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Developers/desk job employees, what do you do to take care of your body?

1 points by busymom0 ↗ HN
As developers/desk job workers, we tend to spend a lot of time stationary and having our dominant arm lifting while operating a mouse. This created muscular imbalances in shoulders, lower back pain, slouching etc problems. We also seem to forget to drink water, to blink, reduce strain on eyes etc.

What do you do to take care of your body?

8 comments

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jareds
Lift weights three to four times a week.
tempxyz
Move every chance you get.
bonniemuffin
I just bought a folding treadmill that fits under my desk, and I'm starting to experiment with walking while in meetings or while reading/reviewing docs/code/etc. (I generally can't walk outside while in meetings because I need to see stuff on the screen that we're discussing. But if I had talking/listening-only meetings, I'd do more walking outside during meetings.)

I've had a standing desk in the past, but I haaaate standing still. It reminds me too much of how horrible it feels to be forced to stand still all day while working cashier/retail-type jobs.

rajat
Lifting weights, kettlebells. Very important to do face pulls, in my opinion, given how much time we spent at a desk and over a computer.
justrudd
If you don’t want to anchor a band for face pulls, at least do band pull aparts. I do about 10 every hour on the hour. Shoulders feel great.
prirun
Hired a personal trainer who owns a private gym (not a large corporate chain personal trainer). Wish I had done it years ago to avoid back problems, but better late than never.

Another thing I've tried, though less successfully, is to set an alarm for 20-30 minutes to get away from the screen. The key here is to put your phone out of arms reach so you have to get up to shut off the alarm.

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