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Deepak Ahuja πŸ‘¨β€πŸ’»
Deepak Ahuja πŸ‘¨β€πŸ’»

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Health for developers

Long sitting hours leads to so many health problems. i am seeing lot of hip and heart opening exercises listed to cure "office bend".
We spend most waking hours on front of screen, in a chair.

For IT professionals back problems, mental stress etc are very common. What's your take on this? what you do to avoid it?

I am thinking of publishing a list of exercises under 20 minutes, which can help. what should be on it?

Top comments (4)

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ahferroin7 profile image
Austin S. Hemmelgarn

In my case, most days I take a walk twice a day at work (about 1km mid morning, 2-3 right after lunch). Between both walks, it ends up being about an hour of exercise for me each day. This, obviously, won't be an option for everyone, but for those who are able to take this approach, it can help significantly.

Tai chi comes to mind as another option. Going through a single sequence in most of the styles takes maybe 10-20 minutes and is a rather good workout (more so than most people would think just by watching it, you end up using a lot of muscles in ways they aren't normally used). The mental focus required to do it right can also significantly help alleviate stress (for 10-20 minutes, you get a chance to effectively forget about everything and just focus on the exercise). The downside is that it needs a bit more space than many people would have readily available.

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dpkahuja profile image
Deepak Ahuja πŸ‘¨β€πŸ’»

Taking flight of stairs, morning walks are so underrated. It clears the head and give us fresh perspective for coming up with clear head to start the day.

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ahferroin7 profile image
Austin S. Hemmelgarn

Yeah, a lot of people don't think about it this way, but exercise doesn't have to be some complicated rigorous workout. In fact, it's better for most people if it isn't something complicated, because they'll be more likely to do it regularly if it's simple.

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dpkahuja profile image
Deepak Ahuja πŸ‘¨β€πŸ’»

That looks like a story of most developers!
Thanks for input, i guess routine is missing for most of people. As you said you take care of your health in an on and off cycle too. until you start feeling the burnout.