The Biggest Risk for Developers

Working in IT is great. It stimulates your mind and creativity by solving problems. It gives you flexibility when working from home. On top of that, demand and pay are above average. But what if I told you that the typical IT lifestyle involves a decent amount of risk?

What do I mean by risk? Typical lifestyle behaviors that can harm you in the long-term. Let me share the most common issue that I have seen and experienced myself, so you can avoid it: Neglecting Your Health

Sprinting while Sitting

As developers, we spend many hours a day at a desk in front of a screen. Obviously, this is not what nature intended for us. Our bodies were made for walking, gathering and hunting, not for sitting still on a chair all day. It typically shows when we are noticing neck or back pain. We may also feel tired or stressed sometimes.

Therefore, it is crucial to have some form of regular exercise. You don’t need to be a gym rat; I certainly am not. Pick whatever activity you like. It could be swimming, cycling, tennis, a home workout or something else. Just make sure it gets your heart pumping and your body sweating. Do it multiple times per week. When you think you have no time for exercise, think again: Days of high stress are exactly the time when you need your exercise the most. It will clear your mind and give you new energy. But even going for a short walk is better than not moving at all.

Converting Pizza and Soft Drinks into Code

The stereotypical developer diet involves lots of ready-made pizza, potato chips, candy and soft drinks. The problem? These things offer large amounts of energy but almost zero nutritional value. While your body will not run low on calories, it will definitely run low on nutrients, which are the building blocks for your body. Often, this leads to issues like overweight, diabetes or other health problems.

The way out of this is to learn some basics about healthy nutrition and apply them to your life. Again, you don’t need to be an expert, I am certainly not. Read a book or two, watch some videos or enjoy a podcast. Avoid any radical fancy diets and stick to what seems like common sense and is backed up by scientific studies. To give you an example, I mostly avoid highly processed food and industrial sugar. Instead, I remind myself to eat more vegetables and whole grain products as well as prefer fish to meat. Of course, I also like pizza but prefer to make it myself.

Preparing your own food is very beneficial for a healthy diet. You don’t need to be a master cook. It is enough to have a few basic recipes and then experiment and find out what you like.

In terms of liquids, water is usually the best and should be consumed in large doses each day. According to studies, tea and coffee are also fine in moderate doses. Avoid any sugared drinks if you can.

Play Now, Sleep Later

Staying up late, programming or playing video games, watching TV or Netflix. This is typical but not very helpful for our bodies’ recovery procedures. When you struggle to focus during the day, chances are good you have a sleep problem. Even if you don’t feel tired, there could be some great potential in optimizing your sleep quality for better performance during the day.

Again, it helps to read books, watch interesting talks or listen to researchers in order to improve your sleep. One of the most important aspects is to minimize light usage in the evening. Avoiding blue light and generally very intense lightning before going to bed really helps improve sleep quality. Also, large meals should not be consumed immediately before bedtime. Make sure your sleeping room is very dark and a bit cooler than your living room. Avoid noisy or distracting environments to give your mind some peace.

Watch your mental input before going to bed. One of the worst things people can do is watch late-night news (i.e. horror shows) in bed and then expect a good night of sleep. Instead, try to wind down the day with some relaxing activities. Maybe you enjoy a good book or a warm bath instead. Also, give your body enough time to recharge. Don’t expect health and performance when you rarely sleep more than a few hours.

Summary

High-performing developers pay attention to their health, not just to their technical skills. On top of that, the overall quality of life increases when we consider the points above.

Please note that I am not a health expert, therefore you should do your own research. Nonetheless, It gives you some ideas to think about. I was certainly able to improve in these areas in recent years.

What about you? Are there some health aspects that you would add or extend?

#SoftwareEngineering #DeveloperHealth #LifeStyle #ExerciseNutritionSleep