How do coders stay healthy? Carpal Tunnel, sedentary, etc. What are some common best practices?

[remixedcat]

Dark mode all the things, have good music like non vocal mid tempo trance or DnB or listen to youtube channels like chillhop. Ergo keyboads and mice gave me wrist issues I had to use a brace for months.Switched to standard stuff and don't get it. Also Red walls in my office keep me warm and alert.

 

[Yukikaze]

My way of keeping semi-fit: Sit/stand desk (mostly in stand mode), ride my bicycle to work 3 times a week instead of driving all the time (about 20 miles offroad biking per day to get to work and back), don't eat trash. Make sure to adjust desk height to match your positioning (my sit/stand desk is electric and has millimeter level adjustment. If I sit I tend to slouch later in the day more than I do so in the morning, so I adjust desk height to make sure my hands are positioned well over the keyboard.

I tried ergonomic peripherals (vertical mouse, split keyboard) and ended up with severe muscle pain and inflammation, so I just use a regular keyboard and mouse - I suspect that after two plus decades of using regular peripherals my body is used to them and any change is unlikely to make things better.

 

[Vayra86]

Everything in moderation. Don't code all day, play some games instead

Wait

Ah ok, I am doing intermittent fasting 16 hours nothing enters my body except water, the other 8 I eat as I please, seems to work for me. I went from 200 to 190 in last few months. I mean during the 8, you can't just shove 5000 calories down or anything, still have to be smart what you eat. I just had a triple steak burger and fries with a shake though. /shrug

You literally described why diets like that never work. Yo-yo-ing with your food intake is a fast ticket to all sorts of issues long term and makes staying at weight progressively harder. I'd stop immediately.

Its about a lifestyle change and sticking to it when it comes to food and physique. That and some luck with metabolism. There is no shortcut or magic bullet, that is why those 'methods' sell so well. People want it easy, when deep down everybody knows it doesn't work like that.

About sitting. Many studies have shown that its all about changes in seating position and movements. Not so much the specifics of what you do and for how long. Any muscle can and should be trained from time to time, or it degrades, and that in turn leads to injury. That, and listening to your body gets you pretty far. I spend at least 8-10 hrs per day behind a screen... and while its a learning process, the benefits of doing all those little things is noticeable. If I sit frozen in place, I feel like I've skipped a few nights' sleep after a work day.

Those ergonomical peripherals for example, are useless until you've actually developed an injury, because then greater comfort is found using a different type of movement. Regular stretching and changing seating/standing positions can prevent that from happening without extra tools.

 

[Zyll Goliat]

Regarding a Carpal Tunnel issues I also have a bit pain in my right hand with this simple trick you can release pain and maybe even fix it with time

I personally now prefer to use my home-made elastic band........

 

[NickG1]

Id like to say the game changer for me was having multiple screens at different distances, they give my eyes a chance to constantly change focus, also build some exercise into your other regular activities..i do press ups and squats when i make a coffee, push yourself a bit..puff and do it several time a day..monitor your bp and pulse u will see it works wonders

 

[Nater]

I'm 5 years into an engineering job where getting new hardware is pulling teeth. Already got a bone spur in my neck.

My boss has used a 720p TV as his main monitor for almost ten years now. So yeah. Life is pain. *shrug*

The wife has been informed I'm not going much longer. Might do the stay at home dad thing.

 

[Space Lynx]

I'm 5 years into an engineering job where getting new hardware is pulling teeth. Already got a bone spur in my neck.

My boss has used a 720p TV as his main monitor for almost ten years now. So yeah. Life is pain. *shrug*

The wife has been informed I'm not going much longer. Might do the stay at home dad thing.

Stay at home Dad would be ideal imo if the wife is ok with it and makes enough money. More power to women who want to work I say, I'd love to be stay at home Dad if I had a partner who made enough money. I have fun doing arts/crafts, plus there is always down time where the kid enjoys a show or something too, so I could game during that time.

I am morbidly obese and have carpal tunnel. I haven't done anything to fix it because I just don't care. Not bragging, just the effects of being depressed and having medical issues that sap my energy. I am the personification of being miserable and wallowing in it.

We are allocated x amount of time in this life. I highly recommend you try to wake up. Watch Cosmos by Carl Sagan, grab a one person tent, a cheap motorcycle, get your license for it, just head out west exploring, they get like 80 mpg. Re-locate. Doing something to wake up man. I was in similar situation, said f it, got some student loans and went to grad school in a different country. Yeah I am in debt for next ten years, but it woke me up. /shrug lol

Humans were not mean to sit all day, or stare at a screen all day. I have a strong belief that we were nomadic in a lot of ways, even if it was very regional type of nomadic behavior... still nomadic.

Cosmos by Carl Sagan, Planet Earth series on blu ray... Earth and the Cosmos are amazing man, just try to think and meditate on it all and realize you only have a short while on this planet. That's what helped me anyway, therapists also can help I suppose if you want to try that.