
The article was more about the mental effects of long sessions, and barely mentioned exercise at all.
Re: Reversing the effects of long programming sessions
#10In this last project I was in, which was a bit of a death march - we (Team) ALL got to the point of incurring bizarre sleep disturbances and other cognitive/emotional disturbances:
It would take 3-4 hours once home at our set stop time to "shut off" our brains from thinking about what we were working on - and switch over to "being home" mode and interacting with spouses etc. without being irritable.
We also all had disturbed sleep from "programming dreams" once we could shut our brains down and actually fall asleep.
This is nothing new, I know - but it was intriguing (and frightening) to see these effects manifested consistently across our entire team.