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Ten tips to maintain health and sanity

Sitting at a computer all day long can be tough on your body and lead to some bad habits. Here’s a few things I’ve learned that it is helpful to do to maintain physical health and mental sanity.

Before and during my college days, I worked as a busboy and host and performed other tasks at restaurants, so it was easy for me to get a workout in. I was always in motion anyway and just running around carrying things like tables and stacks of chairs was pretty much all I needed to do.

But now, sitting at a computer for long hours isn’t conducive to maintaining good health. I’m a little out of shape, so waking up and going for a jog around the neighborhood is something I’m trying to get accustomed to doing. I can always start it for a few days. Unfortunately, then I get tired one day and don’t do and then one day becomes two days and it turns into a cycle of not doing this. So having some willpower to follow through with this even when you’re tired is pretty important.

A good substitute for running is playing basketball with people, which is even more fun when you have a good group of people to play with.

After your computer and an internet connection, this is probably the most important business tool you have. You don’t want to kill your back because you decided to save 70 bucks with a cheap chair instead of buying something comfortable. I have a decent older chair that I have and will probably replace soon, so any suggestions here are appreciated.

I use an old kitchen table as my main desk. The size is important when I have 100 papers strewn about and need to have room to do stuff.

Buying frozen stuff or ordering out is quick and easy, but not always the best for you. When you have a lot of things to do and don’t want to leave the computer, this is sometimes the easy way out, but you can do better for yourself by learning to cook.

Knowing to create a few simple recipes can be helpful, and can also be a fun way to take a break. Delicious Days seems like a very helpful resource in that respect.

I can do a lot of grilling of meats and create oodles of simple dishes and sandwiches, but I need to work harder to learn how to make more and more fancy stuff to enjoy. A friend of mine is a pro chef so maybe one day I’ll ask him to come over and teach me how to make something.

Also, ladies appreciate a man who can cook, which is another side benefit of learning to do this.

If you’re going to be spending all day working and you’re into this sort of thing, why not get a decent sound-system so you’re enjoying the music you listen to?

Also, if you want some totally free music, this site GarageBand looks pretty neat. It has loads of free music and comes directly from independent makers, which means quality is varied but the music is more likely to come right from the heart.

I love Frappe. It is a Greek instant coffee and its bloody lovely. But it can also be very sugary and I recognized that this wasn’t good for me, especially not twice a day. So I cut back to 1 cup a day and cut back on the amount of sugar I used as well. Initially I went through some sort of caffeine withdrawal and felt tired, but slowly I’m coming out of that funk.

That amount of coffee and sugar is still probably more than ideal, but its a large improvement and something that should help out my long-term health.

You ever watch basketball when a good shooter is in the zone and can throw up shot after shot and the nets don’t even move when the ball glides through? Getting in the zone when doing any kind of programming is a lot like that. When you’re in the zone when programming, you can be more productive in an hour than you could be in a week of regular, non-focused work.

Figuring out how to get in the zone consistently is one problem to solve. When I’m struggling on a problem and can’t figure out a solution, taking a break by going for a short walk, going outside to take some pictures, or just take a nap can be helpful. You don’t want to work harder, you want to work smarter. If you can clear your mind a bit and get in a zone, the short break will be well worth it.

If you’re going to drink, instead of cracking open a beer, having a bit of red-wine seems healthier. I’m not really a wine-connessiuer, so any random red-wine pretty much works for me.

If you’re going to sometimes drink beer, try a Yuengling which is tasty and marketed as America’s oldest brewery. Also, Sea Dog’s Blue Paw is a very tasty and smooth beer with just a hint of blueberry flavor. It is great.

Much like a vampire, I’m usually up past midnight. Usually I’m working or whatever because thats when fewer distractions exist and I can quietly focus more. But habitually doing this can be bad for your body.

Whether you prefer getting books on Amazon or just reading some smart blogs, constantly staying up-to-date with trends in the tech-industry and gaining more knowledge is a great de-stresser. As a one-man show, having a wide-variety of technical knowledge can only help because I don’t have the luxury of 1000 coworkers to shift busy work to. So anything that can help me figure out how to solve a problem easier keeps me saner and gives me more free time.

For instance, something so simple as knowing which tools to use is worth a lot.

We all know I’m always right. But peace is more satisfying than proving you’re always right. If a potential client is being a jerk to me, I’d rather walk-away. If somebody in my personal life is being difficult, I try and figure out a way to deal with that and compromise instead of trying to prove my point.

Seems like the best strategy for the long-run.

Maybe they don’t work for everybody, but those tips work for me.

Posted on September 6th, 2007 by Chris Papadopoulos.

Comments

1. Chris Papadopoulos @ Sep 6

   One thing I forgot.

   11. Have lots of fresh fruit available.

   It is easy to fall into a trap of eating junkfood for a snack, so having lots of fresh fruit around will prevent you from stuffing yourself with horrible stuff.

2. David Carr (3 comments.) @ Sep 9

   Nice list. I would add “Play as hard as you work”. It is far too easy to fall into the trap of working every hour available and neglecting your friends and family. Another possible would be to play positive scenarios in your imagination. This is a method I use often to visualise positive outcomes to meetings, etc before they happen thinking carefully about the message I want to give and the decisions I would prefer. This up-front practice makes the real situation run much more smoothly.

3. Chris Papadopoulos (5 comments.) @ Sep 9

   Good ideas David.

   Finding time to have some fun is important.

   I’ll practice a speech for sure, but I’m not sure that visualizing a positive outcome is really something that works for me though.