81–90 of 144 posts
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.
I'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.
After about 8 hours or so, I feel like I'm getting a lot done, but I almost always have to refactor significant chunks of that code later.
If I limit my sessions to implementing one feature or process, and then going away from the screen to think about it more, my results are better.
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Right; I'm unable to even listen to music while in deep flow, because I have a composition/conducting background, and ANY kind of music triggers analysis that is a distraction. I just listen to white noise.
If you’re a composer/conductor then you’ve probably already tried this, but for me two types of music work well (as I’m a similarly analytical musician): - Minimalism, specifically Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians suite - Atmospheric, specifically ‘Skyrim Atmospheres’ by Jeremy Soule Both are so versatile: minimalism for journeys and coding; atmospheric for ‘creative’ periods, walking and sleeping. I do somewhat…
Here are a few other suggestions:- - Playing video games - Cooking - Watching TV - Listening to music - Talking to non-technical friends - Closing my eyes and slow your breathing - Exercise I can see all but video games and watching TV, where again you sit in front of a screen. Doesn’t help me. Instead, I’d add hiking in the hills, forest, mountains, being outside in nature in general. Nothing is more re-energizing f…
I have trouble concentrating at work to the point where I barely complete any code. I Can never flow unless I'm working on a project at home. Music can help but the network is often too spotty for songs to load consistently. I'm easily distracted by the internet and conversations with co-workers. I'm not allowed to work overtime, and get 8 hours of sleep - so being tired is not an issue. Am I burnt out? or just extre…
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I can't listen to anything with words I understand. Podcasts would be ridiculous.
Right; I'm unable to even listen to music while in deep flow, because I have a composition/conducting background, and ANY kind of music triggers analysis that is a distraction. I just listen to white noise.
I just listen to the ambient energy of a perfect vacuum.
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…
What I mean is, if I work for a month or several months doing 10-12 hour+ days coding, etc. and then I stop to take a few days off, it literally takes several (1-3) days to disengage my mind from "work mode" to "vacation" or "life" mode for lack of better terms.
I'm also finding that this is getting worse as I age. It feels like it takes longer to unwind from the adrenaline fueled state, but I'm usually much better off after I do.
Yeah, not healthy. I'm trying hard not to work the long constant hours with few breaks- but I had some bad employment situations that didn't offer any alternative for a while.
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…
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…
Sometimes I feel like coding triggers some area of the brain that is slightly autistic or aspergers-like, and I perseverate on it. If I reach a breakthrough I feel better.
I learned to say this to myself - "if I am stuck in a loop, then remember I might need to break out of the loop" - but I mean that not in the programming sense entirely, more behavioral.
Noticing that my brain can actually "think inside the algorithm", even in my sleep, has numerous times caused me to wonder if our brains are capable of essentially "running code" and that maybe neural networks and the like may really be onto something. But that's a different tangent.
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> 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