Developers be on top of your game with these tips.
When we never take care of ourselves we deteriorate in physical health and mental health gradually, be green as a plant.
All developers face some common issues. As web developers, mobile app developers, or game developers, our health is important to us.
Be it your physical health or your mental health. We are all fighting the same battles. In this article, we will be discussing two problems we face in our daily healthcare and how to solve it as developers or programmers. As the saying goes, a problem half stated is a problem half solved.
Long periods of sitting.
“When a body is at rest, it will remain at rest until an external force acts upon it.” — Issac Newton.
This statement is not only a physics law. Did you know it could apply to developers and programmers?
Developers prefer to be in a state of constant rest unless disturbed by some external factor, such as family members asking them to complete a household chore or a co-worker asking you for some help.
As developers and programmers, it can feel good when we are in the zone. Thus when we are in the state of flow, all other things happening around us fade into oblivion, as noted by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Whenever in this flow state, we tend to forget that time exists. Sometimes we can sit in this state for long periods without feeling pain at all.
Sitting for long hours can have drastic effects on your health. Some scholars are saying sitting for long hours is the new smoking, and according to research, they might be true.
Heart diseases are just one of the effects of sitting for long periods. One study found that men who watch more than 23 hours of television a week have a 64 percent higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than men who only watch 11 hours of television a week. Some experts say that heart attack or stroke is 147 percent higher in people who sit for long periods. Not to mention body pain associated with sitting for long hours.
And there is no argument that developers tend to sit longer than that. What can we do to protect ourselves?
- Take a walk. According to scientists, taking a walk helps relieve anxiety and increases blood flows to the brain and other parts of the body. And more importantly, taking a walk after working helps decrease the chance of heart disease. On top of all this, when walking, a person can burn approximately 140–230 amount of calories at 2 miles per hour, and it is also a great way to relieve back pain. One hack you can use is to walk over to your colleagues instead of mailing them. It seems simple, but you can get tons of benefits.
- Take the stairs instead of the lift. Did you know that taking the stairs has so many benefits compared to taking the elevator? According to studies, taking the stairs increases our heart rate for a short period, which in the long run also promotes better blood circulation. Taking stairs can undo some of the damage sitting for long periods does. Take the stairs and improve your heart health and keep heart disease at bay.
- Use a standing desk. One way to improve chronic body pain due to poor desk posture is to stand whiles working. Using a standing desk does not mean you need to be standing all day. Transitioning between sitting and standing has proven to be the best result. It helps boosts creativity, increase concentration, and at the same time helps you burn more calories. And the best part is if you want to use a standing desk, there is no need to go for traditional standing desks that are costlier. Standing desk converters can convert your sitting desk into a standing desk in minutes, but it also costs far less, so it is a win-win situation.
Too much screen time.
Day in day out, the number of technological gadgets we use is increasing.
According to Wikipedia, the daily average screen time of kids in America who are above 8years is 4 hours, 44 minutes. Even kids spend more time on screens. What about developers or programmers?
We tend to watch computer screens for long hours, at least a day or more than six hours.
These all lead to eye strain, which is something overlooked, yet it affects many of us.
Eye strain may lead to all kinds of problems, including headache, dry eyes, computer vision syndrome, and neck pain.
On top of that, staring at your screen may be the common cause of our sleepless nights. Overexposure to blue light before bed is the cause of all this.
As an Akan proverb goes, the eye is the light of the body, and without it, our body is in darkness.
How can we protect our eyesight as developers?
- Use the 20–20–20 rule. What is the 20–20–20 rule? It states that for every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. Being exact in the 20 feet is not the key here. You can try focusing on something that seems far away, like looking out the window, or if you are in a small space taking a walk outside and relaxing your eyes. It takes 20 seconds for the eyes to relax, so whiles you are taking a break for your eyes, it can be an opportunity to re-hydrate yourself or get some green tea, as studies have shown that it contains antioxidants that can help the eyes.
- Use apps to track and monitor your exposure to screens. Apps have come a long way, and now we can use these apps to save our eyes directly or indirectly. Some of these apps are Awareness and Aware. They give you how much time you have spent on your screen and make you aware of it (no pun intended). It can help you to take breaks more regularly. One of my favorite apps I like is flux. This app makes the color of your display adapt to the time of day. Warm at night, and like sunlight during the day. It automatically adjusts the color of your screen according to the time of the day. Too much blue light at night might alter your sleep, and flux fixes this problem without a hassle (If you are on Linux, it may be a bit hard to install but follow this link. It was the easiest I found). Take care of your eyes, and you shall live to work every day.
“When health is absent, wisdom cannot reveal itself, art cannot manifest, strength cannot fight, wealth becomes useless, and intelligence cannot be applied.” ― Herophilus
Taking care of yourself as a developer may go a long way and protect you from dangerous diseases and health disorders. There are simple steps you can take to be healthier and happier as a developer. Doing this day every day may put your mind and body in great shape.
If you enjoyed this article, one book I enjoyed reading about the health of developers is The Healthy Programmer: Get Fit, Feel Better, and Keep Coding by Joe Kutner. Who knows, maybe you too may enjoy it. I will be happy if experienced developers can tell us about their health problems and how they solved them in the comment section, as it will help keep us younger developers aware and make better health decisions.
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