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Ask HN: Do you use food as a performance enhancing drug when coding?
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Re: Ask HN: Do you use food as a performance enhancing drug when coding?
#12I'm not sure if that helps, but you can switch to various fruits like kiwis, blueberries and blackberries instead of processed food. It can help you modulate your habit of eating while working.
Re: Ask HN: Do you use food as a performance enhancing drug when coding?
#13Up to 2 liters of coffee (cappuccino) plus a liter Energie Drinks is what I thought to need nearly daily.
Reality is, the way I work, it's just not realistic to work 8 hours a day or 5 days a week.
Re: Ask HN: Do you use food as a performance enhancing drug when coding?
#14Isn't this a case of binge eating disorder?
Re: Ask HN: Do you use food as a performance enhancing drug when coding?
#15Oh dear, not healthy!
First of all, you are getting a brain chemical boost from the eating, but it’s probably the least effective way to nudge your brain into a different state. You are eating a lot of high sugar and high carb foods so that’s going to make you crash within a few hours (or minutes).
Some better things to try: -A nap -Meditative resting, music, knitting, folding laundry ect. -Tea -Short high intensity exercise -Go outside
My own hack is that I pop on a VR headset and play beat saber. It’s a break, exercise, music, reward and escape all in 5 minutes. If I am really stressed, I play thrill of the fight and punch my problems in the face.
Re: Ask HN: Do you use food as a performance enhancing drug when coding?
#16Work less and sleep more. Add regular exercise through your week.
As the years go by you will wish you worked less and took better care of yourself.
Re: Ask HN: Do you use food as a performance enhancing drug when coding?
#17Your brain and body are likely running out of sugar, but it is not the _only_ energy source you can put in / harvest from your system. I recommend a small snack on something healthy until your next scheduled meal. Repeat an hour later if you need to, but binging will throw your energy levels /hormones all over the place.
Any new diet you try will have a two week or more adjustment period while your body adapts. This is normal, stay disciplined and measure results, then adjust.
This summer I changed to a meal schedule that's one medium-ish sized meal every three hours with veggies, meat, and carbs (usually rice, I just love rice), and after an initial adjustment period of a couple weeks, my energy levels became much more stable, especially in the afternoons.
After this adjusting to the above, I added coffee once at breakfast and once after lunch each day, which helps, but not in some amazing way. It's just a little extra energy boost in the mornings and afternoon.
Re: Ask HN: Do you use food as a performance enhancing drug when coding?
#18"Is there any alternative?" Try exercise. May or may not work, but a quick high intensity exercise only for few minutes gives me usually energy for the next few hours. Run stairs, do pushups and squats or whatever.
I'd ve said the same. During my PhD I started training martial arts, and one of the things that struck me is that it changed how often I ate and the quality of the foods I craved. Of course, it's all related to oneself. Good luck!
Do consult with a medic and try tracking bodyweight. Only yesterday I saw one of the 'smart' scales that allows you to do all sorts of calculations and monitoring.
A behavioral psychologist might be of help for the anxiety too!
Re: Ask HN: Do you use food as a performance enhancing drug when coding?
#19What does your normal day to day food look like? Do you eat enough, healthy, varied, etc, or do you think "no time for food, I must work"?
Food isn't a "performance enhancing drug", it's food, you eat it because you need to. You seem to have a weird relationship or perception of food if you call binging on a day to be "performance enhancing".
Re: Ask HN: Do you use food as a performance enhancing drug when coding?
#20Up to 2 liters of coffee (cappuccino) plus a liter Energie Drinks is what I thought to need nearly daily. Reality is, the way I work, it's just not realistic to work 8 hours a day or 5 days a week.
I think 40 hours / week is fine and sustainable, as long as you're not expected to be 100% throughout. That amount of caffeine is insane and (I think you know this yourself) a patch for something else that you're missing, like normal food and a good amount of sleep per day.