# Staying healthy in this industry



## MannDude (Sep 28, 2013)

Let's face it. This is an industry where most of us sit on our ass for long hours at a time. No 'real' physical activity (unless you're racking servers, I guess.) and just staring at a bright screen for hours on end.

I've been getting in the habit of stretching every few hours and going for a 2 - 4 mile walk daily (sometimes further) to get out of the house and away from the screens. Been trying to eat better to.

What do you do to stay healthy, both physically and mentally?


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## Jack (Sep 28, 2013)

I have started doing a lot of walking when I would usually go via a car or public transport I have started walking instead.

I need to start eating better as it seems to just be junk food that I am currently eating.


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## MannDude (Sep 28, 2013)

Well, I don't own a car so walking or biking is my only option for traveling.

Nothing like walking a mile to the grocery store and walking a mile back with bags of groceries in each arm. Who needs a gym? Better yet was carrying back a bag of cat food and a container of cat liter from the store the other day. Did that, came home, then went back and got groceries.


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## bizzard (Sep 28, 2013)

Cycling to and fro office for the physical fitness. I am so thin, even though I eat a lot, and my colleagues are jealous of me as I could eat as much as I like, without putting on weight, while they are trying hard to reduce their tummies.


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## Nick (Sep 28, 2013)

Fortunately for me the nature of my job keeps me fit as almost every day there's so exercise planned such as a run, pack march, hill sprints or aggression training (fighting). However before this job I would try my best and get out of bed at 6am, drive (occasionally run) 10km to a cross country track and run it. Kept me super fit and healthy. You'll be surprised by how much just a little bit of exercise can help.


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## lv-matt (Sep 28, 2013)

MannDude said:


> Let's face it. This is an industry where most of us sit on our ass for long hours at a time. No 'real' physical activity (unless you're racking servers, I guess.) and just staring at a bright screen for hours on end.
> 
> I've been getting in the habit of stretching every few hours and going for a 2 - 4 mile walk daily (sometimes further) to get out of the house and away from the screens. Been trying to eat better to.
> 
> What do you do to stay healthy, both physically and mentally?


Regular breaks away from the PC (not the most healthy breaks if I am honest though), I have a long drive to work, so I can't cycle or anything like that, hence I try and make it to the gym once a week.

Other than that frequent walks to and from the pub.


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## texteditor (Sep 28, 2013)

Stave off weight gain with a healthy regimen of amphetamines. Keeps the heart pumping too.


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## nunim (Sep 28, 2013)

texteditor said:


> Stave off weight gain with a healthy regimen of amphetamines. Keeps the heart pumping too.


That's a good idea!  Although I think any drug, with the exception of weed, will assist in the weight loss process. Addiction has a way of making you care less about eating, especially since you'll be too poor to afford it.


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## GVH-Jon (Sep 28, 2013)

Eat right, go to the gym often, and run 30 miles a week



Nick said:


> Fortunately for me the nature of my job keeps me fit as almost every day there's so exercise planned such as a run, pack march, hill sprints or aggression training (fighting). However before this job I would try my best and get out of bed at 6am, drive (occasionally run) 10km to a cross country track and run it. Kept me super fit and healthy. You'll be surprised by how much just a little bit of exercise can help.


A *Cross Country Course* and a *Track *are two entirely different things. There's no such thing as a *Cross Country Track.*


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## drmike (Sep 29, 2013)

I am an avid cyclist.   Use to do a 20+ mile daily commute five days a week.  Have one of my bikes with over 10k miles on it. 

I have a bike for grocery getting that I haven't used much lately.  Also have a few other random push carts for store trips.  But, mainly I just lug supplies home on foot.  I am good for 50 pounds a trip.  But mind you I use to lug a backpack that weighed twice that.

The daily routine for me is regular breaks.  Every 30 minutes at least you need to get up and walk around.  Go do something else.  Make a pot of tea, cook lunch, wash some laundry, tend the gardens, make a call, etc.

I'm alternating these days between a traditional lazy sit down workstation and a secondary stand up workstation.  The stand up version is great for reminding you it time to move about.  Spend lots of time moving legs and feet about while working --- otherwise lots of leg stiffness and swelling.

Big other gotchas --- proper hydration... lots of water and green tea.  Proper nutrition -- I am a 2 meal on bookends sort of eater.  Forage style snacks within day if hungry.  Trying to get rid of stimulants and sugar most notably.  Sugar is horrid for you and most folks are so overdosed on it, that it should be criminal.

There is that ergonomics, posture and desk stuff like we touched on in an earlier ergonomics thread.  That stuff matters big time.  For some folks entirely necessary, for others eventually.


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## KuJoe (Sep 29, 2013)

I have one of these at work: http://www.ergotron.com/ProductsDetails/tabid/65/PRDID/561/language/en-US/Default.aspx

I plan on building one for home (there are a lot of sub-$30 builds on lifehacker.com that would work for my current desk at home). I just need to get a wall mount for my monitor that adjusts vertically.

Just standing for a few hours alleviates my craving for snacks so that's the first step in the right direction for me. In addition since moving to Colorado, I'm always winded anyways so I'm hoping I'm doing something right.


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## Nick (Sep 29, 2013)

GVH-Jon said:


> Eat right, go to the gym often, and run 30 miles a week
> 
> 
> A *Cross Country Course* and a *Track *are two entirely different things. There's no such thing as a *Cross Country Track.*


It's not a course, it's a general track that happens to be cross country.


What's your 2.4km run time?


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## Ivan (Sep 29, 2013)

Well, walking and cycling is good. Cycling is fun! 

Other than that, the gym is a really good place. Cardio workout on a treadmill or even just jogging or taking walks like some have mentioned earlier. Lift some weights to get some biceps and triceps, do some abs work out to build some abs and lose that belly. 

I don't know if it's my metabolism or if I'm just not eating enough but I'm really skinny so I'm trying to gain some weight and muscles now, haha.


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## KS_Phillip (Sep 29, 2013)

I walk the dog a couple times a day, try to work in a 15 minute jog at least 3-4 times a week.  Could be better, but could be a lot worse too


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## nunim (Sep 30, 2013)

KuJoe said:


> Just standing for a few hours alleviates my craving for snacks so that's the first step in the right direction for me. In addition since moving to Colorado, I'm always winded anyways so I'm hoping I'm doing something right.


I would imagine that you being winded has to do with the fact that you moved from somewhere that's essentially sea-level to somewhere that's 500x higher.  Being a native Floridian the first time I went to Colorado the elevation, along with the blizzard(what a great first time to see snow..), made me pretty sick.  I still don't do very well at higher elevations so I do my best to avoid mountains at all times, because aside from the elevation it takes forever to get where you're going because there are never straight roads!


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## concerto49 (Sep 30, 2013)

Get to the data center and change a drive 

Go the PC store and buy some parts.

Unpack and build a server.

It's not all that sit and wait.

Have physical meetings with clients as required and/or vendors, such as carriers (I know quite a few that do this regularly).


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## KuJoe (Sep 30, 2013)

nunim said:


> I would imagine that you being winded has to do with the fact that you moved from somewhere that's essentially sea-level to somewhere that's 500x higher.  Being a native Floridian the first time I went to Colorado the elevation, along with the blizzard(what a great first time to see snow..), made me pretty sick.  I still don't do very well at higher elevations so I do my best to avoid mountains at all times, because aside from the elevation it takes forever to get where you're going because there are never straight roads!


Pretty much. Even our dog gets winded when we go for a walk because she's not use to the altitude + stairs. I've gotten a lot better since I moved here but I still need to catch my breath if I talk on the phone for too long (I like to pace back and forth when I'm on the phone for some reason).


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## matt[scrdspd] (Sep 30, 2013)

Exercise works well  

Personally I do biking (as many others have mentioned). Outdoors in the summer and indoors in the winter. I bought a nice recumbent exercise bike (LifeFitness I believe) a few years back, nice way to get in some cardio when you have some free time.


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## Kakashi (Sep 30, 2013)

The only exercise I get these days is when I take the Corgis for a walk. I hit the gym for like 6 months last year and it became very clear how bad things were. I quit because of my newborn... haven't had the time to get back into it


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## shovenose (Sep 30, 2013)

Excercise? Nah...


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## Nick (Oct 1, 2013)

nunim said:


> I would imagine that you being winded has to do with the fact that you moved from somewhere that's essentially sea-level to somewhere that's 500x higher.  Being a native Floridian the first time I went to Colorado the elevation, along with the blizzard(what a great first time to see snow..), made me pretty sick.  I still don't do very well at higher elevations so I do my best to avoid mountains at all times, because aside from the elevation it takes forever to get where you're going because there are never straight roads!


Before joining the Army a few months ago I was training at sea level. My camp is now about 800m above sea level. In the first week I ran 9 mins 40 secs (for 2.4km) and would be out of breath and then after about 3 weeks I was running 8 mins 35 secs and it my legs were the weak point, I still had plenty of breath.


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## blergh (Oct 1, 2013)

I read the title as "staying stealthy" and boy was i disappointed!


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## EricGregory (Oct 10, 2013)

I built a stand-up desk to use a while back and it's made a huge difference.  Way less back pain & an overall better mental state.  It's cheap, and well worth it.  Apart from that I walk our dogs a couple times per day and engage in some rather, ummm...  vigorous martial arts training a couple nights per week.  Nothing focuses the mind like a big fat dose of pain and the adrenaline that accompanies it.


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## lifetalk (Oct 11, 2013)

Can't really remember the last time I 'exercised', really.


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