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7 Ways To Stay Healthy As A Programmer

deji adesoga on August 19, 2019

A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life. -Muhammad Ali Introduction The ...
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Todor Todorov

Hi deji,

Really nice stuff collected in 5min read! I recommend your post to every developer!

I cannot stress enough 1) Hydration and 2) Take periodic breaks.

For 2) Take periodic breaks I would also recommend to take one day "off the screen" per week - no laptop, no tablet, no social media for a whole day. And do whatever makes you happy.

About 5) Back & Neck pain - believe me or not all of us have some degree of neck trauma due to our everyday work. I would recommend googling for "restore neck curve" and find exercises to do every day.

Thank you for collecting this at one place!

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deji adesoga

Thanks very much Todor, I appreciate your reply. Taking an "off the screen" once a week sounds like a very good idea, I'll certainly work towards that.

I'll also look into "restore neck curve".

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Michael Ajala

This is awesome.
I know because, in retrospect, this was why I nearly left tech about a year ago. And, this is also why I now know that, right hardware, flexible work hours and environment - and all that, tech is where I wanna be. I've learned (somehow) to manage all the elements in this article. I hope someone else finds it too.

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deji adesoga

Thanks for sharing your thought and experience.

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Aaron Ranard

Agree with being careful of caffeine intake. I recently detoxed from caffeine and although it came with a week of intense headaches I feel more alert now for the entirety of the day, rather than needing constant boosts. Once I found out the headaches are from increased blood flow to the brain I felt better about having them. Who wouldn't want increased blood flow to the brain?

One thing I'd add to the stress management section is to increase the font size in your code editor. I increased my editor's font size to 16 recently and feel like I'm squinting so much less, which I'm sure will help reduce eye strain in the long run.

Great article!

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Todor Todorov • Edited

Aaron, wishing you to enjoy your caffeine-free life :)

I also detoxed from caffeine few years ago and I feel better since.
One more think I spotted is that without caffeine I am staying more hydrated, because coffee is a diuretic an drinking too much of it de-hydrates you.

About your comment for editor's font size - I recently made an effort to increase my font size, also fine-tuned my font shape, color scheme and syntax highlighting of my editor. I found it awesome and the headache when I work more than 10 hours in a row disappeared.

Thank you for sharing this!

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deji adesoga

Thank you Aaron. I'll definitely look into the font size my code editor. I reduced the font size earlier this year to a font size of around 12. I've not noticed any discomfort with my eyes yet, but I agree it could eventually lead to eye strain.

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devyura

I don't drink coffee at all. But I never feel the need for it. I can stay awake if I want to and sleep easily if I want to. Idk, kind of natural for me.

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deji adesoga

I totally feel the same way too. All I need is water to stay hydrated. I honestly think it's a gift.

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Loganathan Natarajan

Very useful article.

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deji adesoga

Thank you.

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Cesar Hernandez

@deji Great post I am new to the world of programming still a student you could say and it’s nice to know an advance what to look out for!

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Abdulfatai Suleiman

Hi adesoga,

Really nice article ! I recommend your post to every developer!

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mcdanielmark473 • Edited

Thank you very much for such a cool selection of tips. They will definitely help many people who have a sedentary job (I have one too). I also want to share one learning resource with you. I recommend you eduzaurus.com/free-essay-samples/h... where a lot of interesting articles on health are collected. I used this resource when I needed to write an essay in college and I didn't have the time or desire to do it on my own. There are many professional writers, so I recommend using this service.

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Sodiq Alabi

Nice post. This is very informative.

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deji adesoga

Thanks Brother.

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junopaulo

Fast internet of course 😂

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deji adesoga

Hah, ha. Anytime any-day.

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Terracraft

"Slow Internet connection leading to frustration."
Yes ofcourse, that's very important lmao