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Reversing the effects of long programming sessions

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Re: Reversing the effects of long programming sessions

#41

Post by TACIXAT »

burke wrote: post #37
mariopt wrote: post #4

We 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…

> blue light that damages your vision Can anyone explain to me how looking at a computer screen is not several times less harmful than spending time outside from a lifetime-blue-light-exposure perspective? The sky is blue and natural light has a blue component in probably about the same proportion as white light from a screen. Maybe I'm wrong — and I'd like to find out if I am — but this whole blue light scare really…

I think you're right. There was just an article about blue light speeding blindness, but the flux author chimed in and said screens are less than 5% of the hazard weighted irradiance of the sky. [1]

I'm not totally sure what that means honestly, but I think we're OK.

1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17726716

Re: Reversing the effects of long programming sessions

#42

Post by maxxxxx »

jpindar wrote: post #40
maxxxxx wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why it would be good to get paid by hour. When I was freelancer when things flowed I sometimes worked 24+ hours straight through or had several 16 hours days. But then I had other days when I got nothing done and took off. In a salaried position the company takes the long "flow" session for free but still expects you to be there the next day.

That's not true of all salaried positions. In my experience, it's the salaried positions that have flexible time, not the hourly ones.

When I work 13 hours 3 days in a row my employer still expects me to show up for the remaining 2 days of the week. If I had a fixed 40 hours week I would be done and could recover these 2 days. I also don't get more money for working more.

Re: Reversing the effects of long programming sessions

#43

Post by holtalanm »

kvz wrote: post #39
holtalanm wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have "programming dreams" every night. Probably isn't healthy, but I program all day at work. Go home and spend a few hours with family, then program an additional few hours every night. Sometimes I fall into the rabbit hole and emerge at 2-3 am after finally finishing what I started. Go to bed, and rinse and repeat the next day. My brain just won't shut off at this point, but I enjoy absolutely everything about wh…

> My brain just won't shut off at this point, but I enjoy absolutely everything about what I do. Everybody is different so I’m not saying this will happen to you, but I recognize this mode from personal experience and what happened to me was something went sour. Management took a different direction and the thing I poured my heart in got critiqued and risked being shot down. At that point, I missed all the distance t…

I should have included the caveat that the coding/programming I do at home is on little side projects and experiments that aren't related to my every-day work.

Re: Reversing the effects of long programming sessions

#44

Post by holtalanm »

ak39 wrote: post #32
holtalanm wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have "programming dreams" every night. Probably isn't healthy, but I program all day at work. Go home and spend a few hours with family, then program an additional few hours every night. Sometimes I fall into the rabbit hole and emerge at 2-3 am after finally finishing what I started. Go to bed, and rinse and repeat the next day. My brain just won't shut off at this point, but I enjoy absolutely everything about wh…

Same here, terrible sleep when all you're doing is attempting debugging or refactoring without a keyboard. I am sure my short-term memory of non-programming related activities is severely affected because no matter where I am, I am coding, redesigning or imagining shit that is causing that hard to find memory corruption. Movies are my unwinding method. And daily 1 hour walks.

> I am sure my short-term memory of non-programming related activities is severely affected because no matter where I am, I am coding, redesigning or imagining shit that is causing that hard to find memory corruption.

same here. I have the worst short-term memory for non-programming things ever.

Re: Reversing the effects of long programming sessions

#45

Post by CGamesPlay »

warent wrote: post #24

"Personally I cannot listen to technical podcasts while I develop software" What? I've never known anybody that could do that! Anyone that can do that meaningfully must be some kind of savant.

If I'm working on something that doesn't require much thought (eg the more rote parts of programming) then I can listen to an easy podcast, like a comedy or storytelling one. When I start working on something that requires thought I definitely can't listen to a podcast and I can't really imagine getting anything out of a lecture I was listening to without giving it my full attention.

Re: Reversing the effects of long programming sessions

#46

Post by Jeff_Brown »

holtalanm wrote: post #28
dfsegoat wrote: post #10

In 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 d…

I have "programming dreams" every night. Probably isn't healthy, but I program all day at work. Go home and spend a few hours with family, then program an additional few hours every night. Sometimes I fall into the rabbit hole and emerge at 2-3 am after finally finishing what I started. Go to bed, and rinse and repeat the next day. My brain just won't shut off at this point, but I enjoy absolutely everything about wh…

I do this too -- code for work, take a break, then code for my own thing, then go to sleep. I suspect the third of those plays havoc with the fourth.

Re: Reversing the effects of long programming sessions

#47

Post by blacksmythe »

holtalanm wrote: post #28
dfsegoat wrote: post #10

In 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 d…

I have "programming dreams" every night. Probably isn't healthy, but I program all day at work. Go home and spend a few hours with family, then program an additional few hours every night. Sometimes I fall into the rabbit hole and emerge at 2-3 am after finally finishing what I started. Go to bed, and rinse and repeat the next day. My brain just won't shut off at this point, but I enjoy absolutely everything about wh…

  >> finally finishing what I started... Go to bed
I find that I sleep far better if I don't think about work for a half hour before bed.

Even better if it's an hour without work before bed.

Re: Reversing the effects of long programming sessions

#48

Post by Jeff_Brown »

ppeetteerr wrote: post #3

The 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.

Team sports sounds nice -- physical + talking.

Re: Reversing the effects of long programming sessions

#49

Post by Jeff_Brown »

yodon wrote: post #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 a…

I rarely remember to take a break but when I'm walking around I try to move fast; if there are stairs I'll run up them; if I'm outside I'll jump on top of random stuff and hang there falling for a second like someone in a Disney musical from the 50s.

Re: Reversing the effects of long programming sessions

#50

Post by jlarocco »

maxxxxx wrote: post #42
jpindar wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not true of all salaried positions. In my experience, it's the salaried positions that have flexible time, not the hourly ones.

When I work 13 hours 3 days in a row my employer still expects me to show up for the remaining 2 days of the week. If I had a fixed 40 hours week I would be done and could recover these 2 days. I also don't get more money for working more.

Sounds like a problem with your employer. None of mine have ever had a problem with me taking off early to make up for days I've worked longer hours.

Have you talked to them about it?

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