3 Unhealthy Habits I Developed From Becoming a Programmer (and How I’m Breaking Them)
Since I started coding a little over a year ago, my lifestyle has changed. In my former profession, I was a math teacher and my day-to-day consisted of walking up 3 flights of stairs up to 4x a day, pacing around a classroom, and interacting with over 100 individuals between 8am-4pm. Now that I’ve left the teaching profession to become an iOS developer, I’ve picked up a few unhealthy habits. It wasn’t until recently that I started doing something to break these unhealthy habits.
Habit #1: Drinking Excessive Amounts of Coffee
Programmers need extreme focus and alertness to be able to solve complex problems and coffee is usually the answer to achieving this focus. Since the summer started, I’ve been having up to 6 cups of iced coffee a day. No bueno for me!
In my previous life, coffee made me jittery and gave me heart palpitations. Now, I can’t imagine opening up Xcode without a cup of coffee at my desk. Some health experts recommend having no more than 4 cups of coffee a day.
Breaking Habit #1: Limit myself to one big cup .
One big cup is equivalent to 2 cups of iced coffee. I like to use my NYCFC tumbler and drink it from a straw. I fill it with plenty of ice so it lasts longer and the coffee is a bit watered down.
Habit #2: Sitting Down All Day
Like I mentioned earlier, for the past 11 years I walked around a classroom all day. Now, I sit in front of a laptop and monitor for up to 8 hours a day.
As a result, my body has changed in the following ways:
- I’ve gained weight (10 pounds!)
- My posture has deteriorated (I’m either over arching my back or slouching when I’m in the chair).
- My hamstrings and hips are extremely tight. Every time I get out of my chair, I make an “Ugh!” sound.
Breaking Habit #2: Workout and take breaks.
For every day that I sit and code, I work out. I switch my workouts up but they consist of any of the following:
- Barre class
- Walking around my neighborhood (usually to Bed Bath and Beyond :-)
- HIIT
- Zumba
- Cardio bootcamp classes
I also drink lots of water when I code, which causes me get up every hour and using the restroom, forcing me to stretch and take a break.
Lastly, I try to stretch at least once a day, focusing on my hamstrings, my lower back, and my hips.
My favorite stretches are:
Habit #3: Interacting With Only Machines
As a math teacher, I communicated with over 100 people (teachers, parents, students!) every day face-to-face. As a developer who mainly codes at home, I mostly interact with my laptop, my iPhone, my monitor (womp womp).
First of all, too much screen time is bad for your eyes. Second of all, not interacting with people face-to-face everyday can affect your social skills.
Breaking Habit #3: Schedule time to meet up with someone every day (including weekends!)
Yes, that’s right, I schedule face-to-face time at least once a day. This face-to-face time could mean a lunch with an old friend, a Saturday dim sum with family, or just a work session with friend.
I color code my Google Calendar and use teal 👗 for my personal appointments.
On days that I’m not able to meet up with any personal friends, I go to a Meetup or a local iOS tech event to network. Human contact is necessary!
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Let me know what “bad” habits you’ve developed as a programmer. How are you breaking them?
