Mental Labor and Physical Education
Software developer Rishat Mukhametshin lives in Izhevsk. We met a few years ago on a project to develop a taxi order exchange service, in which he acted as the head of the customer. Rishat was interested in a healthy lifestyle. First, he started a blog on this topic, then decided to write a book and even married a fitness instructor! We decided to give him a microphone on the pages of our blog this weekend, when the work week is already over, and we can talk about something that concerns all those who are seated in an office. So the word to Rishat.
I am almost thirty, and health problems are beginning to appear slowly. At twenty we are immortal, and all life is ahead. But it is not forever. Most likely, the sooner you start taking care of your health, the better.
For the past six years I have been doing weightlifting. This is not a priority activity, therefore, it is unlikely that, looking at me, you will admire the muscles. However, I do not plan to stop and reduce the indicators, being convinced: for thousands of years the human body has evolved in an aggressive environment and incessant cataclysms, and over the past post-industrial decades it has not been able to adapt to a safe and "lazy" life. The body still needs exercise.
')
Any programmer experienced a state of severe stress. Release of the version, approaching the end of the project phase, abrupt change of course, a sudden transition to other technologies or complex relationships in a team, overtime ... Or maybe even a combination of the above. There are many sources of emotional stress around the programmer. Of course, no more than, say, a miner or a director of a large company, but still. Emotional stress develops unnoticed, but later, as a rule, it breaks out in the form of a physical ailment.
The opposite of stress is lifting. This is a feeling of joy and satisfaction when something succeeds. From the point of view of biochemistry, the process is well studied, it can be controlled and even artificially initiated. But now is not about that.
Emotional uplift is necessary because it stimulates memorization. It is actually designed to create new structures in memory. Therefore, it is important to receive strong positive emotions from time to time. At the same time, even small physical activity plays an important role. Remember how you learned to draw in childhood: it is unlikely that you waved a brush over a giant canvas. But even small movements allowed to develop memory.
Try to walk to the marker board, instead of opening the application with notes, and you will see: the active interaction between hands and thoughts changes the internal state - and this means that the process of forming a new unit of your memory has started.
Programmers, by the nature of their activities, are mostly immobile, the body does not receive the load that is necessary for a sufficient hormonal response. The fewer movements, the slower the metabolic processes occur. So the body tends to homeostasis - a state in which it will neither consume nor lose energy. The terminal stage of homeostasis is an absolute stop of all processes, although, of course, this will take a long time.
On the other hand, the more you move, the faster the internal processes take place. When the load exceeds the body's ability to recover and come to its original state, it literally wears out. Need a balance. Especially those who, after 8 hours in the office, sit at the computer again at home.
Are you aware of special standing work tables ? My opinion: this is amazing! Due to the lack of complete comfort, you literally have to look for quick solutions to the problem and switch between tasks — not with the Alt + Tab keys, but with your head.
I have been working at such a table for half a year already and went through several stages. At first it was interesting. Then, from excessive standing, my legs ached. And now, having studied the reactions of my body, I literally “feel with my feet” when I need to switch. Conveniently.
At first, the Pomodoro technique helps . Synchronize with the timer your "approaches" to the table, and it will become much more convenient to work. I will explain. The time spent at the table should be divided into segments of work and rest, which, firstly, strictly alternate, and secondly, are strictly limited in duration. I have 24 minutes of work and 4 minutes of rest. I use the application for Pebble watches: launched, clicked, forgot, they vibrate when you need to leave a place or return.
The legs ache due to excessive static load on the joints and muscles: for a long time they remain motionless, while maintaining the weight of the whole body. This technique is used by bodybuilders - they take a lot of weight and keep it at a peak point for some time, giving exactly such a load in order to achieve muscle growth, but not to get injured or overworked from excessive tension. Exit - you need to walk. This simplifies the work at such a table and improves the overall feeling.
When someone of my friends declares that he is tired of a sedentary lifestyle and wants to play sports, I specify which one. Because light physical education is not a sport. Running on the track or around the stadium, pulling up with its own weight, squatting is not a sport, but physical education. And this is great.
Most people do not need to play sports, but rather to keep a balance between the time spent in a state of rest and physical activity. And it is not necessary to overcome their own limitations, beat records or compete, which means sport.
Physical education helps to mobilize some processes in the body.
First, it increases the level of adrenaline in the blood. Adrenaline contributes to the breakdown of fat accumulated in the adipose tissue of the body, participating in the process of transporting fatty acids into the blood and obtaining energy. In order for this process to go efficiently, the body needs a lot of oxygen, which means running in the open air is a great option.
Secondly, glycogen accumulates in the muscles. Excess glycogen causes the body to store excess monosaccharides derived from carbohydrates in adipose tissue in the form of fats. To avoid this, you need to consume a little more carbohydrates than you need.
"Sport" I call everything that requires a serious attitude and does not tolerate excuses. It can be swimming, weightlifting, cycling. Sport is a polar phenomenon: either you give yourself to it completely, or you don’t do it at all. I would venture to suggest that most programmers are not athletes. And this is logical.
Sport and programming are incompatible: any training leads to fatigue, to recover after which it is not enough to sleep one night. The state of constant exhaustion is not well combined with intellectual work.
The human body needs a load to exist, just as the brain needs mental activity in order not to lose its ability to solve theoretical problems. A programmer spends a lot of resources on thought processes and almost does not involve the body. Lack of physical activity can cause depression, even if a person's life is great. Therefore, it is important to find one to two hours a day to take up the body. It is extremely useful for the whole body, including the brain.
It's not easy to start. It can help either like-minded people (for example, friends or colleagues go to the gym and call themselves), or a positive external stimulus (for example, the Edison Software Development Center compensates for fitness expenses), or an independent volitional decision ("I want to see healthy and beautiful human "). Need perseverance. The effect will be only with regular activity, which implies a change in mode and lifestyle, but believe me, it's worth it.
Any comments or want to share your experience? We will be happy to chat in the comments in our group on Facebook or VKontakte .
About company:
Software design
Software development: stages and principles
The tester is responsible for everything
Software support
How yoga kodit and live helps: personal experience
We teach employees English: the experience of Edison
Mental Labor and Physical Education
I am almost thirty, and health problems are beginning to appear slowly. At twenty we are immortal, and all life is ahead. But it is not forever. Most likely, the sooner you start taking care of your health, the better.
For the past six years I have been doing weightlifting. This is not a priority activity, therefore, it is unlikely that, looking at me, you will admire the muscles. However, I do not plan to stop and reduce the indicators, being convinced: for thousands of years the human body has evolved in an aggressive environment and incessant cataclysms, and over the past post-industrial decades it has not been able to adapt to a safe and "lazy" life. The body still needs exercise.
')
Emotional stress
Any programmer experienced a state of severe stress. Release of the version, approaching the end of the project phase, abrupt change of course, a sudden transition to other technologies or complex relationships in a team, overtime ... Or maybe even a combination of the above. There are many sources of emotional stress around the programmer. Of course, no more than, say, a miner or a director of a large company, but still. Emotional stress develops unnoticed, but later, as a rule, it breaks out in the form of a physical ailment.
Emotional lift
The opposite of stress is lifting. This is a feeling of joy and satisfaction when something succeeds. From the point of view of biochemistry, the process is well studied, it can be controlled and even artificially initiated. But now is not about that.
Emotional uplift is necessary because it stimulates memorization. It is actually designed to create new structures in memory. Therefore, it is important to receive strong positive emotions from time to time. At the same time, even small physical activity plays an important role. Remember how you learned to draw in childhood: it is unlikely that you waved a brush over a giant canvas. But even small movements allowed to develop memory.
Try to walk to the marker board, instead of opening the application with notes, and you will see: the active interaction between hands and thoughts changes the internal state - and this means that the process of forming a new unit of your memory has started.
Fixed mode
Programmers, by the nature of their activities, are mostly immobile, the body does not receive the load that is necessary for a sufficient hormonal response. The fewer movements, the slower the metabolic processes occur. So the body tends to homeostasis - a state in which it will neither consume nor lose energy. The terminal stage of homeostasis is an absolute stop of all processes, although, of course, this will take a long time.
On the other hand, the more you move, the faster the internal processes take place. When the load exceeds the body's ability to recover and come to its original state, it literally wears out. Need a balance. Especially those who, after 8 hours in the office, sit at the computer again at home.
Work standing
Are you aware of special standing work tables ? My opinion: this is amazing! Due to the lack of complete comfort, you literally have to look for quick solutions to the problem and switch between tasks — not with the Alt + Tab keys, but with your head.
I have been working at such a table for half a year already and went through several stages. At first it was interesting. Then, from excessive standing, my legs ached. And now, having studied the reactions of my body, I literally “feel with my feet” when I need to switch. Conveniently.
At first, the Pomodoro technique helps . Synchronize with the timer your "approaches" to the table, and it will become much more convenient to work. I will explain. The time spent at the table should be divided into segments of work and rest, which, firstly, strictly alternate, and secondly, are strictly limited in duration. I have 24 minutes of work and 4 minutes of rest. I use the application for Pebble watches: launched, clicked, forgot, they vibrate when you need to leave a place or return.
The legs ache due to excessive static load on the joints and muscles: for a long time they remain motionless, while maintaining the weight of the whole body. This technique is used by bodybuilders - they take a lot of weight and keep it at a peak point for some time, giving exactly such a load in order to achieve muscle growth, but not to get injured or overworked from excessive tension. Exit - you need to walk. This simplifies the work at such a table and improves the overall feeling.
Light Physical Education
When someone of my friends declares that he is tired of a sedentary lifestyle and wants to play sports, I specify which one. Because light physical education is not a sport. Running on the track or around the stadium, pulling up with its own weight, squatting is not a sport, but physical education. And this is great.
Most people do not need to play sports, but rather to keep a balance between the time spent in a state of rest and physical activity. And it is not necessary to overcome their own limitations, beat records or compete, which means sport.
Physical education helps to mobilize some processes in the body.
First, it increases the level of adrenaline in the blood. Adrenaline contributes to the breakdown of fat accumulated in the adipose tissue of the body, participating in the process of transporting fatty acids into the blood and obtaining energy. In order for this process to go efficiently, the body needs a lot of oxygen, which means running in the open air is a great option.
Secondly, glycogen accumulates in the muscles. Excess glycogen causes the body to store excess monosaccharides derived from carbohydrates in adipose tissue in the form of fats. To avoid this, you need to consume a little more carbohydrates than you need.
Sport
"Sport" I call everything that requires a serious attitude and does not tolerate excuses. It can be swimming, weightlifting, cycling. Sport is a polar phenomenon: either you give yourself to it completely, or you don’t do it at all. I would venture to suggest that most programmers are not athletes. And this is logical.
Sport and programming are incompatible: any training leads to fatigue, to recover after which it is not enough to sleep one night. The state of constant exhaustion is not well combined with intellectual work.
Conclusion
The human body needs a load to exist, just as the brain needs mental activity in order not to lose its ability to solve theoretical problems. A programmer spends a lot of resources on thought processes and almost does not involve the body. Lack of physical activity can cause depression, even if a person's life is great. Therefore, it is important to find one to two hours a day to take up the body. It is extremely useful for the whole body, including the brain.
It's not easy to start. It can help either like-minded people (for example, friends or colleagues go to the gym and call themselves), or a positive external stimulus (for example, the Edison Software Development Center compensates for fitness expenses), or an independent volitional decision ("I want to see healthy and beautiful human "). Need perseverance. The effect will be only with regular activity, which implies a change in mode and lifestyle, but believe me, it's worth it.
Any comments or want to share your experience? We will be happy to chat in the comments in our group on Facebook or VKontakte .
About company:
Software design
Software development: stages and principles
The tester is responsible for everything
Software support
How yoga kodit and live helps: personal experience
We teach employees English: the experience of Edison
Mental Labor and Physical Education
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/268977/
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