Stay Healthy as a Developer

Great insight :)

I've actually found it easier for me to do intermittent fasting and OMAD (one meal a day) since becoming a full-time developer. I don't get the mid-afternoon slumps, I feel more alert throughout the day, and the hunger pangs go away quite quickly!

Allow me to extend your list with two things.

Sleep

Sleep is pretty underrated these days. Everyone says like “if i go sleep now, i get out of the Flow and will be less productive”. Thatʼs plain BS. Get 7-9 hours of sleep a day and you will be more productive than ever. Plus, you will drink less coffee, which brings me to my next point:

Drink only water

Sounds harsh, i know. Whenever you feel thirsty, that means your body dried up about an hour ago. Drink a glass of water every hour or so. Get a reminder app so you donʼt forget it. Your daily water intake should be at or above 3 litres (about 0.8 US gallons). However, it doesnʼt mean you canʼt enjoy a soda, beer, or coffee every now and then. But all of these actually contribute to water loss.

And as a bonus tip, be barefoot whenever you can. A lot of problems in the ankles, knees, waist, and sometimes even in the back, are caused by shoes (including slippers) that have a slightly (or sometimes extremely, in case of many womenʼs shoes) higher heels. If your feet canʼt bear cold, wear socks, but no shoes nor slippers. I live in a small town and took it to the extreme: i usually walk to the market or to the kindergarten barefeet. You donʼt have to do that, do it only at home, or in the office.

If you have trouble keeping the discipline, I found a place that uses gamification to make the entire process more appealing to nerdy people. It's called Nerd Fitness. The free articles alone are worth checking the website, in my opinion. I paid for the Academy program, although I haven't really applied myself to the process. But that's my fault not the fault of the program.

A great amount of information in there, so thanks and givem the new year its something I would like to do more of once I am ready! Although it felt more like a gaining muscle post, you would certainly be healthier.

I would also have stressed the importance of regular eye tests, correct posture with an ergonomic set-up and exercises specifically for neck pain and back pain.

Then remebering to take reuglar breaks from you desk to move around and looking and things in the distance to give your eyes a break. Google remedies for tech neck and the 20-20-20 rule for eye strain.

3 years as a developer who works from home, and I struggled to work out because of the issues I have mentioned. If your suffering from neck and back issues or eye strain then you need to fix those before performing regular exercises using weights as that can lead to injury.

I appreciate that it's much easier to get away with these things when we are 18-30 but above that eveything your told and probably already know become much more important and we all really need to have a correctly set up working enviroment and stay fit.

Thanks again for your info, I really need to loose my belly and feel almost ready to workout again, having spent the last few months improving my neck / back and eye issues.

Great to see you are having results, but this is making me think there's something wrong with me :-)

I eat around 1800 kcal a day ( I track it ) , I run on the threadmill 2x a week, and I'm only managing to stay at a stable 90 kg, which is 20 kg above my normal weight ( if I overeat it will increase by around 0.5 to 1 kg the next day, though it also quickly returns back to that 90 kg a few days later)

I also eat a lot less frequently than you (just 3x a day , sometimes I skip breakfast, and occassionaly I try to eat only in the evening ), and I'm staying away from sugar as much as possible ( no bread, no potatoes/fries, no pasta)

I do drink a lot of coffee and sugar-free energy drinks, perhaps that's the culprit ? I'll try sticking to water and try to do more weight-lifting activities at the gym

Thank you! I have seen ATHLEAN-X a few times. I had trouble with my wrist on barbell curls. He had a great video on that.

This is wonderful, i hope this will inspire some folks, BTW i am starting my fitness journey from today!
"fitness is important factor for focusing on work!"

cheers! :)

I actually am looking for new ways to get in better health, which I always seem to fail to do. This is a really nice article thank you!

Thanks for sharing :)

I can recommend

• stronglifts.com/
• startingstrength.com/